Reviews
High school junior Daisy Garcia has heard of other students
getting in trouble for sexting, but she never imagines anything
could go wrong when her boyfriend, Simon, asks her to send him a
provocative pic. The perils of irresponsible Internet
sharing and controlling boyfriends are some of the challenges that
surface in this addition to the Surviving Southside series, written
at a fourth-grade reading level. A subplot about a school
talent show rounds out the story. Readers looking for a
brisk read about teens with real-life problems should be hooked by
the crisp writing and high stakes. --Publishers
Weekly
-- "Journal"
Series Review: While fairly short and to the point, this series of
low-reading-level, high-interest fiction titles are interesting to
read and worth having in any teen collection. The topics covered
are hard hitting, controversial, and may fill a need in most teen
collections. Each title can be read alone but also manages to
connect with the other titles in one way or another. In
The
Alliance, lesbian Carmen Mendoza is being threatened, probably
by the same person who bullied football player Scott King's best
friend into suicide (before the book starts) over being gay. Both
try to start a Gay-Straight Alliance separately, then are teamed up
and almost succeed before school board politics interfere. The GSA
story appears again, in a different way, in
The Fight;
which features Bella trying to take a stand against a school board
policy that may have contributed to a friend killing himself
partway through the story. In
Overexposed, Daisy sends
some explicit phone pics to her boyfriend right before they fight.
Naturally, they end up all over school, her older brother tries to
defend her, and the school administration steps in with their
sexting policies. Finally,
Full Impact demonstrates to
readers the dangers of football, focusing on concussions. Arnie
begins to act a bit weird, but his best friend Norval tries to blow
it off. Norval does not want to ruin their friendship or Arnie's
chances at a college scholarship--until it is too late. Arnie is in
the hospital, and his football and high school careers are over.
Each book has strongly believable plots, well-developed characters,
and relevant topics for today's youth. While this reviewer only
read four of the twelve titles in the SurvivingSouthside series,
all would be worth adding in the less expensive paperback format to
any teen collection.
--
BayViews
-- "Journal"
