It's just like real realationships bettween young high school kids.Alessandra was in love with a guy named Wyn and they went out like boyfriend and girlfriend.At first I thought it was about a young girl that likes punk rock music and likes to dresses like a punk rocker and she likes a guy that likes classical music and dresses very nice. I thought that the well dressed guy wouldn't like the punk rock girl it turns out there going out. They have realife situations and they have to solve them. Alessandra's friend first found out she was suprised and couldn't belive it.I think it's a wounderful book but I think 7th graders and up should read it because it deals with adult stuff.

I came across this book in my sweetheart's bookcase not long after we began dating. I never gave it much thought, and certainly didn't consider picking it up to read and enjoy. But one day I found myself scanning the bookcases for something light to read, and decided to go for this book. I'm a bit old for the young adult books, but I remember reading them quite avidly. None of the books I read when I was younger compare to Alessandra In Love. The main character is instantly recognizable -- you had someone in your high school just like her, I'll bet -- and doesn't quite fit the phrase "main character" so much as "star of the show." I was amazed at how well Kaplow captured the mind of a teenage girl. Reading the story without knowing the author, you would think it was written by Alessandra herself, rather than a male English teacher who once had his own rock band. Alessandra In Love is an exquisite book, and although it is a fast read for adults, it is certainly an engrossing novel for the young adult set.

A bit too saucy for teens...but it absolutely hits the spot for a lonely, widowed middle-aged woman! I was captivated by the romance of the two young lovers. Although I feel that this book is slightly too sexually perverse for the young adult audience, those of us yearning to feel the flame of youthful romance will find it absolutely mezmerising.

I'm 16 years and attend summit high school. Mr. Kaplow is my 10th grade English teacher and I've recently read the book "Alessandra in Between". Which he wrote. I liked it and though it was a good love story of teenagers. Being a teenager I could relate to the story. I thought that it was funny and entertaining. I don't know what is my favorite part was but I liked the whole love triangle thing going on in the story. It's a good book to read if your in high school or older.

Everyone has a mad crush at one point or another, one that causes them to devote endless hours of their lives to hopeless thoughs of that special someone. A crush you "accidently" bump into in the hallway after class, your heart racing, cheeks flushed, as you utter a squeaky "hello".Such is the case with one Alex Icicle, the cerebrally-inclined, misunderstood boy of thirteen, who is hopelessly in love with a popular, beautiful girl, Amy. In this first-person narrative, we are taken on young Alex's turbulent and emotional journey through a classic adolescent crush. Kaplow's writing style is, intelligent, witty, and poetic, making this a mature and classic young-adult novel.

I guess I'm one of the little old ladies, but I could not finish this book. All the scatology would appeal to 8-year-old boys, but they are too young for the sexual scenes. I just found this book too stupid to waste my time reading it. It is too bad this review system does not allow for negative stars.

Although the LJB "Cat Who.." books are PG and for children, this parody is not for kids. Besides the detailed pornographic actions of the main character, the way she was murdered is pretty gross.

However, the parody is terrific. The writing is funny. And every aspect of the LJB books are made fun of. For example:
Instead of country town it's in NJ. Wholesome characters are far from that. And the cats are irrelevant when it comes to solving this case. Also, I found a great pun of LJB's style of using common items as murder weapons. Instead of butter knives or fireplace pokers, we have a shaver and dildo!

It's creatively cleaver and fast-paced reading. But it can be disrespectful to serioius LJB fans and even perhaps her family?
To repeat: NOT FOR CHILDREN!!!

My mystery reading group recently chose this title for our discussion. About half the people loathed it; the other half absolutely loved it. I was one of the second group, one who definitely was able to "read and roar." I think the readers who were alarmed by the novel found it "too risqué" and "not enough about LJB", but as the people on my side of the room kept insisting, that was the very point. Kaplow's book takes the polite little world of LJB and completely turns it on its head. Instead of a cute little eccentrics in white-washed little towns, we're given a book-length Eric Bogosian-like screed against the fraudulence of novelists like LJB, but, more specifically, we're given a smart literary parody that begins even before the novel starts. There's a "By the Same Author" page that includes such gems as "The Cat Who Mistook His Wife for a Litterbox." Then, on the copyright page, amid all the tiny legalese, we find: "All of the jokes in this novel were originally rejected by The New Yorker." This is really what the book is about: a sly send-up of books, authors, literary prizes, popular culture, and sexual mores. It's done at high volume and high intensity. It made me cry with laughter. If you're looking for a tame little tasteful send-up of LJB, then be prepared to drop your bifocals and your dentures in alarm. But if you've got a taste for something madder and wilder and smarter, this book is for you. (I particularly recommend you reread "The Maltese Falcon" as the last quarter of this book is a delicious send-up of that novel.)