Confessions of a Milk Carton Poet

A hilarious story about a wayward good girl, a black-haired goth, a prejudiced math teacher, a cute quiz geek – and about all those questions that are so hard to answer.

Halla knows all about how important it is to make a good first impression, which is why on the first day at her new school she makes sure her hair is freshly washed and her clothes carefully chosen. The problem is that the rumor has got there before her: she is the infamous drug pusher from the West Side of town, kicked out of school at the tender age of thirteen. Halla can see only one way to avoid total social isolation. She must play along and leave the bookish nerd she used to be in the past. But leaving your old self and life behind turns out to be more difficult than she had expected. And what really happened to get her in this predicament?

Confessions of a Milk Carton Poet is Arndís Þórarinsdóttir’s first novel. This compelling and humorous teenage novel explores a person’s first crush and new friendships, but at its core Confessions is a story about finding your identity, facing prejudice, and accepting each other for who we are. 

A hilarious story about a wayward good girl, a black-haired goth, a prejudiced math teacher, a cute quiz geek – and about all those questions that are so hard to answer.

Halla knows all about how important it is to make a good first impression, which is why on the first day at her new school she makes sure her hair is freshly washed and her clothes carefully chosen. The problem is that the rumor has got there before her: she is the infamous drug pusher from the West Side of town, kicked out of school at the tender age of thirteen. Halla can see only one way to avoid total social isolation. She must play along and leave the bookish nerd she used to be in the past. But leaving your old self and life behind turns out to be more difficult than she had expected. And what really happened to get her in this predicament?

Confessions of a Milk Carton Poet is Arndís Þórarinsdóttir’s first novel. This compelling and humorous teenage novel explores a person’s first crush and new friendships, but at its core Confessions is a story about finding your identity, facing prejudice, and accepting each other for who we are. 

info

  • Year of publication

    2011

  • Original title

    Játningar mjólkurfernuskálds

  • Page count

    240

  • Original publisher

    Forlagid

  • Original language of publication

    Icelandic

Reviews

  • Vikan

    "This is the author's first novel and hopefully the first of many. The book is great fun, amusing and eventful, and told with great storytelling joy. It's one of the better youth books I've read."

  • Fréttablaðið

    "A fun and exciting teenage story."

  • Morgunblaðið

    "Arndís writes a fun and clever text that flows well... The story is also effective and keeps you engaged. ... a fun read for all teenagers and should be an inspiration for everyone to fight to be themselves, as well as to be tolerant of other people even if they are not like you."

  • Bokmentavefurinn

    "Arndís Þórarinsdóttir deserves praise for Confessions of a Milk Poet ... The story has everything you need to make a good teenage story - love, betrayal, lies and so on. However, the humorous style and fun allegory make the story what it is, a story of a girl in search of herself, good fun, and a thoughtful critique of the conditions of children and teenagers both here in Iceland and out in the wider world."

Awards & Nominations

Nominations

  • Nordic Children’s Book Prize

    2013

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Authors

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