About the Book
-
Author:
- Lauren Myracle
Drinks Taken: 17
BFF Charm: Yay
Talky Talk: LOLCATS
Offenses To My Ladylike Sensibilities: Drunken Nudity, Denigrating Christianity, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group
Relationship Status: The Fact That This Is the #1 Most Banned/Challenged Book In 2009 Makes Me Snort Beer Up My Nose.
The Deal:
This is the story of three friends, told solely through the medium of instant message. We follow mad maddie, Snow Angel and zoegirl through their first couple of months of 10th grade as they share crushes and insecurities, gossip about classmates and each other, and struggle to keep their own secrets. Some shizz happens, like it does, and we get to wonder: will their friendship survive?
Drinks Taken: 17
Okay, so 11 of these drinks taken were SHOTS! 10 for this being the most challenged/banned book in 2009, and 1 because one of those places was Round Rock, TX, just up the road from me! The rest of the drinks taken were for ‘They banned it for THAT?!’ moments.
BFF Charm: Yay
To be perfectly honest, in the beginning, I didn’t like any of these girls. They were written a bit too realistically for me. However, Myracle gave them each moments to shine, and by the end of the story, I DID love them. Snow Angel, though clueless was kind of the glue that held them together, mad maddie was (and I don’t say this lightly) fierce, and my biggest surprise was how much I liked zoegirl, the wishy-washy sweetheart who has a real issue with telling people ‘no’.
Swoonworthy Scale: 0
Is there an anti-swoon? Of course, all of this book was told second-hand, but these girls’ experiences were so realistic as to make you cringe. You can see where Myracle is heading with zoegirl and the teacher, and Snow Angel and her boyfriend, and even though you’re experiencing it from a teen perspective, you see it through the eyes of not just the girl it’s happening to, but her friends as well, which throws a bucket of cold water on any oogly feelings you might otherwise sneak in.
Talky Talk: LOLCATS
I am not a huge fan of textspeak. I have been loathe to join in, but obvs. the need for abbreviations as a time-saver outweighs my old-fashioned sensibilities. So it took me a while to get into this book. I immediately commended Myracle in my head for her concept alone, but didn’t really think it was going to be my cup of tea. However, the more I read, the more I uncovered the layers Myracle had woven into the story, into these girls’ personalities and dynamic, and I became truly impressed. By the end of the book, I was speeding along, NEEDING to know what was going to happen, and cheering inwardly for these girls to triumph. The thing that struck me most was the realistic portrayal of sophomores. These girls were wobbling on that fence between little girls and older teens, and Myracle captured it perfectly.
Offenses To My Ladylike Sensibilities: Drunken Nudity, Denigrating Christianity, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group
This book (and its sequels, which do get more ban-worthy as the girls get older) has been banned because of: Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs. For real? I don’t know what book these people are reading, but it is NOT sexually explicit, it’s not drugs, per se, more like alcohol, and is used as a lesson-learned type of thing. I don’t even remember that many swears, actually. Were they offended by the passage that discussed period farts? That’s how teenagers TALK, THIS BOOK IS PERFECTLY SUITED TO AGE GROUP, book-banner people!!!! Also, Myracle’s dealing with the inappropriate relationship between teacher and student was superb. You know what’s coming the moment the teacher asks zoegirl to go to his church, but she handles it beautifully. It didn’t, in my opinion, paint Christians in a bad light, and in the end, zoegirl comments that she actually enjoyed the going to church part.
Relationship Status: The Fact That This Is the #1 Most Banned/Challenged Book In 2009 Makes Me Snort Beer Up My Nose.
Seriously, like many on the challenged/banned list, I feel that this book would actually be a GOOD influence on teenaged girls. It deals with friendship surpassing popularity, which is a lesson we all need to know, mistakes and consequences, and in this reader’s opinion, it does it all quite innocently.
FTC Full Disclosure: I got my own copy from the library. I received neither money nor cocktails for writing this review (dammit!). ttyl is available now.
