Common Sense Media Review
By Monica Mehta
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Tween friends tackle healthy relationships and food choices.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 9+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
Violet, Katie-Rose, Camilla, and Yasaman aren't just BFFs, they're FFFs -- flower friends forever. Together they embark on a crusade to rid their school of evil Cheezy Nips -- unhealthy cheese snacks without any cheese in them. In the meantime, they deal with all things tween, including crushes, friendships in peril, mean girls, difficult family relationships, and bullying. All of this is set against a social media backdrop: back at home, the girls communicate through Luyyabunches.com, a private networking site that includes a blog and videos. This is the second book in the Flower Power Book series; the first is Luv Ya Bunches.
Is It Any Good?
There's a lot packed into the book, and the author has written it in a decidedly contemporary tween voice, which can be overly sweet with its liberal use of exclamation points and italics. Readers may find the diversity too forced and simplified -- none of the major problems the girls face are about their ethnicity, race, or the sexual preference of their parents. But the messages are very positive, and much about their elementary-school life is realistic.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the four different friends on the book's cover. Do they seem like full-bodied characters -- and could they be friends in real life? In what way do the girls emulate stereotypes, and how do they defy them? Can you think of other books or movies led by a very diverse group of girlfriends, like this one?
One of the themes in the book is bullying -- a topic that has also been in the news very much as of late. This might be a good time to check in with your kids about what kind of bullying goes on in their schools. Does what happens in the book seem realistic? How do your own experiences compare?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Contemporary Fiction
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Amulet Books
- Publication date : October 1, 2010
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 9 - 13
- Number of pages : 384
- Last updated : July 13, 2017
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