Module 14

Module 14:
A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl

Summary: Each chapter in this book in verse is told in a different perspective of a teenage girl who are all involved with the same boy at one time or another. Josie, Nicolette and Aviva all fall in love with the same boy in school. He seems to be after only one thing and the story tells the tale of the three girls and what they sacrifice for the love of a boy.

Citation:

Stone, T. (2006). A bad boy can be good for a girl. New York: Wendy Lamb.

Impressions:

I thought this was an excellent book and a very quick read. I read the entire book in about an hour because it was such an interesting book. The alternating point of view made it even more interesting and open to different girls of all ages who may find themselves in similar situations.

Review:

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 9 Up–Three girls succumb to the charms of one sexy high school senior and emerge wiser for the experience in this energetic novel in verse. Josie is a self-assured freshman who values her girlfriends over boys until a hot jock focuses his attention on her and her simmering hormones break into a full boil. Confused by her behavior, yet unable to control her desire, she acts out every romantic cliché she has ever disdained, until the boy drops her and she experiences the chill of rejection. It is Judy Blume's Forever that sparks Josie's fire again, and finding a few blank pages at the back of the library's copy, she sends a warning to the girls of her school. Next readers meet Nicolette, a junior who sees her sexuality as power. A loner, she's caught by surprise at her own reaction when this popular boy takes notice of her. Suddenly she thinks she sees the difference between sex and love, and then, just as suddenly, he's gone. Finally, Aviva, a pretty, smart, artsy, and funny senior, is stunned when the jock seems to want her. She gives up her virginity, only to be disappointed in both the sex and the boy. Furious, Aviva heads to the library to check out Forever, now crammed with the words of girls who suffered the same fate at the hands of the same boy. The free verse gives the stories a breathless, natural flow and changes tone with each narrator. The language is realistic and frank, and, while not graphic, it is filled with descriptions of the teens and their sexuality. This is not a book that will sit quietly on any shelf; it will be passed from girl to girl to girl.–Susan Oliver, Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library System, FL (Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Boy-Can-Good-Girl/dp/0553495097/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291957934&sr=8-1)

Suggestions:

This book could be quite controversial for various reasons considering that the majority of book is filled with very mature themes such as mature relationships and sex.