Wanted: A Pretty Little Liars Novel by Sara Shepard

Shepard, S. (2010). Wanted: a pretty little liars novel. New York: HarperTeen.

ISBN-13: 978-0-06-156617-2

Plot Summary

In this final installment of Pretty Little Liars, Spencer, Hanna, Aria, and Emily who go to Rosewood Day have grown apart after the leader of their clique, Ali, had disappeared years earlier. Ali was the most popular girl at school and everyone wanted for a friend in junior high. Now, three years later, this story wraps up the mystery of what happened to Ali, who Courtney is, and what really happened that night outside the barn in seventh grade. The girls believe that they can finally leave that horrible chapter of their lives behind them, but they have done terrible things and have been constantly taunted by a mysterious A who somehow knows their secrets. In a dramatic conclusion, the girls finally realize who is who, but not without some horror first.

Critical Evaluation

In the beginning of Wanted, readers are presented with a quote from George Bernard Shaw: “There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart’s desire. The other is to gain it.” Readers may wonder what kind of clue this is as they begin reading and are taken back to the night Ali disappeared. The murder mystery plot is a fast-paced whirlwind and there is often confusion about who is who. Is it Ali? Is it Courtney? The girls are typical gossipy, label-loving teenagers. They wear Diane von Furstenberg wrap dresses and make snide comments when they are not the latest season: “Naomi and Kate were wearing DVF dresses from last season, and Riley’s slightly pilled wrap dress was from two seasons ago—horrors” (122). The swirl of labels continue in this specimen of privileged girls chick lit; Burberry, Kate Spade, and Marc Jacobs sprinkle the pages as almost an after-thought but create the tangible world in which these girls live. If readers cannot directly relate, most will at least be aware, possibly with their own envy and desire. Besides, it is the same feeling Spencer, Hanna, Aria, and Emily had at the beginning, when they were on the social fringes and were plucked out and into popularity. Readers will be able to connect with the characters’ dysfunctional, broken homes and troubled relationships.

 

Reader’s Annotation

 

The Rosewood 4 are faced with a strange and confusing turn of events as the answer to what happened to Ali comes to a dramatic conclusion. It looks like they might get their happy ending, but things aren’t always as they seem.

 

Author Information

 

Sara Shepard was born in 1978 in Philadelphia, Pa. She grew up on Philadelphia’s Main line, a collection of affluent towns built along the old Main Line of the Pennsylvania Railroad and which was the inspiration for the setting of Pretty Little Liars books. She had a vivid imagination as a child and wrote her first book, Quizzles, about friendly yellow creatures that live in the garden. She attended New York University beginning in 1995 and enjoyed the NYC club scene sporting purple vinyl pants. She then received her MFA from Brooklyn College.

 

She held a variety of jobs including interning at Elle magazine, filing documents at J.P. Morgan, and writing at Time Inc. During this time, she wrote whenever she had free time and kept the stories in separate folders on her computer’s desktop. She currently either lives in Philadelphia, PA or Tuscon, AZ with her three dogs.

Information was obtained at this site:

http://www.harpercollins.com/author/microsite/About.aspx?authorid=30521

Genre

Young Adult

Chick Lit

Mystery

Murder

Romance

Curriculum Ties

N/A

Book Talking Ideas

Mental illness, identical twins

Reading Level/ Interest Age

Characters are in high school; appropriate for grades 7 and up

Challenge Issues

N/A

Why did I include this title?

Who doesn’t love juicy good chick lit full of fancy labels? This book is the conclusion to the very popular Pretty Little Liars series, which has been made into a television show, and now I will be able to talk about it with my students.