SUBURBIA ISN'T JUST FOR SOCCER MOMS

Last year we read and loved, I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone, by Oak Park author Stephanie Kuehnert. This year, we're looking forward to checking out her new book, Ballads of Suburbia. We must admit that the title of her newest novel intrigued us from the start. Our minds went instantly to the Butch Walker song "Suburbia" and images of the not-so-sweet underbelly of eggshell colored houses, soccer moms and perfectly manicured lawns.

Ballads of Suburbia follows high schooler Kara and her best friends as they try to navigate through the myth of a pristine and safe suburbia. The friends turn to drugs, sex, and alcohol in an attempt to get away from problems at home and write it all down as "ballads" in a notebook entitled "Stories of Suburbia." Full of punk-rock swagger and real emotion, Ballads of Suburbia is a novel definitely worth putting on your fall reading list.