As a former high school nerd, there probably wasn't much chance of me not liking this book. Fortunately, unlike Janice, I was never required to enter a local (or any other) beauty scholarship pageant. In Janice's case, it's either participate in the Miss Livermush pageant or be shunned forever. She really doesn't care. As a budding anthropologist, she is content to watch from the sidelines as her family and friends (and enemies) go through life. Her mother, however, has decided that life as she knows it will absolutely end if Janice doesn't enter the pageant.

So, with several goals in mind, including adding a chapter about coming-of-age rituals to her ever-growing anthology paper, she finally agrees to enter. The experience changes Janice in ways she never expected.

In The Rites & Wrongs of Janice Wills, Janice learns more about herself and how she views the world (and how the world views her) than she does about the pageant. And I learned what livermush is. Ewww.

I won this book in a Goodreads First-Read giveaway. ( )

At first it was laugh out loud funny and light-hearted. then it became darker and ended too patly and happily.

Janice Wills of Melva, NC fancies herself an anthropologist and writes down all of her observations about teen life in a southern town. The novel is framed as an article submission to Current Anthropology with notes about the strange tribes and rituals in her high school sprinkled throughout the book, especially the Melva Miss Livermush Pageant and Festival. Every eleventh grade girl with the qualifying grade point average was eligible, which meant Janice should participate but cringed at the idea. She had been harboring a crush on Jimmy Denton, Hot Theatre Guy, since sophomore year. When he invites her to his party, like any good anthropologist Janice does her research to find out more about him. She stumbles on his blog which seems like a personal journal and finds things out she feels are very personal. The story takes a quick, dark turn with Jimmy as well as with her best friends, Margo and Paul. Janice decides to participate in the Miss Livermush pageant after all as an anthropological experience with disastrous results but learns things about herself with the help of her friends and her pageant experience. The novel ends a little too neatly and patly but readers who like happy endings will not be disappointed. ( )

Anthropology and beauty pageants join forces in this enjoyable teen comedy. This is the perfect book for girls who feel out of place in high school. In other words, all teenage girls. ( )

Narrated by Emily Janice Card. Janice aspires to be an anthropologist; Margaret Mead is one of her heroes. Janice closely observes and notes the rites and groupings of the American teenager at Melba High School. One of the town's big events is the Miss Livermush pageant. Janice isn't at all interested in participating until she realizes the experience could serve as an anthropological project for her college admissions. Challenges lie in her wake: lack of a talent, a mother who insists on buying her pageant dresses, and popular mean girl T.R., a likely shoo-in for the Livermush crown. Janice is an intellectual among her peers and Card depicts her as such, thoughtful and certain, but self-deprecatingly insecure. Chick lit with a strong young woman. ( )

VOYA Rating: 5Q4P

Highly Recommended

The story starts with a letter written by the main character, Janice Wills, to the Editor of Current Anthropology. Janice wants to be published as an anthropologist. She states that she does not have a PhD yet, but that she is in the National Honor Society and the Beta Club. Her mission is to observe teenagers in her small town high school of Melva, North Carolina. The story is full of her notes about individual students as the various cliques they all belong too. At one point, she loses part of her notebook and is mortified. To make matters worse, they are found by the guy she is totally interested in. Janice and her best friend Margo, decide to enter the Miss Livermush pageant. Margo enters because it is a ritual that most girls in Melva go through. Janice enters the pageant as a way to do field research on the culture and customs of small town girls. There are many laugh out loud moments.

The format of the book is unique with all the letters and anthropologist notes that set the scene for the story. The story is a fun, quirky, social commentary on small town teen life. Throughout the story Janice has a moment of realization – she needs to start living life instead of criticizing what others are doing. She pushed a lot of her friends away and she needs to work on repairing relationships. I think it’s a great book for teens. It has a positive message and it’s fun to read. Once I got into it, I wanted to finish reading it without stopping. I like that it is a stand alone book. It had a strong ending that leaves the reader satisfied. There is some binge drinking at a party and references to bi-sexuality. But nothing out of the ordinary for the average high school student. I would not hesitate to buy this for my school or public library. I think it would be a good book for a book club. It has appeal to a broad audience. I definitely enjoyed and will be recommending it to my students. ( )