The Girls

Title: The Girls
Author: Amy Goldman Koss
Genre Study: Contemporary Realistic Fiction grade level 6-8

     This book is perfect for middle school aged girls because I think it is a story they can all relate to.  However, I would not use this book academically for any reason more than simply something to encourage reading at that age.  This book tells the story of a group of average middle school girls and the drama that is oh so common.  I liked how each chapter is from a different point of view so you can really get a sense of who each character is and how they think.  It did take a little getting used to figuring out which girl did what and said what but by the end the reader knows each of the girls individually.  On the other hand, this was such a quick read that I feel like too big of a portion of the book was just a warm up and I felt there should have been more to the story than what it was left at.  The girls are very over dramatic and some are very mean but as I said, any girl who has been through middle school should be able to relate whether they have been any of the characters in the situation or know someone like them.  I did like the little bit of irony at the end and that some of the nice girls did not totally lose to the mean girl but it would have been better with more depth.  I would recommend this book to female students with the pure intention of trying to get them to read, and to enjoy reading.  Hopefully they would enjoy reading this story that could be easy to relate to.