Common Sense Media Review
By Terreece Clarke
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Boarding school novel with depth, drugs, and sex.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 15+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
Parker and Chase have their own agendas for their second semester at Wellington. For Parker, her goal is to find a place to fit in, for Chase, it's to somehow manage to get his grades up and stay out of trouble. A crazy and horrible event transforms the lab partners into good friends. Maybe Wellington won't be so bad after all.
Is It Any Good?
MISS EDUCATED is a well-written novel about several characters navigating their way through life and boarding school on the East Coast. Parker Cole is a social outcast and marches to her own drummer, Chase Dobbs is a popular kid whose misbehaving and poor grades has him on thin ice both at school and at home. Parker and Chase get thrown together for a school project and develop a close bond. The book takes us through their second semester at Wellington as they both try to figure out where they belong and how they feel about each other.
The characters are well-developed and the dialogue is smart. The authors -- all three of them -- do a great job adding vulnerability to the characters. Unlike other books in this genre, Miss Educated does more than regurgitate stereotypes. Teens will love the Wellington students' camaraderie and will identify with likeable characters Chase and Parker. Parents will not enjoy the drug use or lavish displays of wealth and alcohol, but will find plenty of opportunities to discuss the consequences of the Wellington students' actions.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about drug use, dealing with death, friendship, and how the main characters responded to peer pressure. What prevented Chase from being honest about his home situation? What ways can parents and teens communicate in order to have better relationships? They can also talk about sexual activity and how it affects some characters in the book.
Book Details
- Authors :
- Genre : School
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : HarperTeen
- Publication date : August 27, 2007
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 12 - 14
- Number of pages : 288
- Last updated : July 12, 2017
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