The transition from girl to young woman is a tricky one, full of embarrassment and uncertainty. Navigating the unknown territory of puberty with as few battle scars as possible is a rite of passage for every woman. It is the early stages of this journey that Toronto playwright Vikki VanSickle and former B.C. court judge Carole Lazar explore in their respective debut novels.

VanSickle’s heroine is 12-year-old Clarissa Delany, the smart and sassy daughter of a hairdresser single mom who knows her way around a tricky situation. Full of burgeoning attitude and a naive sense of justice, Clarissa is a fairly typical pre-teen girl. She is not overly popular, but is liked by most of the kids in her school; she is a good student, but not a brown-noser; and while she is beginning to pay more attention to things like her appearance and a particular boy in her class, she has not yet fallen into the trap of emulating vapid starlets and acting like a ditz to attract said cute boy.

But life for Clarissa is not shaping up the way it was supposed to. First she discovers that the teacher she has been looking forward to having for Grade 7 is taking a sabbatical, thereby “ruining” her year. And then her best friend, a small, rather effeminate boy named Benji, becomes the prime target of the school bully. Just as she is beginning to cope with these problems, a much larger one appears in the form of her mother’s breast cancer diagnosis. It seems like Clarissa’s world is crashing down around her, but VanSickle has imbued this plucky character with enough fortitude to handle it all.

With a good dose of humour and some realistic vulnerability, Clarissa is a likeable and believable protagonist. Even better, the book is a well-crafted and enjoyable first effort from a writer who is obviously tuned in to the minds and emotions of young teens.

Carole Lazar’s main character may be a bit harder to get to know. Lucy is a devoutly Catholic 13-year-old who sees the world in absolutes: what her Grandma and the Bible say are taken as, well, gospel. Then her 28-year-old mother decides it’s high time she got a life of her own – one which entails leaving her dependable but boring accountant husband (who is not Lucy’s biological father, but is the only one she’s ever known) and moving from their tony B.C. manse to a down-and-out trailer park in another town. Lucy is thrown into a tailspin: torn away from her school and best friend, she quickly begins to feel like an afterthought in her mother’s plans. In spite of leading a very sheltered life, Lucy dips into reserves of resourcefulness and (mild) rebellion that are as welcome as they are unexpected.

While there are similarities between main characters, the two novels are very different in their readability. Where VanSickle’s story clips along at an even pace, Lazar’s is choppy from the outset. Both girls have strong personalities that jump off the page, but Lucy’s earnestness and innocence come across as cloying. And depending on the reader, the constant religious references in Lazar’s book could be either alienating or enlightening.

That being said, both of these books are examples of coming of age stories done well, and many teenaged girls are sure to see themselves reflected in the characters of Clarissa and Lucy, huffy attitudes and all.