Those Girls
By Kate Pavao,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Not much to like about these shallow, mean girls.
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What you will—and won't—find in this book.
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What's the Story?
When mysterious -- and snotty -- Stella Fox transfers into Jinx's exclusive English boarding school, most of the girls immediately dislike her. But when she starts to steal Jinx's best friend, Jinx commits to discovering her secret. Making matters worse, evil housemistress Ms. Gunn is out to get Jinx and her friends -- torturing them with liquor raids and early-morning roll call (shouted over a megaphone). Even fun-loving Jinx has to wonder: Will life in the sixth form ever be good again?
Is It Any Good?
Readers may get a kick out of some of the over-the-top characters at Jinx's exclusive boarding school. There's Ms. Gunn, the faculty's angry drunk, who invents terrible punishments for the girls but always ends up as the butt of their jokes. There are also some tender moments between Jinx and her best friend Liberty, and nice images of Jinx's weekend home life with her wacky -- but loving -- family.
But in the end, readers will be troubled by the book's stereotypical characters, such as Liberty's overprotective Saudi Arabian father, who kidnapped her from her mother as a child and now makes references to "common prostitutes" when he catches her doing something he doesn't like. Also, the girls seem too wrapped up in their shallow lives and small dramas to care about anything real (when a teacher is injured in class, for example, the girls laugh and stand around instead of getting her help). This is yet another clique lit book series, so there will be plenty more to learn about those girls at Stagmount. But most teen readers -- even those that like a guilty-pleasure series -- should opt for something else.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the impact of books like this one that feature lots of swearing, drinking, and bad behavior. Do these books simply reflect current teen culture -- or do they encourage kids to act out? Should parents care about (and monitor) what's in their kids' books, or just be happy that they are reading?
Book Details
- Author: Sara Lawrence
- Genre: Coming of Age
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Razorbill
- Publication date: October 4, 2007
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 14 - 17
- Number of pages: 320
- Last updated: July 12, 2017
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