Author: Lauren Myracle
Publisher: Amulet Books
Published Date: april 1, 2005 (reprint edition)
Source: Puchased
Rating: 4 stars - I liked it a lot.
Synopsis (from amazon): This funny, smart novel follows the friendship of three 16 year old girls as they experience some of the typical pitfalls of adolescence: boys, queen-bee types, a flirty teacher, beer, crazy parents, and more. Lauren Myracle has a gift for dialogue and characterization, and the girls emerge as three distinctive and likable personalities through their Internet correspondence. This light, fast-paced read is told entirely in instant message format, the first book ever for young adults to be written so.
I think every time I mention Lauren Myracle I have to add in how very much my almost 10 year old daughter loves her middle grade series, the Flower Power series, and I was curious to read Lauren's Internet Girls series just to get a sample of her YA writing. But then I couldn't resist reviewing the story for Banned Books Week because this series appears on ALA's Top Ten Banned Books list year after year.
When I read banned books, I always read them with a mindset of "why on Earth would this be banned?" In reading ttyl, I can see how some adults would be uncomfortable. The three girls are fast and fierce friends. They're not in the most popular clique but they stick together through some very credible situations -- a flirtation with a teacher, dealing with the mean, popular girl in school (Jana) and well, then there's Norman (you'll see what I mean when you read the book). Heavy situations? Yes. Do they happen in real life? Oh yes, they do. Should the book be banned because the language used is, at times, very sexually frank? No. I've had the pleasure of walking through our high school just recently and oh, the language! If only those students conjugated verbs in their foreign language classes as well as they swore in English. But the language in ttyl is real. Most of us went through that phase and yes, we grew out of it. For the most part.
What I loved about the story was the friendship between the girls. I loved how it changed and molded around the situations they were experiencing. And I liked how they were always there for each other. Lauren reflects reality so well because with three girls being so close, there isn't always a balance in the friendship. There's jealousy and mistakes and Lauren wrote all those in there.
The format uses IMs and chat rooms which makes it a very fast read and an excellent book for reluctant readers. I'd recommed this book to readers sixth grade and older. For my fellow parents, don't fear a book where girls are curious and discuss sexuality openly. Remember how we did that, too? Yeah, I know I see you all cringing along with me. So now, will you pick it up and read it? Please say, yes.
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Great review, Sophie! I'll definitely have to pick TTYL up the next time banned books week rolls around because I like books where characters speak openly about sexuality, they didn't really do that a whole lot when I was a kid.
ReplyDeleteApril - I certainly had girlfriends who did. I was shy but curious myself. Now as an adult, I realize how important it is to have books with just these characters around. Hope you enjoy it, too.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the challenge of the TTYL Book because it should be put on shelves that only certain age appropriate children or young adults can read. I believe that it could have been handled a different way. Some teenagers may look to the book for guidance or may find it fun just to read.
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