I am so glad we chose this book! I had a really fun time reading it. In high school I felt that in class we only read stories that boys could relate to. I always felt that when we did read a book with a female main character it wasn't really "true" to how girls feel. I believe this book does an amazing job of capturing and relating to the issues young girls deal with. I would really like for students to read this in my high school class room. I feel that some of the issues brought up in the book might be too intense for middle school students. I would feel very comfortable discussing the issues in the book with a high school classroom and having them express their own experiences. The book talks about tough issues, such as date rape, but in a productive manner that students could really learn something from. I think that the author handles the intense scenes in the plot very delicately.
I believe it is important for teachers to try and connect with their students. A great way to do this is to have them read books that are relevant to the interests and issues they deal with on a daily bases. This book is very interesting, and I think that students would really enjoy the characterizations while forming their own emotional connections with the plot. I would also hope that by having students read a book that they like it would encourage them to participate a lot in classroom discussions and activities.