Starred Review ALA Booklist

Starred Review She's back! Georgia Nicholson, the ultimate self-involved teenager, returns in a sequel that is as fabbity-fab-fab as its predecessor, Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging,  a 2001 Printz Honor Book. Georgia's latest crisis is the family's anticipated move to New Zealand ("Kiwi-a-gogo"), where her father has found work. The news comes just when she's finally snogging Robbie the Sex God. But wait! Her father decides to leave Kiwi and return to England, so the move is off--and more snogging with the Sex God is on. But wait! S. G. decides Georgia is too young for him, so she must trap Dave the Laugh into being a red herring to lure S. G. back. As Georgia records these events in her politically incorrect diary, she continues to bemoan the more mundane details of her life: her huge conk (nose), which means she will forever have to live in Ugly Home, Ugly Kingdom, Ugly Universe; her sister, Libby, who hides "pooey" knickers in Georgia's bed; and her miserable classmates, the Bummer twins, who use Georgia as an armchair. As the last line of the laugh-out-loud diary reads, "Good grief! What in the name of pantyhose is going to happen next?!?" Look for more immediate laughs in the glossary.

Starred Review for Publishers Weekly

"Georgia Nicolson's laugh-a-minute narration picks up right where it left off in <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging," said <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">PW in a starred review. "Fans will not be disappointed." Ages 10-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(May)

Horn Book

This sequel to Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging continues to brazenly mimic Helen Fielding's adult bestseller Bridget Jones's Diary and recent sequel--and continues to provide similar hilarity. Unlike the endearing Bridget, however, Georgia is not exactly what you'd call likable; no one escapes her biting sarcasm--and it's this trenchant wit that makes her diary entries so entertaining.

Kirkus Reviews

<p>Readers were first introduced to Georgia's diary in Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging (A Printz Honor, 2001, not reviewed). Her saga continues here as her mother announces that Georgia's father has found work in New Zealand and they'll be moving in a week. While Georgia tries to make her mother realize that she'll have to be left behind, further disaster strikes: her new boyfriend the SG (Sex God) decides he's too old for her and suggests she might try his younger brother's friend Harry. Thus is launched Operation Elastic Band, in which Harry the Laugh becomes the red-herring with which she'll win back the SG. And does she? Readers will fall right in step with Georgia's up-and-down 14-year-old monologue. "I didn't take any chances with the nipple department; I wore a bra and a vest. Let them get out of that if they could. I must be calm. Om. Om. OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod." The glossary at the end will help with the British slang, though most of it is understandable from context. Readers don't need to have read the first book to be caught right up in the engaging melodrama, but they'll probably want to read it after they've finished this one. It ends, as did its predecessor, abruptly and on a leading tone, suggesting a third. This fun romp will give young-teenage readers someone to laugh at and cheer for, and should make adults cry for joy . . . at not being 14 anymore. (Fiction. 12-15)</p>

School Library Journal

Gr 7-9-This sequel to Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging (HarperCollins, 2000) hilariously captures the obsessions and lifestyle of a 14-year-old. Georgia has a mad crush on 17-year-old Robbie, the SG, Sex God, and the story turns on her moment-by-moment fantasies about him and how she might snare him. The narrative unfolds in diary form, in which she reveals the nuances of her daily dramas at school, at home with her mother and younger sister, with her best friend, and with her surrogate boyfriend. Set in England, Georgia's story gathers humor from her quirky use of language and English slang. In fact, readers can refer to the glossary to check on the meanings of words like "snogging" (kissing), "gob" (mouth), and "lippy" (lipstick). On the Bright Side is a funny romp through the intricacies of one especially explosive period of growing up and will be devoured by girls on the brink of becoming teenagers and those who are living in the thick of it now.-Mara Bright, Mark's Meadow School, Amherst, MA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.