Reviewed by Jocelyn Pearce for TeensReadToo.com

When Katy is shipped off to Los Angeles to live with her father for the summer, she is less than pleased. Why couldn't she stay in Canada, or go with her sensible mother on her trip? After all, her father is Beau Ratner, the aging punk rocker known by his fans as "The Rat."

Katy is not a punk rock kind of girl. She's not even a music kind of girl. Katy's a good girl. Even if that means keeping it all inside. Even if that means hating everything to do with music--everything that, all those years ago, made her mother run off, do drugs, sleep with "The Rat," and get pregnant with Katy.

BEIGE is a fantastic novel, and Cecil Castellucci is a very talented writer. Her characters are wonderfully real and fresh. Her story is absorbing enough to be read all in one sitting (so start this one on an empty Saturday!). BEIGE is an honest, real, intelligent, and very well-written book for music lovers and those of us who can't tell the difference between the great and the popular alike!

It's a good music story, sure, but, more than that, it's a wonderful and amazingly good life story. BEIGE is one of my top picks for 2007 so far, and I'm definitely moving Cecil Castellucci's other two teen novels (BOY PROOF and THE QUEEN OF COOL) up on my to-read list. ( )

While a good book, I don't think I would recommend it to any young adults. There is a very disturbingly real scene at a party involving drunkenness, "promiscuity" and giving in to peer pressure.

At first I didn't like Katy (Beige). She was very whiney in her mind while presenting a very shallow and false persona to the world. I guess that part disturbed me because I related to it so well. Especially the smiling while being miserable inside. Parts of the book were great, but other parts didn't delve deeply enough. When Katy gets the first revelation from her mom and is so gracious and accepting it just seemed unreal. When she got the second one it seemed like she should have spoken explicitly to her mother or had a bigger tantrum. It didn't seem genuine to me. Still, again I would have done similar things and wish I could have acted out more.

I would say this book is more young college adult than high school book. ( )

Merideth says: Katy, daughter of an anthropology student and a burnt out rock legend, winds up spending the summer with her estranged father amid the L.A. Music scene. While there, she learns more about her past and herself as she grudgingly befriends the people around her.

This book is a good argument for sticking with a title you don't think you'll like. Left to my own devices, I probably would have bailed half-way though this one, as it features unlikeable characters, a music scene I have no real interest in, and takes place in that mystic LA that only exists in teen novels.

If I had bailed, I would have missed out, because while Castellucci doesn't make her characters anymore likable, she does make them a whole lot more sympathetic and understandable. And while I'm not sure that the LA setting is all that realistic, it is more recognizable than that of Block or Rachel Cohn. Much to my surprise, I really enjoyed this book. The characters are well drawn, their back stories skillfully introduced and the ending, while upbeat, is not over the top happy. (cross-posted from MeriJenBen) ( )

surprisingly good. i'm not a big fan of other l.a.-based ya books (francesca lia block.. i just don't get her. or like her.), but this one felt real.. though the ending was a little too pat. but still, i liked katy/beige and i liked her changes and i loved the songs-as-chapter-names. little phrases here and there made me go "a-ha, this is _good_!" having lived in l.a. for over seven years, it made me miss it a lot. except no mention of in 'n out, how can that be! ha. anyhow, a quick good read. ( )

this book is very young adult. it was entertaining but written for middle school and early high schoolers. i would not really recommend it although i did enjoy the setting of the book. the author did a good job of explaining the music scene. ( )