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A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl
 | A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl Tanya Lee Stone Date: 10 January, 2006 — $10.17 — Book Rating: |
This novel in verse is broken down into three sections, each told by a different girl who has had her heart broken by the same jock/jerk. Josie is a freshman who wonders if she'll be as popular in high school as she was in middle school. When a popular senior jock asks her out, she thinks she's in luck, but she comes to find out he's only interested in one thing. After their breakup, Josie writes a warning about him in the back of the school library's copy of Judy Blume's Forever (since she knows every girl reads it eventually). Some other girls add their own comments and warnings to the end pages, but not every girl gets or heeds the warning in time.
The novel in verse format gives a nice lyrical flow to the story. Although the voices of the three girls are not distinct, it's not bothersome because, in a way, they could be any girl. The free verse works well by allowing Stone to describe sexual experiences in a sensual but non-graphic manner; however, there's not enough angst in the writing. Recommended for most collections.
I was in sixth grade when the dog-eared copy of Judy Blume's classic
Forever made it's rounds, and the premise of leaving a message in the book
that every girl reads is a great one. Books with positive messages about
sex for teens are difficult, because teen sexuality is the elephant in the
room that no one wants to talk about. Tanya Lee Stone pulls off the
discussion with aplomb.
Josie is both self-confident and insecure at the same time, a freshman girl
scoped by a senior who thinks she will be an easy target, and dumps her
when she isn't. Determined to warn other girls about this popular boy who
is only after One Thing, she leaves a note in a library book (gasp!
defacing library property!) all in the name of sisterhood. but too late for
Nicolette and Viv who emerge sadder but wiser.