Louise Rennison, rightly nicknamed “Queen of Teen” first wowed us with her ground-breaking “Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging”, which was published in 1999. This would be the first of ten books about the trials, tribulations and tears of Georgia Nicholson’s adolescence. And let’s not forget the hilarious discussions of “Nunga-Nungas”, “Nuddy-Pants” and “Basoomas”, words which I can never say out loud without a smile. Similarly, every page contained a hilarious truth which often made me laugh out loud, much to the disturbance of those people who had to sit next to me on the bus on the way to school.
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Here are just a few golden reflections of our fictional heroine, Georgia Nicholson:
“As she left my room I knew I should shut up. But you know when you should shut up because you really should just shut up… but you keep on and on anyway? Well, I had that.” (Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging)
“I can already feel myself getting fed up with boys and I haven’t had anything to do with them yet.” (Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging)
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For me, it is not only Rennison’s humour which should be commemorated. She had a talent for understanding the real anxieties of adolescent girls and was not afraid to talk about them. It is infuriating to think that when her first book came out, she was criticized when visiting schools to talk about her books by teachers who deemed the subject matter inappropriate for young girls. However, Rennison was never afraid to speak out. “My books get young girls talking,” she said, “and they talk about what they like and don’t like, what they want to do and don’t want to do. It’s not left up to other people, particularly men, to decide.” (The Yorkshire Post)
(Photo Credit: The Bookshop)
And Rennison was absolutely right. Her books did get young girls talking. I remember identifying with Georgia in my teenage years, as I wondered whether men really were from Mars and women were from Venus and as I experienced my first obsession with a boy who suddenly became everything, my “Sex-God.” While these new experiences and wonderings could become anxieties on occasion, having fictional Georgia discuss them so funnily allowed me to laugh at myself. And to laugh with my friends as we discussed the books and realized that everyone felt those fears and worries about becoming “Women”, whatever that was supposed to mean.
So, thank you Louise Rennison. Thank you for providing us with Georgia, with laughter, and the comfort that in that teenage wilderness of “Sex-Gods” and “Nunga-Nungas”, we were not alone.
(Photo Credit: AZ Quotes)