Summary: It’s Christmastime in New York City. Following a suggestion from her brother Lily, leaves a red Molskine notebook with a dare inside it on a shelf among the books in the Strand bookstore. Dash finds the book one day and accepts her dare. He leaves a dare for her in return, and the two teens exchange dares and get to know each other via the notebook. The first time they meet face-to-face it is completely unplanned, and it doesn’t go well. After their disastrous first meeting, they each have to reconcile the person they got to know in the notebook with the person they met in real life.Citation: Cohn, R., & Levithan, D. (2010). Dash & Lily's book of dares. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Impression: One of the things I liked best about Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares was the strong characterization, especially when it came to Dash and Lily. The story is told from Dash and Lily’s perspectives in alternating chapters. (Cohn wrote Lily’s chapters and Levithan wrote Dash’s.) This gives the reader great insight into their personalities and feelings. Dash is extremely intelligent but has a curmudgeonly streak. Lily is a perpetual optimist with an irrepressible desire to spread the holiday spirit. Some of the plot elements stretch believability, but there are some laugh-out-loud moments and you get so caught up in rooting for the characters that you don’t mind suspending your disbelief. I also really enjoyed the book’s evocative setting. Cohn and Levithan perfectly captured the hustle and bustle of New York City at the holidays. (I especially liked the scene where Lily sent Dash to Macy’s two days before Christmas.)
Review:
School Library Journal:
Dash and Lily, 16, find themselves on their own in Manhattan at Christmas. Dash is alone by choice--he's told each of his divorced parents that he's spending the holiday with the other, leaving them both to take vacations out of town. Lily's parents are taking the honeymoon they couldn't afford when they got married. They think that Lily is in the capable hands of her older brother, but he's less interested in her than in his new boyfriend, and then he gets sick and spends most of the holiday in bed. He does, however, start in motion the activity that is central to the story. It involves a red Moleskine notebook with a list of literary clues that Lily leaves in the stacks at the Strand bookstore. Bookish and erudite Dash finds it and is intrigued enough to follow Lily's lead and leave some clues of his own. The dares in the book's title refer to innocent things such as going to various crowded places like Macy's and FAO Schwartz to pick up messages. As the dares go on, the teens reveal more and more about themselves in the pages of the notebook, until they finally meet under the worst possible circumstances. While the words, ideas, and sentiments are not those of typical kids, they are not out of the realm of possibility for well-read teens. As they did in Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (Knopf, 2006), the authors combine their talents to write an appealing book. It makes readers long to buy a notebook, begin filling its pages, and find a friend who might turn out to be more. This book will spend as much time off the shelf as Lily's notebook.
Roush, S. (2010). [Review of the book Dash & Lily's Book of Dares, by R. Cohn and D. Levuthan]. School Library Journal, 56(10), 110. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Use in the library: Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares would be a good book for a teen book club. It brings up issues of first impressions, communication, and friendship, and would lead to some great discussion. The librarian running the discussion could also come up with his or her own “book of dares” for the teens.
For my book trailer for Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, click here.
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