As Cool as I Am

As Cool as I Am (2004), a young adult contemporary novel by Pete Fromm, centers on a rebellious teenager who must learn how to look after herself when her father takes a new job and her mother’s mental health declines. Popular with critics and reviewers, in 2004, As Cool as I Am won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award. It became a major motion picture in 2013. A bestselling novelist who writes for teenagers and adults, Fromm also writes short stories and magazine articles. He has won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award numerous times.

As Cool as I Am takes place in Great Falls, Montana. Fifteen-year-old Lucy Diamond is a feisty teenager with a rebellious attitude. She talks back to adults and she thinks she knows everything. Kids at school consider her a tomboy because she has a boyish haircut and is not afraid to get her hands dirty. Self-sufficient, Lucy doesn’t expect anyone to look out for her; she enjoys making her own choices.

Lucy lives with her mother and father, Lainee and Chuck. Lainee is everything that Lucy is not. Wearing short skirts and low tops, Lainee wishes that Lucy took her beauty more seriously. Feeling she has anything in common with her daughter, they never talk about Lucy’s life.



A woodcutter, Chuck is only home once a year for a few weeks at a time. He spends the other months of the year chopping wood across Canada and the US. Lucy wishes she could spend more time with her father, but largely because he is gone so much, she has learned how to look after herself.

As the book begins, Chuck tells Lucy that he is going away again. Off to Canada for a few months, he is not sure exactly when he is coming back. Sick of Chuck working away so much, Lucy tells him she is unhappy. Though he promises to come home at the first opportunity, he doesn’t seem too bothered about leaving his family.

While he is gone, Lucy’s main companion is her mother. Lainee doesn’t pay much attention to what Lucy does as long as she doesn’t cause trouble. She even lets Lucy borrow the car when she feels like it even though she is too young to drive. Although Lucy loves her freedom, part of her wishes that her mother would set tougher boundaries. Sometimes, she wonders if her mother cares about her at all.



Meanwhile, Lucy decides she doesn’t want to be a tomboy anymore. Wanting to find a boyfriend, she worries that no one finds her attractive. Letting her hair grow out, she experiments with makeup. Although Lainee notices Lucy’s new look, she doesn’t care much. Lucy hides her disappointment that they can’t bond over her new interest in beauty and fashion.

Before long, Lucy finds what she’s looking for with her best friend, Kenny. They hook up after talking about it for a while. Lucy isn’t sure how she feels about the sex, but she enjoys the intimacy and her increasing confidence in her sexuality. She doesn’t tell Lainee about the relationship because they’re talking even less than usual, though Lucy doesn’t know why.

Eventually, Lucy realizes that most fathers don’t spend so much time away from their families. There is no need for a woodcutter like Chuck to work away for months on end. Knowing that Chuck just doesn’t want to be with his family, Lucy doesn’t know how to talk to Lainee about her feelings. However, unbeknownst to Lucy, Lainee is hiding a big secret of her own.



Lucy finds out that Lainee is sleeping with a work colleague. She is torn between telling Chuck and keeping Lainee’s secret, worried that if she tells Chuck, he will never come home. When she discovers that Chuck has his own secret love life, she realizes that her parents don’t care about each other anymore. Their marriage is over.

Things get worse for Lucy when Kenny moves away. Feeling lonely with no one to confide in or sleep with, she hooks up with a new guy, Tim, but it’s not the same. As the months go by with no sign of Chuck coming home, Lucy only gets closer to Tim because she has no one else in her life.

Meanwhile, Lucy’s relationship with Lainee deteriorates. Lainee’s mental health spirals and she decides that she can’t stay in Great Falls anymore. She dumps her work colleague boyfriend, telling Lucy that she is moving to Mexico. Lucy heads for the Montana-Canada border and gets a job working in a local café. It is unclear what the future holds for her, but she is determined to make the most of her new freedom.