There’s a lot a teenager can relate to in this lightly-fictionalized memoir of the author's junior and senior years of high school: the frustrations of not having a boyfriend, the frustrations of having boyfriends who are less interesting up close than they were from afar, the frustrations of having parents who move their teen daughter across a city to a loft apartment with no privacy, the frustrations of having parents who enroll their daughter in summer acting classes but also don’t make a big deal over a poor score on the SATs. On balance (and Anita does keep the parental scorecard, weighing their infractions against their compensations), Anita knows she doesn’t have it too bad.

The book is put together with a combination of things: diary entries, parental scorecards, SAT words (and sample sentences related to Anita’s current dramas, mostly relating to boys), and some exceptionally bad poetry. The voice is authentic (I’m sure if I looked at my own high school journals I wouldn’t see a lot of differences), but that’s not the same as being compulsively readable. Some teens will find Anita’s teenage self engaging and funny, though there are undoubtedly others who will find her annoying. There’s not much foul language, but mentions of sex and sexuality, while not graphic, are frequent enough to make this a better choice for upper-high-school students rather than younger teens. ( )

I have read this book twice, and I am someone who does not do that often so it should tell you enough right there. The book was hilarious and although Anita was not always relatable to, some of the situations she was put into and the classmates she came into contact with were something and someone I could easily relate to. Although it was based on the author's actual journals from high school, the parts the author did add were great. Liberty is definitaly in touch with her innner teenager. A great coming-of-age book many teenagers in their junior or senior years of high school would enjoy. ( )

Despite the cover, the main character is tolerable. I liked when Anita got the guts to go out with a sophomore bo, and stopped caring what everyone else thought. I was hoping I would like the main character more. She is kind of unlikeable because of how self-centered she is. AHS/BB

It is really funny and very realistic to high school situations. AHS/KC

It’s a very good book. It has elements of humor and shows how being a teenager sucks. It’s from the perspective of a poetic female. It was good. AHS/JD

Reviewed by JodiG. for TeensReadToo.com

Anita Liberty is not the happiest teenager you'll ever meet. In fact, she can be downright morose. But she does it in a way that is so hysterically funny you can't help but love her.

Among the people who contribute to Anita's misery are her twelve-year-old sister, who is already in a committed relationship; her friends who vary in their degree of "friendliness" from week to week; the boys who are, well, boys; and her parents, who don't seem to know anything about her or understand her in the least.

Now she also has to deal with the pressure of SAT's, college applications, boys (of course), oh, and the Wiccan curse that has been placed on her by one of her "friends."

So how does a girl deal with the pressure and disappointment of her everyday life? Well, in the words of Anita Liberty, "I can't fix the world. I can only sit back and criticize it." And she does. Through journal entries, poems, charts, and SAT words (yeah, I know, but it makes sense as you read it), Anita details the misery she suffers through from the ages of sixteen to eighteen.

THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE (YEP, THAT WOULD BE ME) is the hysterically funny story of a girl whose view of the world is a little skewed but completely accurate. You may find yourself reading it over and over and laughing every time. ( )