American Girls

Fed up with the new lives of her divorced parents, 15-year-old Anna steals her stepmom's credit card and hightails it to Los Angeles to stay with her half-sister, Delia, a struggling actress. She soon realizes the Hollywood life is not the escape she was expecting and reluctantly takes a job researching the notorious Manson Family for a movie her sister is in, and she starts to notice disturbing similarities between America then and now, and ultimately between herself and the Manson girls. Anna's observations and authenticity left me fascinated and wanting more. Umminger will be a writer to watch! (13 and up)