Anything but Ordinary

Anything but Ordinary
by Valerie Hobbs

ANYTHING BUT ORDINARY by

Category: Contemporary

Age Recommendation: Grades 6+

Release Date: 2/20/07

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Reviewed by:

Rating: 4 Stars

Winifred and Bernie have been best friends, and yes, in love, since middle school. Both were a little different and

found

fitting in difficult. Their friendship began with Winifred’s creation of the Green Hat Club, and then it blossomed.

High school brought an even closer relationship. Winifred and Bernie were excellent students and hoped to place first

and

second in their graduating class. They studied together, lunched together, and basically spent every waking

moment together.

Romance became part of the friendship when they shared a first kiss, then a second, a third, etc.

Although the physical side

of their relationship advanced, both agreed that they would wait until marriage for the final

act.

During senior year the hunt for colleges began. They agreed to find a place that would suit them both. Bernie’s father

worked in a tire shop which made money an obstacle. Winifred searched for a school that would recognize Bernie’s

academic achievement with a scholarship. All was going as planned until Bernie’s mother returned one day from the

doctor’s

with the news that she had ovarian cancer. She was gone in just a few months.

Life for Bernie and Winifred began to change. Winifred set off for California, and Bernie stayed in New Jersey.

Headed in

different directions for the first time, could their love and friendship remain strong?

ANYTHING BUT ORDINARY is the story of whether or not relationships can endure when faced with individual

growth

and change. Valerie Hobbs presents Winifred and Bernie in her simple, straight-forward prose. They are

regular people

living regular lives, but as the title suggests – “anything but ordinary." Readers hear the story from both

perspectives and will

come to know and care for both Winifred and Bernie.