Review
Phoebe Avery has it made: she lives in a large, spotless house in
an upscale development. Her intact family includes a father who teaches
kindergarten; two older sisters, and a slim, confident, successful and ambitious working mother. A nanny serves meals and ferries the
girls to school, to friends' homes or to the mall. Expensive clothing spills
from the Avery sisters' closets; sweaters are organized by season on their
shelves. Bored with her school work, Phoebe's energies are devoted to
maintaining her status as a member of the school's most desirable and powerful
clique of 8
th grade girls.
But despite the bland and thorough pleasantness of her life, Phoebe is often
anxious. She and her girlfriends must make certain that their graduation party
is
the party of the year and so invent extravagance after extravagance.
And Phoebe must be...
Beyond the Book
Donating Dresses
Lucky's cover features a lime-green dream dress that
Phoebe plans to wear to her over-the-top 8
th grade graduation party.
That beautiful dress, the way it makes Phoebe feel when she tries it on, and the
way it makes her feel when she realizes that her parents can no longer afford
to buy it for her, embodies Phoebe's expectations and disappointments throughout
the novel.
Many organizations work to make sure that every girl, no matter
her economic situation, can feel beautiful in her own dream dress at the prom,
dance or graduation party. These groups collect and distribute gently worn,
clean and stylish prom, bridesmaid, and party dresses. Here's a list of some of
these groups in the U.S. and Canada:
