THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS by Tara Altebrando
    Category:  Contemporary
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 9+
    Release Date:  3/7/06
    Publisher:  MTV Books
    Reviewed by:  Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"
    Rating:  5 Stars


    According to the book On Death and Dying by Elsabeth Kubler-Ross, the five stages of grief are denial, anger,
    bargaining, depression, and acceptance.  If you ask Betsy Irving, though, Elsabeth got it all wrong.  The five stages of
    grief are really agitation, intoxication, experimentation, resignation, and reinvigoration.  Betsy's known for awhile that
    her mother is going to die.  After all, with the type of breast cancer that her mother has, and the late stage that it's in,
    there's not a lot that can be done.  But it's still a shock that hot, sticky Thursday in June when she leaves work at the
    Morrisville Historic Village early when her Aunt Patty and Uncle Jim show up to escort her home.  Now her mother is
    gone, the funeral is over, the well-meaning guests have left, and it's just Betsy, her dad, and her younger brother, Ben,
    taking up space in the huge white Victorian house that they call home.

    In the beginning, Betsy's friends have only her best interests at heart, and her first real boyfriend, Brandon, tries to be
    there for her, but Betsy still feels as if nothing in her life is working out as planned.  And when said friends seem to
    disappear off the face of the earth, and Brandon turns out not to be the great boyfriend she had hoped for when he
    dumps her, things in Betsy's life get even more off-kilter.  As if it wasn't bad enough that she's spending the summer
    working at the Village (which she knows was a trick devised by her history-loving, professor father), dressed in stifling
    Early American clothes and demonstrating cornbread making to eager tourists, now she has to do it alone, without any
    real friends or a supportive boyfriend--and in the presence of Liza Henske, whose Goth Girl shield isn't allowed at the
    Village.

    It's amazing, though, what a new sort-of friend like Liza can teach a girl who just wants to get away form it all.  And
    when James, the Village carpenter who will soon be leaving for Princeton, begins to comfort her with his soft-spoken
    words and small carvings, Betsy starts to learn that no matter what the actual stages of grief are, she just might be able
    to survive them after all.

    THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS is a poignant, heartfelt novel.  It's one of the best books I've read dealing with
    grief, with dialogue that never seems out of place or too cheesy.  Ms. Altebrando has written a stunning debut novel
    that will leave you thinking about the story of Betsy and her family and friends long after you've finished the book.
The Pursuit of Happiness
by Tara Altebrando