Reviewed by: Kelley Crawford

Not too Many Noteworthy words in Karen River’s The Encyclopedia of Me.

 Isadora—mainly known as Tink—is a twelve year old girl that has decided to write an encyclopedia all about her life and her thoughts. With entries ranging for “AA” to “Everybody Magazine,” Rivers asks her readers to enter into the life of her characters with a studied approach. Through the encyclopedic entries we learn about Tink’s thoughts on friendship, love, and the existence of the “self” in the world. By the time the “Z” section of the story has unfolded Tink has her world as compartmentalized as the entries in this book.

 Although I applaud River’s attempt to meddle with style by using entries and footnotes to move her characters through her story, I found that there was very little story to actually weave through in this book. Short references about learning to skateboard, kissing a boy name Kai, and sneaking into a mall leave the story full of holes, but even these holes don’t seem necessary to fill. It’s basically a girl-meets-boy story with typical obstacles in the way. The only difference is that Rivers has given the reader a new obstacle—the format—to traverse.

 Bottom Line: Encyclopedias and The Encyclopedia of Me are out of touch and out of date.

 Audience: If you like Sarah Dessen plots with a new format, then The Encyclopedia of Me might be right for you.