Common Sense Media Review
By Lucinda Dyer
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Empowering story of girls standing up to sexual harassment.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
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Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 16 kid reviews
Kids say this book is an empowering read that tackles significant issues like feminism and sexual harassment, making it suitable for teens, despite its mature language and themes. Many reviews emphasize its strong message, although parents may need to prepare for discussions about the heavy topics presented, such as sexual harassment and explicit language.
- feminism
- empowerment
- mature themes
- parental guidance
- strong messages
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
What's the Story?
Viv Carter creates the first issue of MOXIE, her feminist zine, because she's had it with boys who have no hesitation about demeaning, touching, verbally tormenting, or sexually harassing the girls in her small-town high school. She distributes the first issue anonymously, and no one suspects that always-follows-the-rules Viv could be behind it. At first, only a few girls show their solidarity by drawing stars and hearts on their hands, but as Viv secretly distributes more issues around the school, more girls join in. They wear bathrobes to school to protest an unfairly applied dress code and slap "You're an A--hole" stickers on the cars, lockers, and backpacks of boys who've harassed girls. In the midst of all this, Viv begins a first romance with Seth, who supports the Moxie Girl movement (but not always strongly enough for Viv). But the more empowered the girls become, the more school administrators become determined to stop them. When a girl comes forward to accuse the principal of refusing to listen when she told him she'd been raped by a football player, the Moxie Girls decide it's time to risk it all by staging a walkout.
Is It Any Good?
Inspiring and insightful, this feminist coming-of-age story has a strong message of can-do empowerment for readers who feel helpless in the face of sexual harassment. Moxie should open the door to serious and honest discussions between teens (both girls and boys) and their parents about what constitutes sexual harassment and what can be done if that culture exists in their school.
There's also a discussion to be had about how far the actions of a movement like the Moxie Girls can go in real life. While identifying harassers with stickers or staging a walkout work well in the novel, they might not be the most productive actions in all situations.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the culture of sexual harassment in Moxie. Does anything like this exist at your school? If girls at your school stand up to boys who harass them, what's the response from other students and school administrators?
Do you think the author unfairly singles out football players as the ones who commit the worst offenses toward girls? Do you think athletes often get a free pass when it comes to bad behavior?
Where do you think the line should be drawn: When is it just boys joking around with girls and when does it cross the line into harassment?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Coming of Age
- Topics : Friendship , School ( High School )
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Roaring Brook Press
- Publication date : September 19, 2017
- Number of pages : 330
- Available on : Paperback, Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : October 9, 2025
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