Honk if you Hate Me

Monalisa Kent sort of set fire to the futon factory and burned it down when she was six, and the town she lives in has never forgiven her, even ten years later.

So Monalisa has gone her own way, wearing blue hair. She's used to people being mean to her, blaming her for what happened even though she was only six at the time. Some people are willing to go beyond words, though, and she has to actually hit someone with her skateboard to escape from them.

This year it's the tenth anniversary of what happened, and the news crew tapes an interview at her house. Her father had saved her and another child from the fire and is a hero; Monalisa regards herself as a major loser.

It would seem that the book would end up being a pretty standard one, where the girl finds out she's innocent and ends up the winner.

It's a little more complicated than that, though. It's possible her own dead, considered a hero, might have set the fire. It's possible someone else did. It's possible a friend of hers died in another fire saving someone else. It's also about tattoos, hamburgers, french fries, TV news reporting, body art, making ornaments out of discarded car parts, Elvis, donuts and a bunch of other things, especially bumper stickers.

In other words, it's a somewhat unusual story, and a very good one. Some things happen that you'd expect, but a bunch of things happen that you didn't, including “poetry raids.”

It's also a story of a town coming to terms with its past and moving on toward its future. Definitely a good read.

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