Get Happy by Mary Amato (review)

Minerva and her best friend Fin approach life with gusto, and they support each other through everything life throws at them. When Minerva gets a package in the mail from her estranged father on her sixteenth birthday, Fin is there to share her outrage. They put their feelings aside to audition for a job with a company that does kids’ parties, where they run into Hayes, a boy from school, and Cassie, a beautiful girl who triggers Minerva’s jealousy. Over the course of the next few months, Minerva works parties, buys the ukulele she didn’t get for her birthday, writes songs, and does some online stalking of her father and of Cassie. A shocking revelation prompts Minerva to confront her father in an extremely public way, and when she finds out that her mother has been lying to her, her rage explodes. Minerva’s accessibility as a character renders her dramatic breakdown both believable and sympathetic, particularly as her mother’s bad behavior is also righteously called to account by both her father and her aunt. Her justified anger is complemented by her ability to see the humor of everyday situations, and her coping mechanism of writing songs forms an important point of connection with teens in similar situations. Lyrics are included throughout the book, with chord progressions at the end and a website where readers can hear the music played on a uke—if you’ve got one lying around, leave it out for readers to play with as they follow Minerva’s story.