Book Review: Sean Griswold's Head

You can look at something every day and never really see it. Payton Gritas looks at the back of Sean Griswold's head in most of her classes and has for as long as she can remember. They've been linked since third grade (Griswold/Gritas; it's an alphabetical-order thing), but aside from loaning Sean countless number-two pencils, she's never really noticed him.

Then Payton's guidance counselor tells her she needs a focus object - something to concentrate her emotions on while she deals with her dad's multiple sclerosis. The object is supposed to be inanimate, but Payton chooses Sean Griswold's head. It's much cuter than the atom models or anything else she stares at! As Payton starts stalking - er, focusing - on Sean's big blond head, her research quickly grows into something a little less scientific and a lot more crush-like. And once she really gets inside his head, Payton also lets Sean into her guarded heart. But obsessing over Sean won't fix Payton's fear of her dad's illness. For that, she'll have to focus on herself.

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In a Nutshell: Sean Griswold's Head is a hilarious contemporary novel about one girls non-obsession obsession over, you guessed it, Sean Griswold's Head.

Putdownability Factor: Zilch. I read this in less than a day. Its one of those great fast summer reads.

Cover Love: I know everyone seems to love this cover, but I don't really like it. Its cheesy, and girly, and looks like it belongs in the middle grade section..... But that's probably because I have an extreme aversion to doodly hearts.

Why did I pick this up? I won it from an author and it was on my Contemps Challenge reading list.

My Thoughts

When I found out I had won this book I thought it was pretty funny because honestly this book is pretty much the last thing I would ever pick up from the Library. It looks girly, and cheesy, and totally like some sort of epic creeper romance. Then I started to read the reviews that were popping up around the blogosphere and I realized that this book had a whole lot more to it than just its cheesy cover. So I decided to read it with an open mind. And I was pleasantly surprised by how super hilarious and wonderful Sean Griswold's Head really is.

First of all I absolutely LOVED Payton. She was so similar to me in so many ways. And her mental voice and sense of humor were like exactly like me too. It was a little crazy, but mostly just really funny. Like REALLY funny.

And that brings me to the second thing I love about this book. The humor. This book is freaking hilarious. I found myself laughing at practically every other sentence. The focus excercises that Payton does about Sean's head are YA writing gold. Lindsey Leavitt you are a genius. XD

I was really surprised by the romance in this book. There were definitely some cheesy moments (nothing quite like awkward Valley Forge "reenactments") but overall it was just sweet. It felt real. Sean was one of those perfectly awkward guy next door kinds of boys. He wasn't the "totally hot jock" or the "cool artsy kid." He was just your normal, average nice guy. I loved that.

I also liked that Lindsey Leavitt didn't totally focus on the romance. Family and friendship were highlighted just as much as Sean's "cuteness" was.

Sean Griswold's Head is a great book. I'm so glad I didn't brush it off just because the cover scared me. I would have been missing out on one of the funniest, and most enjoyable contemporaries of the year. I give it 4 out of 5 ice cream cones!

One of my favorite quotes from this book was: "hard-core doesn't even begin to describe you."
Well the same can be said of this book. Hard-core doesn't even begin to describe it.

Who would I recommend this to? Teen girls who like books with humor and a dash of romance.

Julia :)