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Book Summary and Reviews of Roomies by Sara Zarr, Tara Altebrando

Roomies by Sara Zarr, Tara Altebrando

Roomies

by Sara Zarr, Tara Altebrando

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Published:
  • Dec 2013, 288 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

It's time to meet your new roomie.

When East Coast native Elizabeth receives her freshman-year roommate assignment, she shoots off an e-mail to coordinate the basics: television, microwave, mini-fridge. That first note to San Franciscan Lauren sparks a series of e-mails that alters the landscape of each girl's summer - and raises questions about how two girls who are so different will ever share a dorm room.

As the countdown to college begins, life at home becomes increasingly complex. With family relationships and childhood friendships strained by change, it suddenly seems that the only people Elizabeth and Lauren can rely on are the complicated new boys in their lives... and each other. Even though they've never met.

National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr and acclaimed author Tara Altebrando join forces for a novel about growing up, leaving home, and getting that one fateful e-mail that assigns your college roommate.


About the Authors
National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr (Story of a Girl) and acclaimed author Tara Altebrando (The Best Night of Your (Pathetic) Life) were born within 48 hours of each other, on opposite sides of the country. They met online in 2006 and have been friends — and fans of each other's work — ever since.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. The authors give the story big doses of humor, sensitivity, and sweetness, along with a complex and realistic cast; EB and Lauren's stories amount to two great novels in one. Ages 12–up." - Publishers Weekly

"Authentic and drama filled, this novel offers reassurance to all teens who, regardless of destination, are facing the next chapter in their lives: leaving home." - Booklist

"The novel's deeply embedded theme of transition will have tremendous appeal for any teenager coping with change." - Kirkus

This information about Roomies was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Sara Zarr, Tara Altebrando Author Biography

Photo: Jeffrey Overstreet

Sara Zarr is the acclaimed author of five novels for young adults, most recently The Lucy Variations. Her sixth, a collaborative novel with Tara Altebrando, came out December 2013. She's a National Book Award finalist and two-time Utah Book Award winner. Her books have been variously named to annual best books lists of the American Library Association, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, the Guardian, the International Reading Association, the New York Public Library and Los Angeles Public Library, and have been translated into many languages. In 2010, she served as a judge for the National Book Award.

She has written essays and creative nonfiction for Image, Hunger Mountain online, and Response as well as for several anthologies, and has been a regular contributor ...

... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to Sara Zarr, Tara Altebrando's Website

Name Pronunciation
Sara Zarr, Tara Altebrando: Sarah Zarr (rhymes with car)

Other books by Sara Zarr, Tara Altebrando at BookBrowse
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