Appetite for Detention

Appetite for Detention, by Sloane Tanen & Stefan Hagen

From back-to-school anxiety and chick cliques to gym class, teachers, and other eye-rolling icons of school life, these photographic scenes of the teen experience are as ingenious as they are hilarious. Specifically concerned with the trials and tribulations of high school and teendom, this book will have teens everywhere (and more than a few adults) laughing with recognition.

This is another of the chick picture books, although these are not bed-time stories, but instead pointed comments on the terribly small gap between children and adults, a la Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book. This particular volume concerns itself with the younger population, which is perhaps why it isn't my favorite - pictures of chicks getting a hot pink tan seem more effective, somehow, when it's about spoiled adults. There is also more of a linear story-line in AfD, in which eight chicks vie for popularity, love, and valid excuses for skipping phys ed. There are definitely some of the same winning lines that so endeared Bitter with Baggage Seeks Same to me (Sample from AfD: "Edgar wasn't a skater, a punk, a jock, a geek, or a nerd. He was just depressed, and he hadn't found that clique yet.") , but the pages were less packed with them. Still funny, but not the best of the bunch. See? I can resist the awful egg and chick puns when I really try. Even if I do die a little inside.