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*Good Girls* by Laura Ruby - young adult book review

 





 

Good Girls
by Laura Ruby
Grades 10-12 288 pages HarperTeen September 2006 Hardcover    

Good Girls has gotten quite a bit of attention, recommended by several websites covering young adult and teen literature. It definitely lives up to the hype. It's the story of sixteen-year-old high school senior (she skipped the third grade) Audrey Porter. She has the reputation of a good student, good daughter, just an all around good kid. Then, after one night at a party, that reputation changes a lot. Now, Audrey has a new reputation as a slut, something nobody ever expected. How did this happen?

It wouldn't have, before the time of camera phones and picture messaging. Someone snapped a shot of Audrey in a rather embarrassing (especially when everyone she knows - classmates, teachers, the principal, even her parents - sees the picture) position with Luke DeSalvio, rumored to be a big player. Audrey's a "good girl," the last person anyone expects to be in this humiliating picture, but there she is. She's easily identifiable by her long blonde hair, the only hair like it in her school.

Luke is as easily recognized as Audrey, but nothing bad happens to him. He's a guy, so he's probably getting congratulated by his friends. He doesn't have to endure insults from classmates, lectures by the principal about being a better example, discussions with parents, a gynecologist's exam, or any of the other consequences Audrey is dealing with. Audrey learns that for guys, their sexuality is expected, but good girls aren't supposed to do things with boys like Audrey did with Luke; it doesn't matter that they've got feelings about it, too. Good girls wait. Only a dumb slut would be caught with a guy, right?

Laura Ruby's Good Girls is a book that teenage girls won't want to miss. It's one of the best, most honest and real books for teenagers that I've read. It's original and definitely takes place in the world known by teenagers today (especially the part about cell phones being the means by which the story is spread). The plot never allows a dull moment, and some interesting twists and real surprises make this book far better than many of the predictable young adult books out there. The characters are as well-developed, realistic, and interesting as the plot. There's also a slight mystery element: who took the picture of Audrey with Luke that changed her life?

Audrey does learn a lesson about being true to herself, but this is not an overly sappy book that focuses on being a "good girl" the way they teach it in church. Real "good girls" are the ones who know how to be good to themselves, not the ones who do what is expected of them (not that the two can't go hand in hand). It's a great message, but the story is told in a way that will have teenagers feeling as if they could be the ones in the story, not as if they're being preached to.

Audrey does learn a lesson about being true to herself, but this is not an overly sappy book that focuses on being a "good girl" the way they teach it in church. Real "good girls" are the ones who know how to be good to themselves, not the ones who do what is expected of them (not that the two can't go hand in hand). It's a great message, but the story is told in a way that will have teenagers feeling as if they could be the ones in the story, not as if they're being preached to.



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