Presented to: Janette Rallison
For: It's a Mall World After All
Janette Rallison�s recent novels about teenage life are by turns hilarious and insightful. In It�s a Mall World After All, Rallison�s heroine struggles to overcome her prejudices about her best friend�s boyfriend, who in the past had humiliated and tormented her. She jumps to conclusions when finding him in what looks like compromising situations, only to find that there are, in fact, perfectly reasonable explanations for them. As she searches for more evidence to back up her suspicions, she comes to know, and like, his best friend. Though the typical story would have her discover the irrationality of her prejudice and learn that the boyfriend was a really good guy all along�-after all, he has at least one really great friend�-the plot becomes something more as we find that her suspicions are correct after all. Rallison�s story becomes both a wonderful romance and a powerful illustration of friendship.