BOOK: This Is All - Aidan Chambers

Title: This Is All, The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn
Author: Aidan Chambers
Genre: Teens, family
Publisher: Definitions (2007), 2005
Pages: paperback, 808
Language: English
Rating: 8/10
Summary: Cordelia Kenn kept a diary from her fifteenth birthday. Now she is nineteen and pregnant and from her writings and memories she composes a pillowbook for her unborn daughter to share her own experiences as a teen.

Spoilerfree review
This is a huge book and as part of the unconnected teen-series by Aidan Chambers the first that is written in a female voice. (Although the author explains in his afterword how the other "Dance" books also all have female protagonists). It's also the biggest book.
Cordelia tells about her first boyfriend; how they met, how they had sex, all in intimate detail. Her discovery of love is the heart of the story, but she also talks a lot about the other people in her life; her aunt who offers her a second home after her mother died and her teacher who helps her deal with teen-life. In between it becomes clear how her mother's death affected Cordelia and her father.
I loved her voice and openess. I recognized the journey to (semi) adulthood and the questions and challenges along the way.
The book is divided in several pillowbooks, that all have their own style, depending on Cordelia's mood and experience at the time of the described events and discoveries. Sometimes it's poetic and lyrical, other times very systematic with subjects alfabetically organized. It makes for a very dynamic book. Beautiful.