Coll, Susan. Acceptance, a novel.

COLL, Susan. Acceptance, a novel. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 288p. c2007. 0-374-23719-0. $23.00. SA

Applying to and getting into college has turned into a deadly serious business for some students and their parents, but Susan Coil manages to make it funny and sometimes poignantly sad in her novel. The characters she describes--AP Harry, Taylor Rockefeller and Maya Kaluantharana, neighbors in an upscale Washington suburb--each react differently to the pressure exerted by their parents, teachers, counselors, peers and, most importantly, themselves as they live through April of their junior year to March of their senior year, by which time their fate is sealed along with their acceptance/deferral/rejection letters. Harry has lived his whole life with the goal of Harvard acceptance ruling his actions; Taylor's erratic mother is more obsessed with her daughter's future than she is; and Maya, as the fourth child of overachieving parents and siblings, must figure out for herself what she really wants and whether the school she chooses or that chooses her is going to really make the difference. Coll also tells the story through the eyes of an admissions dean at a small upstate New York college and reveals the politics and pressure from her point of view as well. Anyone who has been through, or is going through, the college admission process will find this novel hilarious at points, ridiculous at others and, most importantly, true. Nola Theiss, Sanibel, FL

S--Recommended for senior high school students.

A--Recommended for advanced students and adults. This code will help librarians and teachers working in high schools where there are honors and advanced placement students. This also will help extend KLIATT's usefulness in public libraries.