Plot Summary

Angus:
My mixed-breed cat, half domestic tabby, half Scottish wildcat. The size of a small Labrador, only mad.

Thongs:
Stupid underwear. What's the point of them, anyway? They just go up your bum, as far as I can tell.

Full-Frontal Snogging:
Kissing with all the trimmings, lip to lip, open mouth, tongues ... everything.

Her dad's got the mentality of a Teletubby (only not so developed). Her cat, Angus, is trying to eat the poodle next door. And her best friend thinks she looks like an alien -- just because she accidentally shaved off her eyebrows. Ergghhhlack. Still, add a little boy-stalking, teacher-baiting, and full-frontal snogging with a Sex God, and Georgia's year just might turn out to be the most fabbitty fab fab ever!

Reviews

Booklist (2017, 2000. Starred review): “Although performer and comedy writer Rennison clearly owes a large debt to Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary (1998), her Georgia is a wonderful character whose misadventures are not only hysterically funny but universally recognizable. This ‘fabbity, fab, fab’ novel will leave readers cheering, ‘Long live the teen!’ and anxiously awaiting the promised sequel.”
Christian Science Monitor (2000): “The adults in the crowd shouldn't let the ‘ages 12 and up’ designation, and louder-than-a-pack-of-squealing-teenagers lime green cover frighten them off, either. When this reviewer loosened up enough to forget about her professional image and quit hiding the title with her hand, she found herself shamelessly hooting with delight.”
Horn Book (2000): “This teenage Bridget Jones will appeal to young readers more interested in the concerns of their own age group, and Rennison's fans, like Helen Fielding's, will be glad to know there's a sequel forthcoming. It does seem less like writing and more like copying, but Bridget herself would probably applaud the author's audacity.”
Horn Book (2001): “Georgia’s story spills off the pages of her journal in a hilarious stream of chatter: breast envy! incipient acne! ‘dishy blokes’!”
Northern Virginia (2020): “It’s a scandalous title but I promise it’s not as raunchy as it sounds. This decidedly un-American story follows Georgia Nicholson as she navigates teenagerdom in England. I picked up this series at age 15 and looking back, I realize author Louise Rennison had rendered a character who taught me it was OK to contain multitudes. I could be a girl who was a little boy crazy and who liked makeup, but I could also be sensitive, a writer and be strong for my friends and family, all at once.”
Publisher’s Weekly (2000. Starred review): “In a spectacular YA debut (Rennison is a comedy writer and columnist), the author creates a winning protagonist in the persona of 14-year-old Georgia Nicolson, whose wry observations and self-deprecating humor covers everything from prudish parents and bed-wetting three-year-old siblings to errant cat behavior and kissing (aka snogging) lessons. Teens will discover that nothing is sacred here (e.g., ‘Talking of breasts, I’m worried that I may end up like the rest of the women in my family, with just the one bust, like a sort of shelf affair’). Rennison exquisitely captures the fine art of the adolescent ability to turn chaos into stand-up comedy.”
School Library Journal (2000): “This is the hilarious Bridget Jones-like diary of a 14-year-old Georgia, who has a rather wild cat named Angus, a three-year-old sister who pees in her bed, and a best friend who is in love with the vegetable seller’s son….It will take a sophisticated reader to enjoy the wit and wisdom of this charming British import, but those who relish humor will be satisfied. Fresh, lively, and engaging.”
Time.com (2021): “Reading 1999's Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging could be an unbearable source of secondhand embarrassment if Louise Rennison's novel wasn't so outrageously hilarious. This teen cult classic is written as a collection of intimate, no-holds-barred journal entries from 14-year-old U.K. student Georgia Nicolson, and hyperbole is par for the course. In her own irreverent and delightful way, Georgia describes all the challenges of navigating school, surviving unrequited love and facing many more tribulations of being a modern teenager. Angus landed on the American Library Association's list of commonly banned and challenged books from 2000-2009 for its sexual language, challenge of authority and references to queerness. The book, a critical and commercial success, garnered multiple American Library Association awards, a Michael L. Printz award and a big-screen adaptation in 2008.”

Awards

Michael L. Printz Award Honor, 2001

Lists

2001 Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (YALSA)

Best Books for Young Adults (YALSA, now called Best Fiction for Young Adults), 2001

Frequently Challenged Books (ALA)

Nestle Smarties Book Prize, 1999

Time’s The 100 Best YA Books of All Time, 2021

Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009 (ALA)

Response to challenges

Menasha, Wisconsin 2008/2009: Parent found sexual content offensive and challenged the book. It was retained, yet school board members voted to adopt procedures to secure and record parental consent before limited access books were given to students.

Reference list

American Library Association. (n.d.). 2001 quick picks for reluctant young adult readers. https://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklistsawards/booklists/quickpicks/annotations/2001quick picks

The 100 best YA books of all time. (n.d.). Time.com. Retrieved August 16, 2022 from https://time.com/collection/100-best-ya-books/TIME

American Library Association. (n.d.). Best books for young adults. https://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/best-books-young-adults-0?page=5

American Library Association. (n.d.). Frequently challenged young adult books. https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/YAbooks

American Library Association. (n.d.). Michael L. Printz Award. https://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/awards/14/winners/2001

American Library Association. (n.d.). Top 100 banned/challenged books: 2000-2009. https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/decade2009

Beavin, K. (2001). Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging.

Branbander, J. M. (2000). Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging; Confessions of Georgia Nicolson. Horn Book Magazine, 76(3), 320-321.

Cart, M. (2017). Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson. Booklist, 114(4), 53.

Forecasts: Children’s Books. (2000). Publisher’s Weekly, 247(12), 94.

Harker, S. T. (2016, October 16). Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison.

Banned Library.

https://www.bannedlibrary.com/podcast/2016/10/15/angus-thongs-full-frontal-snoggin g-by-louise-rennison

Kettner, M. (2020). Here’s what your kids should be reading this fall, according to local experts.

Northern Virginia. Retrieved August 16, 2022, from https://northernvirginiamag.com/family/family-features/2020/08/26/heres-what-your-k ids-should-be-reading-this-fall-according-to-local-experts/

Lang, C. (2021). Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging. (2021). Time.Com, N.PAG. Lanier, K. (2000). Young adults. Christian Science Monitor, 92(182), 21.

LibraryThing. (n.d.). Book awards: Nestle Smarties Book Prize. https://www.librarything.com/bookaward/Nestl%C3%A9+Smarties+Book+Prize

Reynolds, A. J. (2000). Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson. School Library Journal 46(7), 109.

Book Resume created by Virginia Library Association and PDSAL

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