Dent, Grace 1973–

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Dent, Grace 1973–

Personal

Born 1973, in Carlisle, Cumbria, England; married. Education: Stirling University, B.A. (English).

Addresses

Home—East London, England. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Author and journalist. Marie Claire (magazine), London, England, editorial assistant; freelance writer and journalist. Guardian, London, television critic.

Writings

YOUNG-ADULT NOVELS

Curse of the Mega-Boobed Bimbos, Puffin (London, England), 2006.

Trainers v. Tiaras, Hodder Children's (London, England), 2007.

"LBD" YOUNG-ADULT NOVEL SERIES

LBD: It's a Girl Thing, Putnam (New York, NY), 2003.

LBD: The Great Escape, Puffin (New York, NY), 2004.

LBD: Live and Fabulous!, Putnam (New York, NY), 2006.

LBD: Friends Forever!, Putnam (New York, NY), 2006.

OTHER

Contributor of articles and columns to periodicals, including CosmoGirl, More!, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, and London Daily Mirror.

Sidelights

Grace Dent is a British journalist who has her finger squarely on the pulse of boy-crazy teens. A columnist and critic. Dent has built a career as a roving reporter has found her engaging in unusual activities ranging from driving a Formula One race car and taking hunting and taxidermy lessons to lacing up her skates and auditioning for a British touring show on ice. Her work

has appeared in periodicals ranging from the London Guardian to Cosmopolitan and Glamour to popular teen magazines.

While she was growing up, Dent always wanted to be a novelist, and this dream finally came true in 2003 with the publication of LBD: It's a Girl Thing. The first installment in the "LBD" series, LBD: It's a Girl Thing focuses on flirtatious Claude, overachieving Fleur, and totally hip Ronnie, Les Bambinos Dangereuses (the "LBD" of the title). As readers meet them, the girls are fourteen years old going on twenty-one and dealing with typical teen frustrations. When their totally unreasonable respective parents refuse to let them attend the upcoming Astlebury Music Festival, the three friends decide to do the next best thing: stage their own music festival at their school. With the permission of the Blackwell School headmaster and armed with cell phones and computers, Claude, Fleur, and Ronnie start organizing the Blackwell Live, while romance, heartbreak, and temperamental but cute boy musicians fuel their efforts. As narrated by Ronnie, LBD: It's a Girl Thing was cited by critics for its similarity to novels by Louise Rennison and Ann Brashares. Ilene Cooper, writing in Booklist, noted that Dent serves up "a fun, if derivative, read." The first "LBD" novel "is a delightful read," concluded School Library Journal contributor Janet Hilbun, the critic adding that Dent's fiction debut "easily makes the transition from England to America."

The adventures of the three LBDs continue in LBD: Live and Fabulous!, which finds the trio a year older but just as entertaining. Now fifteen, Claude, Fleur, and Ronnie have finally made it to Astlebury, with Fleur's older sister in tow as their chaperone. LBD: Friends Forever! finds the girls another year older but slightly out of step with each other. In the hopes that they can repair their friendship, Ronnie, Claude, and Fleur decided to get summer jobs waitressing at a fancy resort hotel that will plant them within striking range of a popular beach party. "Lovers of guilty-pleasure reading will hit the jackpot," Anita L. Burkham wrote in her Horn Book review of LBD: Live and Fabulous!, as Dent shares "the adventures, misadventures, and complete-and-utter-wish-fulfillment-fantasies-come-true" of her likable heroines. In School Library Journal Catherine Ensley noted Dent's "wildly sarcastic wit," adding that LBD: Friends Forever! is a "fast-paced, plot-driven page-turner."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 2003, Ilene Cooper, review of LBD: It's a Girl Thing, p. 606.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November, 2003, Karen Coats, review of LBD: It's a Girl Thing, p. 98.

Horn Book, March-April, 2005, Anita L. Burkham, review of LBD: Live and Fabulous!, p. 199.

Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2003, review of LBD: It's a Girl Thing, p. 107; February 1, 2005, review of LBD: Live and Fabulous!, p. 176.

Kliatt, March, 2005, Myrna Marler, review of LBD: Live and Fabulous!, p. 10; September, 2003, Claire Rosser, review of LBD: It's a Girl Thing, p. 7.

Publishers Weekly, September 22, 2003, review of LBD: It's a Girl Thing, p. 105.

School Library Journal, December, 2003, Janet Hilbun, review of LBD: It's a Girl Thing, p. 148; March, 2005, Kelly Czarnecki, review of LBD: Live and Fabulous!, p. 210; October, 2006, Catherine Ensley, review of LBD: Friends Forever!, p. 150.

Voice of Youth Advocates, October, 2003, review of LBD: It's a Girl Thing, p. 303; April, 2005, Caitlin Augusta, review of LBD: Live and Fabulous!, p. 37.

Washington Post Book World, July 9, 2006, Elizabeth Ward, review of LBD: Friends Forever, p. 11.