Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen

Lock and Key
Sarah Dessen
ISBN 978-0-14-241472-9
422 pages
Viking, 2008

Genre: Coming of Age

Reader's Annotation:
After being abandoned by her mother, 17-year-old Ruby is sent to live with her estranged sister and reexamines her life.

Plot Summary:
When 17-year-old Ruby's mother abandons her, she tries to keep things running the best she can. When her landlords discover her situation, she's immediately sent to live with her sister Cora, with whom she's been estranged for many years. It's a complete culture shock: Ruby and her mother barely made ends meet, while Cora lives in a beautiful home in a gated community in a nearby town. Ruby transfers from her crowded, underperforming high school to an amazing private school.

At first, Ruby's convinced she'll hate the school, the neighborhood, and both Cora and her husband, Jamie. She tries to run away and walks around with a giant chip on her shoulder, but as she develops a friendship with Nate, the cute boy next door, and gets to know Cora and Jamie better, she lowers her defenses and starts to reconsider events from her former life from a new perspective.

Critical Evaluation:
As I was typing up my plot summary, I kept on thinking, "Boy, this sounds so cliche," but it's a testament to Sarah Dessen that the book actually feels incredibly original and fresh.  She steers away from turning the characters into stereotypes: they're all flawed and complicated and wonderful.  Dessen did an especially good job with Nate, creating a funny, wise, cute and sensitive boy that will likely make teenage girls swoon... while still letting him be a fully realized character with a backstory of his own.

There are several great minor characters here, too; Olivia, another student at the private school who transferred from Ruby's old high school and is similarly ambivalent, and Harriet, the control-freak, caffeine-addict who becomes Ruby's boss at a mall kiosk.

The book covers the start of Ruby's senior year to the end, and Ruby's significant growth during that time is believable because it happens slowly and gradually. It's a very satisfying read.

About the author:
Dessen has written eight other young adult novels. She is known for her strong characterizations and a particularly thoughtful brand of "chick lit," in which the importance of female friendship is stressed. Her recent books have all been New York Times bestsellers, and her books have been critically well-received.

Curriculum Ties:
Not particularly well-suited for classroom use

Booktalking Ideas:
1. Speak in character as Ruby from the beginning of the book: just abandoned by her mother and forced to move in with a sister she barely knows, thinking she'll run away, but then rethinking that decision after a meeting with Nate from next door.
2. Talk about the different sorts of parental pressures and abuses experienced by Cora and Ruby.
3. Talk about the relationship between Nate and Ruby.

Reading/Interest Level:
8th grade and up.

Challenge Issues:
Ruby drinks, smokes pot, and has sex, though none of these are shown in a positive light and she regrets doing them.

If challenged, one should know the selection policy of the library and be able to provide it to the challenger.  One could point the challenger to the numerous positive critical reviews this book received (including a starred review in Booklist), and also point out that Dessen does not glorify Ruby's behavior, and in fact uses it to show her as a flawed person making mistakes she later regrets.

Selection Criteria:
I wasn't familiar with any of Dessen's works, but I read several very positive reviews of her newest book, Along for the Ride,  so when I saw this one at the local library, I decided to check it out.