The Girls

Rating:
Summary: The Girls Review
Review: "The Girls" is a book about a group of five girls: Maya, Cadance, Brinna, Renne, and Darcy. All the sudden these girls start to exclude Maya. They especially be mean to her when Dracy has a sleepover and Cadance, the leader of the group who Darcy will do anything for, tells Darcy not to invite Maya and they call her and say some very mean things about her and her family.
I LOVED this book very much, it was very interesting but I think it could of had more action in it.
This book kept me surprised and intersted the whole way through.

Rating:
Summary: Chantal for school
Review: 'The Girls' is a great, realistic teenage book. It's about a group of 5 "popular" girls. The girls do everything together, and they think they're all best friends. Really, it was just Maya, Darcy, Renee, and Brianna under control of Candace.

I loved reading this book because it's totally true about middle-school girls and I see it everyday. But at the same time I didn't like it because it was like a reality check. 'The Girls' basically flaunts how cruel middle-school cliches can be. When Candace totally dumps Maya out of the group and then stars talking about her behind her back, it was almost daring the other girls to say something and get dumped too. I felt guilty because I've seen this in action and havn't spoken up. While I was reading this I was disgusted that theuy could be friends and not have them say anything, but it still happens daily.

This book has a very good perspective of "relationship bullying". The only think I didn't understand about the book was why Candace thought that Darcy, Brianna, Renee, and Maya felt like leeches. I mean, they're her friends, why should they feel too attached? Do all "ringleaders" feel this way about their followers?

I would recommend this book to girls from about 6th grade through high-school. It's pretty easy reading but it's still fun. If you're having problems with your friends and feel like your cliche is breaking off or slowly dumping you this is a good point of view. Even if you're not going through that but want to avoid doing that to your own friends than this is your book.

Rating:
Summary: Reality Check!
Review: 'The Girls'is a great, realistic teenage book. It's about a group of 5 "popular girls". The girls do everything together, and they think they're all best friends. Really, it was just Maya, Darcy, Renee, and Brianna under control of Candace.

I loved reading this book because it's totally true about middle-school girls and I see it everyday. But at the same time I didn't like it because it was like a reality check. 'The Girls' totally flaunts how cruel middle-school cliches can be. When Candace basically dumps Maya out of the group and then starts talking about her behind her back, it was almost daring the other girls to say something and get dumped too. I felt guilty reading this because I've seen this in action and havn't spoken up. It shows all the sides of the story and while I was reading this I was disgusted that they could be friends and not have them say anything, but then it still happens daily.

This book has a very good perspective of "relationship bullying". The only thing I didn't understand about the book was why Candace felt that Darcy, Brianna, and Renne felt like leeches. I mean, they're supposed to be her friends, why should she feel like they're too attached? Do all "ringleaders" feel this way about their followers?

I would recommend this book to girls from about 6th grade through high school. It's pretty easy reading but it's still fun to read. If you're having problems with your friends and feel like your cliche is breaking off or slowly dumping you, this is a good point of view. Even if you're not going through that but want to avoid doing that to your own friends than this is your book.

Rating:
Summary: The evil girls do...
Review: ...The Girls" is an absorbing story about the battlefield that is middle school social circles. Told from the point of view of each of the five girls, the story covers one weekend in their lives. At the beginning Maya has just been "ousted" from the group by Candace, the group's leader. The reason? Maya has no idea why and neither do the other three girls. They just go along with whatever Candace wants. As the story unfolds, we see the grip Candace has on each of their views. The great thing about this book is the way the author switches viewpoints every chapter. As a result you get to know the inner workings of each of the characters minds. You know their thoughts on Candace, the situation with Maya, and more. Each girl has her own distinct voice that was easily discernable from the others. As a result I found myself feeling a different way towards each of the girls. The novel was truly enjoyable and I would highly recommend it to anyone in middle school.

Rating:
Summary: Welcome to middle school
Review: Although it might appeal to elementary girls, this book is really directed at middle school students and deals with issues they face daily: how to dress, how to act, who to be friends with, etc. The novel switches each chapter to tell a different girl's point of view, all of whom are friends at the beginning. Maya, the first character introduced, has been recently ousted by the most popular girl, Candace. Consequently the group must abandon her, and it is how each girl deals with this that makes the story so fascinating. Slowly other members of the group are turned from Candace's favor as she bestows the power of her friendship on another girl, revealing a cycle that is emphasized by the new girl's thoughts of Candace in the last chapter. One is left to wonder how many girls have gone through this process of joining and being kicked out of her clique, as well as why she does it. Each chapter gives insight into the girls' thoughts and homelife, but the reader never gets to know why Candace is so cruel. Her thoughts are ponderings on why her mom had so many kids and how powerful fire is, which makes one wonder if she even does realize how she acts or is just like fire, as one girl puts it, "a force of nature, oblivious to her own effect." Middle school girls will relate to these characters and hopefully learn how to stand up to such characters when they realize they're not alone. Highly recommended for that age group.

Rating:
Summary: Believable and compelling
Review: Amy Goldman Koss's "The Girls" is a horribly realistic portrayal of the nastiness that goes on in middle-school cliques. The story is alternatingly told from the points of view of all five girls in the group, which was a wise decision on Ms. Koss's part as it allows us to develop a varying amounts of sympathy for all the characters, even the meanest ones.

One of the most sympathetic figures here is Maya Koptiev, who at at the outset of the story has been the most recent one to be ostracized from the group. The ostracization of Maya (and others, as the tale progresses) is initiated by the clique's ringleader, Candace Newman. Nasty, gutsy, charismatic, and possessing the power to make everyone around kowtow to her, Candace is altogether too believable a character - as is her ugly-acting sidekick, Darcy. Yet at the same time, both girls' characters are three-dimensional. You might want to hate them, but you can't.

Rounding out the group are weak-willed Brianna, who wants to remain friends with the excluded Maya but can't quite manage to wriggle out of Candace's proverbial clutches; and shy Renee, who dithers her way through sentences and worries about her father, the "jukebox man". Also prevalent are supporting players Keloryn (Darcy's college-bound older sister) and Nicole (a redhead Candace adopts for what Brianna refers to as her "girl collection").

At 121 pages, "The Girls" is a short novel, but everything is there that needs to be. It is an (unfortunately) accurate and very compelling story from beginning to end.

Rating:
Summary: Believable and compelling
Review: Amy Goldman Koss's "The Girls" is a horribly realistic portrayal of the nastiness that goes on in middle-school cliques. The story is alternatingly told from the points of view of all five girls in the group, which was a wise decision on Ms. Koss's part as it allows us to develop a varying amounts of sympathy for all the characters, even the meanest ones.

One of the most sympathetic figures here is Maya Koptiev, who at at the outset of the story has been the most recent one to be ostracized from the group. The ostracization of Maya (and others, as the tale progresses) is initiated by the clique's ringleader, Candace Newman. Nasty, gutsy, charismatic, and possessing the power to make everyone around kowtow to her, Candace is altogether too believable a character - as is her ugly-acting sidekick, Darcy. Yet at the same time, both girls' characters are three-dimensional. You might want to hate them, but you can't.

Rounding out the group are weak-willed Brianna, who wants to remain friends with the excluded Maya but can't quite manage to wriggle out of Candace's proverbial clutches; and shy Renee, who dithers her way through sentences and worries about her father, the "jukebox man". Also prevalent are supporting players Keloryn (Darcy's college-bound older sister) and Nicole (a redhead Candace adopts for what Brianna refers to as her "girl collection").

At 121 pages, "The Girls" is a short novel, but everything is there that needs to be. It is an (unfortunately) accurate and very compelling story from beginning to end.

Rating:
Summary: The Girls
Review: Candace has long hair, and is popular. Darcy is Candace's best friend, and she gossips about eveything. Renee says "um" a lot, and is very nice. Maya has short hair, and has a little sister named Lena. Brianna is an honorary auntie to Candace's two little twin sisters, and she hates her nose. In the begining Darcy had a slumber party, which took at her house. The middle was when Candace and Darcy decided not to like Maya and Brianna, this happened at school and at the girls' houses. Last was when everyone started to go their own direction, this was at the school and at the girls' houses.
The Girls was very interesting when all the girls started to fight, also it was very sad. The book was at the right pace where I could understand it. There were no confusing spots. The setting really set the book off to a great start because it was like they were my own friends. The message the author was giving me helped me to understand the book.
The book will probably effect the reader in an exciting way. I feel this way because things happened in the book that happened in my life.

Rating:
Summary: Audiobook brings "The Girls" to life
Review: Gone are the days of "family reading" on a regular basis; instead, it's a lot of back and forth to school and activities. So that's why I've gotten into the habit of playing audiobooks during those car rides. My daughters don't complain, they leave their Gameboys at home, and we get to talk about the books we hear together.

As the mom of a 9 yr. old and 11 yr. old, "The Girls" in audiobook form was perfect for the car. You can listen to a chapter in a single trip, and shut the tape/CD off and talk about what's just happened. The story's told by a different girl in each chapter, and all the voices lived up to their characterizations.

Candace was snide and flippant and excellent as the leader of the group; Renee was slow and thoughtful and her confusion about the whole situation was made even more powerful by the separation of her parents and the pain she was going through - you could hear so much of what was going on inside just by the tone in her voice; Brianna was every bit the actress and daughter of her well-educated parents; Darcy was wonderful as Candace's best friend and "enforcer" - her voice revealed her insecurities even as she was being cruel to her "victims"; and Maya had the right note of sadness and loss to her chapters - she sounded younger and more naive than the others, and it came through in her voice.

This is a great audiobook to get for longer car trips as well. No more fighting over which music CD we listen to! Amy Goldman Koss tells the story of exclusion and group behavior very convincingly, and the audiobook from Full Cast Audio brings it to life with actual teenage girls as the narrators. Give it a try!

Rating:
Summary: This book has no plot!
Review: I found this book in my 11 year-old sister's room, and thought it looked interesting. Boy was I wrong! This book can be confusing to follow because each chapter is writted from another character's point of view. Not only does this book have so weak a plot that it seems to be non-existent, but the portrayel of the four teenage girls who are the main characters is totally false! The plot in this book is so unbelievable! I wouldn't waste your money on this book. If you desperatly want to read this book, then borrow it from the library, but do not spend your own money on it!