I Was A Teenage Popsicle

Title: I Was A Teenage Popsicle

Author: Bev Katz Rosenbaum

Pages: 248

Berkeley Jam Books, 2006

Genre: Science Fiction

Recommended to: Teen readers (boys and girls) 12 and up

Rating: B+

   When Venice Beach teen Floe Ryan was sixteen years old, she contracted lympacatosis, a serious and rare disease, and died. Lucky for her, she was "vitrified" (aka frozen) and when thawed, she wakes up ten years into the future! Everything's different now--her parents are gone (they're frozen as well), hoverblading is the hottest sport, and her little sister is married and is officially her guardian! She has to face a new high school full of new people who think her "old" ways are terribly strange, a new world to adjust to, and lots of new problems....

   Like how the cryonics center, where she and her skater-boy crush Taz were vitrified and revived, is facing a lawsuit and closure--even though Floe's parents are still inside waiting to be thawed! Can Floe save the center before it's too late for a (somewhat) normal life?

   Written with lots of wit and humor, I Was A Teenage Popsicle is utterly fun for teens to read. At some parts, I found myself amazed with Ms. Rosenbaum's creativity: how she perfectly described fashions, houses, schools, sports, and technology of the future in an amusing way. 

   Floe's character was also a blast: I loved how Ms. Rosenbaum showed her confusion with all the new gadgets and ways of the future, it just made her so much more realistic and loveable. The novel was full of humor, mostly about being a "frozen zombie" that made it so much more fun to read. 

   One thing I disliked about the novel was that it took a long time to get moving. There was a lot of fluff before the action started that might bore readers, but hang in there because the ending and middle action are well worth it! Also, I found the ending to be a bit predictable in how the characters behave and the plot.

  Overall, I'm glad I read IWATP. It's the first sci-fi novel I've read in practically forever. I'm not a big fan of the genre, so I was surprised to find myself enjoying this one! 

  I'm excited to read the sequel, Beyond Cool, and hope to see more from Ms. Rosenbaum in the future--she seems to have a talent in making lots of unique characters and a fun and fresh plotline!