The Horn Book Guide

OLDER FICTION

Bagdasarian, Adam

First French Kiss and Other Traumas

134 pp. | Farrar/Kroupa | September, 2002 | Trade ISBN 0-374-32338-0 $$16.00

(2) YA Bagdasarian brings acute powers of observation to these short stories, framed as a fictional autobiography, which trace a self-described "random journey to the happy, confusing, humorous, traumatic, sad, romantic years of age five to age twenty." The stories flip back and forth through narrator Will's childhood and adolescence, and the mix of comic situations with intelligent reflection gives each reminiscence a larger relevance.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2002