The Carrie Diaries (Carrie Diaries Series #1)

by Candace Bushnell

Overview

The Carrie Diaries is the coming-of-age story of one of the most iconic characters of our generation.

Before Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw was a small-town girl who knew she wanted more. She's ready for real life to start, but first she must navigate her senior year of high school. Up until now, Carrie and her friends have been inseparable. Then Sebastian Kydd comes into the picture, and a friend's betrayal makes her question everything.

With an unforgettable cast of characters, The Carrie Diaries is the story of how a regular girl learns to think for herself and evolves into a sharp, insightful writer. Through adventures both audacious and poignant, we'll see what brings Carrie to her beloved New York City, where her new life begins.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061728921
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	04/26/2011
Series:	Carrie Diaries Series , #1
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.93(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Candace Bushnell is the critically acclaimed bestselling author of The Carrie Diaries, Sex and The City, Lipstick Jungle, One Fifth Avenue, 4 Blondes, and Trading Up, which have sold millions of copies. Sex and The City was the basis for the HBO hit show and films of the same name. Lipstick Jungle became a popular television show on NBC. Candace lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

It would have been easy to write a coming-of-age story about Carrie Bradshaw that ham-fistedly foreshadows everything fans of the franchise know will come to pass. But Bushnell nails something harder: telling another chapter in the story of a cherished character that stands on its own.

Entertainment Weekly

An addictive, ingenious origin story.

Los Angeles Times

Fans will love this.

Booklist

Teens and adults looking for a light summer read will enjoy Carrie's witty reflections on high school and "The Big Love."
—The Washington Post

Mary Quattlebaum

This polished prequel to Sex and the City reveals the ample drama that filled Carrie Bradshaw’s life before her move to Manhattan. With wit and insight, Carrie chronicles her emotionally charged senior year at a small Connecticut high school. While her friends’ lives seem to be falling into place—especially on the dating and sex fronts—Carrie has just been rejected by a summer writing seminar in New York City, and laments, “I have nothing figured out at all.” She falls hard for a slick underachiever who eventually leaves her for one of her best friends, while her widower father grapples with single parenthood, made tougher by Carrie’s rebellious youngest sister’s antics. Readers should be amused by some of the period details (Carrie’s 18-year-old friends can drink legally), though they don’t weigh heavily on the story, making the early 1980s setting feel almost incidental. Similarly, there’s little that shouts, “This is the Carrie Bradshaw you know and love,” as opposed to any other thoughtful teenager slowly coming into her own. But readers should enjoy witnessing Carrie’s burgeoning independence and confidence as a writer. Ages 14-up. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 9 Up—In the 1980s, Carrie Bradshaw is the oldest of three girls who live with their widowed father. She is on the swim team, wants to attend a summer writing program in New York, has applied to Brown, and is the last of her girlfriends to still have her virginity. When the rakish Sebastian Kydd returns to town, all the girls in the school become distracted, but he seems to have his eye on Carrie, at least until her best friend begins to take notice of him. The action is lightweight: senior pranks are played, dates are prevalent, friendships are tested, and Carrie keeps letting boys run rampant over her. It takes most of the book for her to stand up for herself. This protagonist is clearly written to resemble her older self as portrayed in the TV series Sex and the City. She spends the novel questioning relationships; worrying about friendships; developing a funky, independent sense of fashion; flirting with boys while dating two at once; and having a gay male friend. The author is known for writing frivolous, adult chick-lit books and she does not stray from that style here. While toning down the antics that take place in her adult books, she still writes about partying, drinking, smoking (cigarettes and dope), sex, and shoplifting, making this book best suited to older teens looking for a diversion.—Geri Diorio, The Ridgefield Library, CT

School Library Journal

Before she made a name for herself as a New York City sex columnist, Carrie Bradshaw lived in a small Connecticut town and navigated the perils of high school, the events of which she narrates here in the present tense. She dates the new bad boy, Sebastian Kydd, but his reputation as the school Lothario drives a wedge between Carrie and her best friend. At home with her father and two younger sisters, Carrie mourns her dead mother, a declared feminist with a passion for fashion. Whether she faces the wrath of the most popular girl in school or the decision to have sex with Sebastian, Carrie handles her stumbles with courage and wit. Academically, she's got Ivy League brains and a talent for math, but her dream is to become a writer, and thus does Bushnell set up Carrie's future. Teen fans of Sex and the City will easily recognize the Carrie they already know and love, but this book can stand alone. Yes, the sex, drugs and drinking will titillate, but Carrie's sharp observations of her peers and human relationships give the book smart, sassy intellectual power. (Fiction. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews