The Notebook Girls

Julia, Lindsey, Sophie, and Courtney enter Stuyvesant, New York Citys most prestigious public high school, in September of 2001, just days before they watch the Twin Towers crumble outside their classroom window. A bond of friendship is struck, and yet demanding class schedules, extracurricular activities, and busy social lives make it hard for them to stay in touch. This prompts the four girls to start The Notebook, a collective journaling project that allows them to express their frustrations, triumphs, and everyday encounters inside an ordinary composition book. Their experiences are not unusual: They get cut from teams, get bad grades, win debates, get rebuffed by boyfriends, plan surprise parties, smoke, drink, experiment with sex, and argue with their parents. But it is the raw honesty of these page-turning exchanges that will captivate readers, involving them in both their individual and group stories, and laying bare what it is really like to be a teenager today.