Withering Tights (Misadventures of Tallulah Casey, 1)
Withering Tights (Misadventures of Tallulah Casey, 1) book cover

Withering Tights (Misadventures of Tallulah Casey, 1)

Hardcover – Box set, June 28, 2011

by
Price
$5.27
Format
Hardcover
Pages
288
Publisher
HarperTeen
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0061799310
Dimensions
5.5 x 0.97 x 8.25 inches
Weight
13.6 ounces

Description

Review PRAISE FOR WITHERING TIGHTS: “I don’t know how, but Louise Rennison has done it again. Tallulah is even funnier, warmer, and sweeter than her cousin Georgia Nicolson. I fell in love with Withering Tights, and you will too!” — Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries and Abandon series “Louise Rennison has created another superbly realistic and hilarious young teen heroine, a younger Georgia Nicolson, in the first book of a new series. Tallulah’s wry comments on her life and her dreams are sure to enchant girl readers who will laugh and cry with the spunky, hopeful entertainer.” — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) (starred review) “Tallulah is a vivacious and hilarious character who will speak to every girl. This is a wonderful start to a new series that will attract Georgia’s many fans as well as bring in new readers, who will fall in love with Tallulah and all of her quirks.” — School Library Journal “Fans of Georgia Nicolson will be thrilled to meet her cousin Tallulah in Printz Honor-winner Rennison’s new madcap melodrama. Undeniably entertaining; Georgia would be pleased.” — Kirkus “Absurdity is a key point here, and it’s richly delivered by Tallulah’s exploits. Ideal for readers seeking a high-spirited silly British romp.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books “Tallulah is an effervescent protagonist who will keep fans of YA Brit lit laughing until the very end.” — Publishers Weekly “A bright, breezy, and very funny take on life. Good fun!” — Booklist “A jolly and faintly raunchy read.” — Wall Street Journal “This Brit lit romp through the moors will leave readers looking forward to next term and more Tallulah.” — The Horn Book “Expect lots more of Rennison’s unique brand of teen angst, snogging and shenanigans.” — The Sunday Times “Hilarious.” — The Daily Express PRAISE FOR THE CONFESSIONS OF GEORGIA NICOLSON: “A little raunchy and quite funny.” — New York Times Book Review on The Confessions of Georgia Nicolson “Hysterically funny.” — Seventeen on The Confessions of Georgia Nicolson “Hilarious!” — USA Today on The Confessions of Georgia Nicolson “We’re talking laugh-till-the-soda-comes-out-your-nose humor.” — Chicago Tribune on The Confessions of Georgia Nicolson “Refreshing.” — San Francisco Chronicle on The Confessions of Georgia Nicolson About the Author Louise Rennison was a British comedian and the internationally bestselling and award-winning author of the angst-filled Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series as well as the Misadventures of Tallulah Casey series. Her first novel, Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging , received a Michael L. Printz Honor Award in 2001, was adapted into a feature film, and has become a worldwide bestseller now translated into 34 languages. She was also awarded the Roald Dahl Funny Prize for the first book in her Tallulah Casey series, Withering Tights .

Features & Highlights

  • Wow. This is it. This is me growing up. On my own, going to Performing Arts College. This is good-bye, Tallulah, you long, gangly thing, and hellooooo, Lullah, star of stage.
  • Tallulah Casey is ready to find her inner artist. And some new mates. And maybe a boy or two or three.
  • The ticket to achieving these lofty goals? Enrolling in a summer performing arts program, of course. She's bound for the wilds of Yorkshire Dales—eerily similar to the windswept moors of
  • Wuthering Heights
  • . Tallulah expects new friends, less parental interference, and lots of drama. Acting? Tights? Moors? Check, check, check.
  • What she doesn't expect is feeling like a tiny bat's barging around in her mouth when she has her first snog.
  • Bestselling author Louise Rennison returns with her trademark wit, a hilarious new cast, and a brand-new cheeky heroine who is poised to discover plenty of opportunities for (mis)adventure!

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(68)
★★★★
25%
(57)
★★★
15%
(34)
★★
7%
(16)
★
23%
(52)

Most Helpful Reviews

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Not as good as Georgia Nicholson, but still sweet light fun.

As a HUGE fan of Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicholson series, I was so excited to read this, and even more so when I realized that Tallulah Cassey is Georgia's cousin, but I have to say that the book fell a little short of my high hopes and expectations.
Tallulah, whose parents seem inexplicably more up-market than Georgia's family, is off to Yorkshire to study dramatic arts for the summer, but it's never really clear why- she doesn't seem to really have any passion for theater, and never takes the program seriously at all. While there, she makes friends, and of course, boyfriends, but I felt her character fell into the "oh I'm SO TALL and SO THIN with SUCH GREEN EYES and SUCH SHINY HAIR, why, I'M A TROLL, and boys will never like me" trap- which is so annoying and overdone and at this point such a ghastly cliche. One of the things that made Rennison's voice so authentic in her other YA books was that Georgia came across as a real girl, and relatable, while Tallulah did not.
It is a shame, because the set-up had a lot of potential, and coming from such a talented author, could have been a great young YA read, but as it was, it was a bit grating, and Tallulah's silliness annoyed rather than enchanted.
14 people found this helpful
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British Teen Finds Her Place

Author Louise Rennison has carved out a very successful niche with her young teen coming-of-age book series that follows the escapades of Georgia Nicolson. The `Confessions of Georgia Nicolson' series is hugely popular; but I knew nothing of that when I choose `Withering Tights' the first book in the new Tallulah Casey series.

British teen Tallulah Casey typifies the awkward, confused, foot-in-your-mouth early teen life that is such a great source of comedy and fun. That is as long as you are looking back at it from a distance of a few good years. No doubt girls living through this age now will read and commiserate with 14 year old Tallulah; whereas those of us who enjoy quick, funny young "chick lit" summer reading will rejoice at having gotten through those years.

Tallulah finds herself, through no effort on her part, off to summer performing arts college at Dother Hall in the northern English countryside of Yorkshire. Tallulah's observations immediately illicit chuckles and smiles as she describes her amazement at having to sit next to a sheep on the small village bus to Heckmondwhite, the fictitious town where Dother Hall resides. Tallulah works hard to find her balance as she moves in as a boarder with a rather wacky family, goes looking for the "shops" to have coffee, and realizes that the college brochure merely suggests that the college it's co-ed. Tallulah experiences disappointments, embarrassing missteps, creative accidents, and triumphs as she navigates through the minefield of meeting new friends, and finding her place among the zany talented teachers and students of Dother Hall.

`Withering Tights' is a great light-hearted, witty, romp of a book that easily transcends any surface differences between British and American teenage girls. However, just incase there is any doubt as to what an `apple catcher' is, or a `barm pot', Tallulah has included a glossary as part of her journal (a Rennison standard) to illuminate us all.
4 people found this helpful
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Chick Lit for Teens...and Their Moms

As an avid fan of the first several Georgia Nicholson books, I jumped at the chance to read and review Withering Tights, which kicks off a new series by Louise Rennison. Although my daughter and I both outgrew the original series by the time we'd finished book five, I hoped for the best, and was not at all disappointed.

Tallulah Casey, age fourteen and a half, is Georgia Nicholson's younger cousin. She's been accepted at the summer program of a performing arts school in the Yorkshire Moors. She initially signed up to get away from her terror of a brother, whom readers learn once fed her a butterfly sandwich, and while she doesn't have a talent per se, she hopes to be one of the girls allowed to continue with the program once the school year begins.

Tallulah has glossy black hair and startling green eyes, but her coltish legs, nearly non-existent "corkers," and astonishingly bad coordination at Inopportune Moments mean she's as awkward and insecure as any teen-age girl. She's particularly confused in matters involving boys, and this confusion occasionally bleeds into the narrative. I believe Rennison was purposeful in this, because after finishing certain scenes I felt as clueless as a fourteen year old myself, but I wish the author had found a different way to convey her lead character's cluelessness.

Even so, Tallulah, the friends she makes, the boys she meets, and some of the faculty she encounters make for fun reading. Each is well delineated, and as with her earlier books, Rennison's use of language shines. Except, that is, when it involves the children of the family with whom she boards; the young boys' inability to pronounce words takes things too far over the top.

What makes the book more than simply funny, though, are Tallulah's full-frontal attempts to discover her talent, by turns hilarious and wincingly poignant in showcasing her vulnerability. It is not expected that she'll be asked to stay for the regular term, but a rather odd teacher who sees in Tallulah a great comedic talent casts her as Heathcliff in a musical version of Wuthering Heights. Last year I read and reviewed a Wuthering Heights/vampire mash-up. I can't tell you what a chore it was, but I can say I loved Tallulah's tour de farce performance, in which she channelled a local emo singer/Lothario who behaves throughout the book like a cross between Noel Gallagher and Marlon Brando on their most loutish days.

I imagine most of Rennison's readership is comprised of young adults rather than adult women, but my introduction to her writing came from an adult friend back when Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging was published. I love her style of Chick Lit for Teens and recommend it for women on the verge of growing up and those already fully grown.
2 people found this helpful
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Had it's cute parts...

This book had its cute parts, but it was definitely not a book for me. I never read the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series. Maybe if I had read that series I may have liked this book better. Maybe if I enjoyed British humor a bit more I may have also enjoyed this book better. I must admit that there were some amusing parts in the book, but overall, I felt like it dragged and I struggled to have the desire to pick it up when I would put it down in between reads.

I am an adult, but I have loved many young adult books so I don't think that had as much to do with it. I think this one just felt too out of touch for me and the character and her relationships didn't feel real to me. I think every teenager is self-conscious in some way, but Talullah took the cake in this book and I found myself tiring of her immaturity even though many times she was amusing.
2 people found this helpful
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amusing, but nothing new

Louise Rennison's first Georgia book (Augus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging) knocked me out, but the subsequent books didn't live up to the expectations I had after that first excellent book. I hoped that starting a new series with Georgia's cousin would revitalize Rennison's ideas, but Withering Tights was only mediocre. That's not to say it wasn't amusing at times or that I didn't enjoy some of Tallulah's crazy adventures during a summer at a performing arts school, but there wasn't anything to the plot that made Withering Tights stand out against any number of Young Adult books. For those familiar with the Georgia books, this is the same old crazy language mixed with insecurities about appearance and mad crushes on boys.
1 people found this helpful
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Louise Rennison is great!

I love the story and the adorable, creative cover. I can't help but miss Georgia Nicolson, though, with her quirkiness and fun, made-up words.
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Not bad.

I adored the Georgia Nicholson series, so I was very excited to see Louise Rennsion had written a new book. I did enjoy Withering Tights, but I definitely noticed a lot of similarities to Rennison's other books. That being said, it's still a very entertaining read :)
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Irish Jokes Mixed with the Smart English Cock-ups

I'll say upfront: I was prepared to be disappointed. I saw that it won the Roald Dahl funny prize and thought Mmmm; it's supposed to be funny.

I wasn't disappointed. It was hilarious, though I can't imagine any other person laughing at it except for me. It's the real Irish jokes mixed with the smart English cock-ups. The character's are purely insane and giddy, which made ME giddy.

I will be checking up on Tallulah and her nutty friends again!
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Exceeded My Expectations

When I saw that Rennison had a new book, I immediately took it to check-out. As an avid fan of the Georgia Nicholson series, though, I had to prepare myself... Could anything really be as good or funny as Georgia?

I found that, indeed, it could. While Tallulah is NOT Georgia and anyone looking for a Georgia-doppleganger will be extremely disappointed, I found her equally likeable and relatable. She is not nearly as superficial as Georgia and, it has to be said, she's a great deal sweeter to her new friends than Georgia ever was to Jas. At first I thought this may be a deterrent to the comedy - part of the reason Georgia made me laugh so hard was she could be an awful teenager, as most of us were growing up. Tallulah has other quirks, though. She gets nervous, and when she gets nervous she does the most ridiculous things that had me nearly wetting myself.

This definitely holds the same flavour as the Georgia series, but for me Tallulah is new and fresh enough to give it a new spin while still making a teen that young girls can relate to. She has her body insecurities, her uncertainty about boys, and strange beauty regimens that made Georgia so laughable and simultaneously relatable. Much as we don't want to admit it, most girls went through this, and that's (I think) why we all come back. To laugh at ourselves and how silly we were. The language of these books alone is a hoot. It's light and fluffy - so if you're looking for dark literature then you won't find it here - but if you're up for a laugh then look no further.
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Witty & Light YA Read

Tallulah Casey has enrolled in a summer arts program in hopes of finding her inner artist; escaping her annoying younger brother is just a bonus. Tallulah sets off for the moors of Yorkshire, stepped in the literary history, to find her artistic self. Will her feet "bleed on the stage" before she experiences the "golden slippers" of applause as one of the eccentric instructors at the Performing Arts College insists that all the fledgling artists in the summer program will experience. Well, we as readers are taken along quite a ride as Tallulah seeks her inner greatness.

Rennison's first book of a this new series is a witty escapade rife with teenage angst over boys, body image, and the typical confusion over who you are at that stage in life. At first, I wasn't sure I was going to like the book. I found some of the characters a bit annoying and a few more than a bit distracting, especially the family that Tallulah is boarding with as there was no room for her in the Performing College's dormitory, which may have been a good thing since there was small problem with sections of the roof. However, I found the characters growing on me, especially Tallulah and her penchant to make up quirky words and expressions, some of which are laugh-out-loud funny.

The interweaving of references to the Bronte sisters, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and some of the characters from each novel are all part of the charm of what promises to be another good series by Rennison. I look forward to seeing how Tallulah evolves as a character throughout this series.

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