Jared's Book Reviews: "A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl" by Tanya Lee Stone - Module 15 Often Challenged Books

Genre: A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl (Stone, 2006) is a book that is often challenged or banned, because of its nature as a frank and very open depiction of teen sexuality, indeed, that is the entire book, there is no other plot to it. The book gets more flak than it deserves – it does not, as some comments I saw argued – reveling or advocating for teen promiscuity, but is trying to realistically talk about what actually happens, and talk about the risks involved.

Book Summary: A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl is a simplistic but honest look at three girls experiences dating (though the term is used loosely) the same boy in high school. The first girl is able to resist giving in, the second doesn’t want to resist, but ends up hurt when she falls for the boy, and the third is similarly hurt when she falls in love much more than the boy does with her.

Impressions: I am obviously not in the target audience for this book. Not even remotely. That said, I think it has some merit as an honest (attempt) at looking at the real issues and risks of teens dating life. I think the book still underplays some of these risks, and the verse style of the book is not particularly well used, lacking in much else in the way of poetic stylings or imagery besides the verse format, but then again, more vivid and detailed imagery would not be a good addition to this book about teens, given the subject matter. I was also quite bored throughout most of the book, as there is no plot beyond the boy in question and his pursuit of the three point of view characters.

Professional Review: From School Library Journal (2006)
STONE, Tanya Lee. A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl. 223p. Random/Wendy Lamb Bks. Jan. 2006. Tr $14.95. ISBN 0-385-74702-0; PLB $16.99. ISBN 0-385-90946-2.1. LC number unavailable.
Gr 9 Up-Three girls succumb to the charms of one sexy high school senior and emerge wiser for the experience in this energetic novel in verse. Josie is a self-assured freshman who values her girlfriends over boys until a hot jock focuses his attention on her and her simmering hormones break into a full boil. Confused by her behavior, yet unable to control her desire, she acts out every romantic cliché she has ever disdained, until the boy drops her and she experiences the chill of rejection. It is Judy Blume's Forever that sparks Josie's fire again, and finding a few blank pages at the back of the library's copy, she sends a warning to the girls of her school. Next readers meet Nicolette, a junior who sees her sexuality as power. A loner, she's caught by surprise at her own reaction when this popular boy takes notice of her. Suddenly she thinks she sees the difference between sex and love, and then, just as suddenly, he's gone. Finally, Aviva, a pretty, smart, artsy, and funny senior, is stunned when the jock seems to want her. She gives up her virginity, only to be disappointed in both the sex and the boy. Furious, Aviva heads to the library to check out Forever, now crammed with the words of girls who suffered the same fate at the hands of the same boy. The free verse gives the stories a breathless, natural flow and changes tone with each narrator. The language is realistic and frank, and, while not graphic, it is filled with descriptions of the teens and their sexuality. This is not a book that will sit quietly on any shelf; it will be passed from girl to girl to girl.-Susan Oliver, Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library System, FL

Library Uses: Aside from potential discussions for banned book week, this could be useful for an older teen program about growing up and/or sexuality. It could also be useful for a teen girl program about some of the risks in dating and boys. Those uses could potentially run into problems of the sort that try to ban the book in the first place.
The best use for this book, I think, would be a program for parents, a discussion about what things are really like for teens and how they can help them navigate the ‘rapids’ of life.

Readalikes: Given that the book itself references the book many times, Forever by Judy Blume is an obvious suggestion for teens who read this book. Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before has a similar theme, and I actually would recommend Twilight as something of a counterpoint to the book, with a bit more old-fashioned idea of dating… sort of.

References
Stone, T. L. (2006). A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl. New York, NY: Random House Inc.
Oliver, S. (2006). A bad boy can be good for a girl. School Library Journal, 52(1), 144. Retrieved from https://libproxy.library.unt.edu/login?url=https://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2165/docview/211819297?accountid=7113