A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl

Plot: What does Josie, Nicolette, and Aviva have in common: they all dated the same asshole. The novel is written in a poetry format and each section tells one of the girl's stories. Josie decides to write a warning about this guy at the back of the school library's copy of Judy Blume's Forever. In the end, the reader gets to see the experience of each girl with the same guy and how they all became fools for "love"...or what they thought was love.

Evaluation: I was struck by the author's writing style in this book. Her complete candor and descriptive language that she used in order to formulate each girl's experience was exceptional and as a reader, I felt really sympathetic towards her characters. Josie, although younger than the other show more girls, seems to be the one with the better sense. She decides not to have sex with this guy and even writes a warning about him in the back of the book Forever. She tries to warn other girls, but that doesn't work because this guy seems to make girls weak at the knees when he even looks at them. Ah, that's what a smooth style and sideburns like Luke Perry can do that to a girl (okay, the guy didn't have sideburns...I just imagined that).

The character that I felt went through the most was Nicolette. She is such a lonely character and even though she tries to act all cool and that she doesn't care, you know that she does and that she really wants to be loved. When she is made fun of and called a whore, you can tell that she didn't think of herself that way. She thought that that the darkroom, where she would fool around with this guy was special, but the red light of the darkroom symbolized something else...it wasn't special to him at all and in reality he was basically calling her a whore. Ouch! When she comes to this realization, you can tell that Nicolette is just shattered and I felt so sorry for her.

Stone has created a novel, which reflects the good times as well as the bad of dating a "bad boy." I think that knowing is half the battle, especially when it comes to dating and relationships. Not all boys are like Michael Wagner in Forever because some boys just don't care whether a girl really has a good time the first time that she has sex and this novel demonstrates that in a frank manner. show less

Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

Don't let the title of this book fool you. The "bad boy" in question is definitely bad, and the "can be good" part is more in the vein of "thank God I learned something out of this" rather than "oh, he's so gooood to me." That being said, every high-school age girl in the world needs to read this book, before they meet the proverbial bad boy who, although good at breaking your heart, isn't really good at anything else.

Told in verse, A BAD BOY CAN BE GOOD FOR A GIRL is the story of three girls at Point Beach High. Three very different girls: Josie, the super-confident, always responsible, throw-my-hair-up-in-a-ponytail-and- still-look-good girl; Nicolette, the girl who knows she's called a slut behind show more her back but doesn't care, because by using her body to get what she wants, she's always in control; and Aviva, the Criss-Crosser, who's not too smart, not too pretty, but always popular with every group she befriends.

Three girls, who all have the misfortune of meeting the same bad boy at PBH, not always at separate times. You know the type of bad boy I mean--he calls the freshmen girls "freshmeat"; the abandoned storage closet is his own personal "Red Light District"; the urge to get a girl on her back is much stronger than his desire to get good grades.

When Josie comes to her senses and sees what's happened to herself after being duped and dumped by the bad boy of PBH, she sets out to warn the other girls in school before it can happen to them. What happens next is a story of self-discovery, broken hearts, and renewed spirits for three very different girls.

A BAD BOY CAN BE GOOD FOR A GIRL is a wake-up call to every girl whose ever said she doesn't need a boyfriend to be complete--to every boy whose only looked at girls as a piece of meat with breasts. A great, inspiring read for all ages. show less

Josie, Nicolette and Aviva, all ranging between 14 and 18-years-old, are three strong bright girls, but when the same guy enters their lives at different times, he worms his way under their skin and into their hearts and they ignore their gut instincts warning them against him. Everyone gets hurt. Josie is first, and decides to do something about it. She checks out Forever by Judy Blume from the library, and writes a warning to all girls in the back of the book, and tells every girl she meets to check it out. Some listen, some don’t. Everyone learns something; about themselves, how to be stronger, and what to look out for in the future, and it turns out a bad boy can be good for a girl.

This book was just so awesome. Being a verse show more novel from the point of view of each of the three girls in turn, it feels very much like you’re reading someone’s diary, so feels very personal. Because of how personal it feels, you can’t help but be drawn into it all; you really get into the heads, and hearts, of these three girls, and it was so unbelievably powerful. It also made it hard to read when you know, you just know how things are going to turn out for each girl. The girls are all very different, and so have a different take on the “same old story”- the story being boy meets girl, girl falls for boy, boy breaks girl’s heart – but with each girl, you want to shout and scream at them for their own sake not to fall for it, beat the crap out of this boy, and then give them all a big hug. It was also brilliant that the boy wasn’t named; without a name, he can become the embodiment of every single bad boy out there, and all female readers who know a bad boy will see him in this guy, like I did. The book then becomes your story too as you relive your own experiences while reading about Josie, Nicolette and Aviva’s. As upsetting as it can be, it’s also comforting to think that you’re not the only one.

It’s difficult to talk about the sex in this novel, as it’s all connected with the behaviour of the boy, the feelings of the girls, and the choices the girls make. Before I read the book, I had heard that it was graphic, and it is, but not as much as I thought it would be. The intercourse and oral sex scenes aren’t overly detailed, but there is no steering clear of the desire the girls feel for the boy, and their enjoyment during sexual acts. I found the desire and the enjoyment to stand out and was very believable, but it didn’t overshadow the pain each girl felt when the boy hurt them, which I think is just wonderful. Although there are only a few small mentions, masturbation is brought up, but in a way that makes it seem completely normal, like brushing your teeth, and not taboo, which is great and different from Deenie by Judy Blume, in which the main character gets a bit embarrassed when the topic is brought up in class discussions on sex I don’t think anyone who was to read A Boy Can be Good for a Girl would take the view that sex is fun and they can go and have it, and everything will be fine; this is a story where the sex and the feelings are one and the same, and not two separate things. Although the girls find enjoyment in sexual acts, there is regret when they get so hurt.

I got the feeling that the story wasn’t necessarily moralistic with a message, as in “this is what you should do...”, but more along the lines of being informing as to what can happen, so readers are aware, and can hopefully avoid similar situations. A Bad Boy Can be Good for a Girl is such a powerful, poignant book, and struck such a chord with me. It was just brilliant. All teenage girls should read this book; they should be forewarned. As Josie says, “Forewarned is forearmed. Forever.” show less

4Q, 4P.

While this book was not as explicit as others who challenge this boo, I was still caught off guard as to how honest and full of emotion this book was. Stone does a wonderful job in expressing the many emotions a teen girl feel while discovering themselves and their bodies. I appreciated that all girls were not negative about themselves, or who they are. Instead they learn through their mistakes, through falling in love, through their desires, and finally through heartbreak. Mentions of Judy Blume's book "Forever" is intertwined in the pages making a wonderful shout-out to the original cautionary tale.

PLUS -
* A verse novel, which is quick to read and will certainly grab even the most reluctant teenage (female) readers.
* Three separate stories are told - how three very different, very realistic teenage girls all fall for, and are ultimately used by, the same 'bad' boy.
* Each of the three main characters are really well written. We are quickly inside their heads, understanding their obsession with the boy in question even though we know it's probably not going to end well.
* The main themes are those of teenage sex, self esteem and the relationship between the two. It's not by any means a moralistic book - all three girls enjoy sex, they each make their own decisions and are not forced into anything, but ultimately regret their show more decisions to have sex with someone who does not respect (let alone love) them.

MINUS -
* This is not a book for the faint hearted. If you don't want to acknowledge the fact that the world is full of sexually active teens, and don't want to read some fairly graphic (though never tasteless) descriptions of what this means, then this is not the book for you.

OVERALL -
* A very frank look at teenage sexuality which will be hugely popular with girls age 14 and over. It's one that will be talked about on the grapevine I think! show less

I did not find this book; it found me. I was searching through the stacks for YA graphic novels when I came across it, hidden in that group. An especially juicy section was bookmarked with a slip of paper from the library and I assumed some YA did not feel comfortable checking it out, but was ‘checking it out’ just the same. I scooped it up only to find it on the READING RANTS list of the best YA romances and with great reviews. I never would have picked it up based on the title or the graphic-y cover, but I LOVED IT and I loved the premise: a high school girl who knows better gets burned by the school heart throb. Instead of hiding she admits her mistakes to herself and her slighted girl friends, and turns her heartbreak and show more humiliation into a positive force for change by telling her story and using it as a cautionary tale for other victims (actual and potential). Using Judy Blume’s romance classic, Forever, she warns girls of what happened to her by writing all over the volume in the school library. Two other girls realize too late and after they are burned they also read the notes, only to realize that many, many girls have fallen for that jerk. They are not alone; instead they are empowered. 11/06 show less

Written in verse, three girls encounter the same bad boy. Using a library copy of Judy Blume's Forever, all the girls that have been used by this boy leave messages to each other, sharing their experiences.

When I saw all these reviews saying this should be required reading I wasn't so sure about that... After reading this, I think it should be required reading for girls, boys, grownups, parents, everyone! What a powerful piece in such a slim package. I think it's one great life lesson. I hadn't heard of this book until it was mentioned as a giveaway on a blog and I looked into it. It's a shame it isn't more widely recognized.

Though the book teaches a powerful lesson it's still very fun to read. I really enjoyed it. I had never read show more anything I liked in verse, probably because it was all school related. But this book is very easily digestible. Makes me want to seek out other books in the same format.

I also really like the cover. It's perfect, the image, the doodles, the handwritten title. I could do without the boy's stubble. There's something about the image being so close-up that makes it distracting. show less