Review: Sean Griswold's Head by Lindsey Leavitt

According to her guidance counselor, fifteen-year-old Payton Gritas needs a focus object-an item to concentrate her emotions on. It's supposed to be something inanimate, but Payton decides to use the thing she stares at during class: Sean Griswold's head. They've been linked since third grade (Griswold-Gritas-it's an alphabetical order thing), but she's never really known him.

The focus object is intended to help Payton deal with her father's newly diagnosed multiple sclerosis. And it's working. With the help of her boy-crazy best friend Jac, Payton starts stalking-er, focusing on-Sean Griswold . . . all of him! He's cute, he shares her Seinfeld obsession (nobody else gets it!) and he may have a secret or two of his own.

In this sweet story of first love, Lindsey Leavitt seamlessly balances heartfelt family moments, spot-on sarcastic humor, and a budding young romance.

My Review:


Sean Griswold's Head was a cute contemporary read that had both lighter and heavier elements in it.  One part of it that was really awesome was the character development.  The story was great as well.  

POSSIBLE SPOILERS


This book gave enough focus on Payton's father's disease (MS) without making the disease the sole focus.  The reader was able to see how much the disease affected the entire family.  The book showed how Payton's father began to have trouble with things such as basketball and, later in the story, buttoning his shirt.  While I believe Payton's parents should have told her about the disease, I feel that she held a grudge about it for too long.  She would not talk to them for a while after the finding out about the disease incident.


Payton's friend Jac was a good character.  She was very boy-crazy and she often flirted with older guys.  She flirted with Payton's brother, Trent, which Payton did not like.  I found it funny how she spent a bike ride flirting with Sean's older cousin, and then the cousin's girlfriend called.  The cousin had been flirting with Jac too.  Jac may have tried to push Payton into a relationship with Sean too fast, but, overall, she was a good friend to Payton.


Sean Griswold was probably one of my favorite characters in the book.  He seemed like such a sweet guy.  I loved how he laughed about his head being the focus of Payton's focus exercises.  She had been worried he would be mad at her, but instead, he made it into a joke.  Also, it was sweet of him to ride for Payton's father in the MS bike ride.  Sean was a great guy, and I'm glad Payton and him became a couple by the end of the book.


If you want to read a sweet contemporary YA, read this book.


Katie