Ginger Rue
Random House/Tricycle Press, 2009, 240 pp., $15.99, TricyclePress.com
Nice, witty, eighth-grade Emily has managed to land on the popular “Daisies'” bad side. Social punishment comes to a head with black letters scrawled on her locker: “EMILY SUCKS BIG TIME.” A public relations agent helps Emily rebrand herself. It’s all fun and games until somebody loses an identity…and a potential boyfriend.
Most of the story’s adults are people whom youth workers like to recruit. Along with Em’s loving and respectful relationship with her dad, I like the book’s strong messages about gossip, being yourself and friendship.
Wading through the cynical tone, some crass language in the name of righteous indignation and numerous eye-rolling references to someone’s sexiness or hotness made me wonder whether tweenagers—the target audience—really need one more source from which to have exposure to what secular culture already provides.
