 | What kind of girl Author: Sheinmel, Alyssa B. | |
| Price: $9.01 | ||
Summary:
Told in multiple voices, when popular Mike Parker's girlfriend informs North Bay Academy's principal that he has been hitting her, students react differently, revealing their own insecurities and problems.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: UG Reading Level: 5.20 Points: 12.0 Quiz: 511906 |
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 12/01/2019 Mike Parker is North Bay Academy's golden boy: a track star, a prize athlete, the guy everyone crushes on. So when his girlfriend shows up at school one day with a black eye and tells the principal that Mike hit her, chaos erupts. Some people still believe Mike's a good guy. Some want him expelled. Some girls at school wonder why anyone would stay with someone who hurt them. Some think she's lying. Some know she's not. Like Amy Reed's The Nowhere Girls (2017), this examination of the violence that's inflicted—often casually—and self-inflicted against women is given potency through its narrative structure. For the first several sections of the book, its chorus of female narrators go unnamed, referred to only by the labels that their classmates might use: The Activist, The Burn-Out, The Popular Girl, The Anxious Girl. While domestic violence is the central issue, girls in the book grapple with self-harm as well—one struggles with bulimia, another cuts—and with their changing relationships with one another. A rallying cry. - Copyright 2019 Booklist.
School Library Journal - 12/01/2019 Gr 9 Up—Mike Parker's girlfriend of six months goes to the principal with a secret—Mike hit her, causing California's North Bay Academy to take sides on who they believe. Everyone loves golden boy Mike, a junior and track star, but the incident spurs students to plan a rally against domestic violence. Maya didn't tell anyone when the abuse started three months ago, not even her best friend Junie, a lesbian who is in therapy for self-harm. Maya has also kept another painful secret—the fact that she is making herself throw up. While the school administration debates how to handle Maya's accusation against Mike, Maya and Junie attempt to deal with their respective illnesses on their own, but quickly realize that they are stronger together. Though the story takes place over only one week, the pacing is slow near the end, which may cause loss of interest. VERDICT Fans of Jennifer Mathieu's Moxie and Kathleen Glasgow's Girl in Pieces will enjoy this multiple points-of-view novel for the highly relevant subject matter, including domestic violence, self-harm, eating disorders, and mental illness. Recommended for purchase for its diverse characters and timely topics.—Laura Jones, Argos Community Schools, IN - Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
