Belinda's Obsession.

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

The character-driven plots of the Not Just Proms and Parties series are aimed at reluctant readers and ESL students in junior or senior high school. As the series title suggests, the books’ contents evidence that girls’ high school years include more weighty issues than just social events.

To anyone who will listen, 17-year-old Belinda repeatedly declares, “There’s no such thing as love.” Belinda, who is gay, has only come out to her long-time best friend, Jessie, but during her summer job, Belinda experienced a lesbian relationship with another teen, Candice. However, like many heterosexual summer romances, their relationship apparently ended with the beginning of another school year.

The pair’s chance meeting in February rekindles Belinda’s hopes that they can again be a couple, but another event intrudes on their reawakened romance. Belinda becomes obsessed with the idea that her mother is being unfaithful in her marriage—a belief that is confirmed when Belinda, behaving Nancy Drew-ishly, observes her mother kissing a strange man. With her mother’s behaviour demonstrating that love does not exist, Belinda and Candice disagree about whether or not Belinda should expose the infidelity.

All ends well, with Belinda’s mother admitting the affair, stating that it’s over, and saying that Belinda’s father has “forgiven” her. Belinda also comes out to her mother, who reassuringly says that, as parents, they had suspected Belinda’s sexual orientation.

Though the book’s brevity precludes an in-depth treatment of the issues raised, Belinda’s Obsession will, nevertheless, appeal to its intended audience. Recommended.