Peace, Love, and Baby Ducks

By Lauren Myracle

Book Overview

Wealth. Privilege. Way too many pastel-tinted opinions. That is Carly s life, and . . . It s. Getting. On. Her. Nerves. Carly is ready to ditch the southern princess act and become real. The thing is,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525477438
• ISBN13: 9780525477433
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
• Length: 292 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.7" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Paddle and Persevere

After spending the summer working a labor-intensive job in Tennessee with the Student Conservation Association, fifteen-year-old Carly comes back to her home in Atlanta with a new perspective on life, her priorities, and the future. Her work outdoors strengthened her body and her mind, and gave her a new appreciation for the world outside of her wealthy town and her prestigious Christian prep school. Carly and her younger sister Anna have always been thick as thieves. They are only one grade apart. Carly's looking forward to the new school year because Anna will be joining her on the high school campus. Anna clearly looks up to Carly, and Carly looks out for Anna. Carly even waited to take P.E. so that she could be in the same gym class as her baby sister. But when Carly returns from her summer away, she finds that her sister has grown up, not in height or emotional or mental maturity so much as in curves. Even though she's barely a freshman, Anna suddenly looks like the older sister. On the very first day of school, Anna gets hit on by a number of boys, one of whom pulls a stunt which accidentally gets her in trouble with the headmaster - and Carly's the one who gets her out of it. She wonders what will happen on the day that she can't bail Anna out . . . and she worries that soon, Anna will outgrow her. Carly is a great narrator. She has strength of conviction and a good moral compass. Myracle's trademark tell-it-like-it-is writing serves her well. Carly doesn't stand for it when people are rude to her or her sister, and she knows how to handle things when adults are condescending or try to pull the wool over her eyes. Myracle infuses her story with realism, especially when Carly considers and confronts some of the unfair stereotypes in her school and community. Carly knows she lives a privileged life, but unlike the equally rich characters in so many books these days, it makes her uncomfortable. What makes Anna uncomfortable is her changing body, but instead of dressing provocatively and slathering on makeup or going in the opposite direction and covering up in layers, she just keeps wearing her usual clothes, which are pretty mainstream-modest. Though their parents are well-off, neither Carly nor Anna are materialistic. While Carly puts on jeans and tie-dyed shirts, her mother is always impeccably dressed in brand-name clothing. When given the opportunity to go on a shopping spree, the girls leave their mother in Neiman's, drooling over Armani, to get some jeans and corny screen-print tops in Urban Outfitters, and Carly gets Anna to put some things back rather than overspend. Carly would rather listen to Cat Stevens than Top 40 radio, and she finds herself rather smitten by the new guitar-playing boy in school. Each character has a clear voice and personality. Cole, Carly's crush, plays it cool - and he obviously knows that he's cool. Carly's buddy Roger, who moved to America from Holland the year before, is considerate and well-mannered

Harmony Book Reviews

The last time I read any of Lauren Myracle's writing was in the Let it Snow anthology and I wasn't all that impressed with her writing style. But when I saw the cover of Peace, Love, and Baby Ducks, I decided it was time that I give her writing another chance. It's a good thing I did because this is one of the funniest books I've read in a while. It opens with a letter between the two sisters. This is your first look into their relationship and you can tell how close they are. But, as the summary itself states and anyone who has a sister would know, things change as you get older and sometimes a summer seems like so much longer. This is where the drama begins unfolding. Carly is probably my all-time favorite realistic character right now. I love her whole twenty-first century "hippie" vibe and almost wish I could pull off her style myself. The way she handles everything - from the way her parents act to her crazy hair style to the drama with her sister - is realistic. Anna was a little bit harder for me to relate to but she was also a fun character to read about. Sibling drama is a very touchy territory to write about - siblings do tend to fight over little things but it's extremely easy to go overboard with the fights. Luckily, Myracle must have some expertise in this area because she wrote everything perfectly. The fights aren't petty and annoying - they're realistic and fit in well with the plot. Peace, Love, and Baby Ducks definitely restored my faith in Myracle. I look forward to her upcoming books and recommend this to everyone. harmonybookreviews.wordpress.com

Peace love and baby ducks !YAY!

This is an awesome book with a well communicated message and a wonderfully written scenario... But that's all i'll say the rest you must read (SSSSHHH!)

This writer knows sisters

Lauren Myracle really gets the dynamic between close sisters, the ways they cling to each other and also hold each other at a distance. Carly is a wonderful character, sensitive, nuanced, and very human. Her depiction of family life among the upper income set is both hilarious and heartbreaking. Highly recommended.

Smart and invigorating

Carly has always felt a little out of place in her upscale life in Atlanta, Georgia. When she volunteers six weeks of her summer before sophomore year working in Tennessee woods, she feels like she has finally found herself--her real self that has nothing to do with clothes or money or connections that everyone back home is obsessed with. So when Carly heads home, clinging to her newfound "realness", she's shocked to find that her younger sister Anna, her closest ally and the person who understands her the most, has gone from the attentive little sister to a sexy sister that guys lust after and who likes clothes and makeup. Now these two sisters, who are so alike and at the same time so different, must find a new way of dealing with things, from their family, friends, and boys, to themselves. Peace, Love, and Baby Ducks is a completely engrossing and wonderfully funny book. The dynamics between Anna and Carly are completely believable as they grapple with who they have become while at the same time still trying to keep a grasp on their old relationship. The novel is told in big sister Carly's point-of-view, and her frustrations, fears, and wants are quite tangible, especially as she struggles to be different in her cookie-cutter world and tries to understand why Anna is so quick to embrace it. At its heart, Peace, Love, and Baby Ducks is a novel that deals with some heavy issues every teen faces: change, diversity, acceptance, and of course, relationships. Myracle handles the heavier issues of racial differences that arise with sensitivity and insight, and each humiliating and painful circumstance both Carly and Anna encounter is taken with a good dose of humor as well. Peace, Love, and Baby Ducks is sweet without being cliché, full of wisdom, and a completely authentic book with a great and non-preachy message that every teen girl ought to hear.