From School Library Journal
Grade 8 Up–When Mrs. Treemont dies, leaving a substantial sum of money for a scholarship, the students at Ardsmore High take note. The only catch is that the candidate "must exemplify purity of soul and body," which everyone assumes is another way of saying "virgin." Four friends–Eva, Kai, Debbie, and Mandy–all have reasons for wanting the money. However, unbeknownst to her friends, Kai has already shamefully lost her virginity. Everyone thinks that Debbie has, but she's using slutty behavior to hide, for her own reasons, her brains. Eva's in love with a guy who doesn't know she exists. Mandy and her boyfriend hope to consummate their love on Mandy's birthday the following week. The author has deftly used the scholarship aspect of the story as a vehicle to make the case for abstinence without moralizing. The breezy, light tone and some plot elements keep the story from being entirely realistic, but Brian's intuitive understanding of the roller coaster of emotions that teens go through when it comes to physical attraction, first sexual encounters, and true love is right on target.
–Catherine Ensley, Latah County Free Library District, Moscow, ID Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Gr. 9-12. Call it the
Nunnery of the Traveling Pants--or, in the lingo of the recent teen-hormone fest by Melvin Burgess (see companion review),
Not Doing It. Produced by 17th Street Productions, the same book mill responsible for Ann Brashares'
Pants duet, this slickly packaged novel deals with the strain that vying for the same scholarship puts on a group of friends, all senior girls. What makes the competition particularly freighted is its unusual stipulation: the winning candidate "must exemplify purity of soul and body." The Virginity Club, or V Club, evolves as a resume-friendly way for students to proclaim their "purity." Although the alternating perspectives--four in all--prevent character from gaining much depth, they do allow Brian, author of
The Princess & the Pauper (2002), to represent the full range of teens' attitudes about sex and levels of sexual experience. In the end, though, the focus is more on the shifting dynamics among the friends than anything else; when intimate situations occur, Brian keeps things strictly PG-13. Problems resolve tidily and purposefully by story's end, with lessons about self-respect, honesty among friends, and frequently unpredictable ramifications of sexual decisions nicely absorbed.
Jennifer MattsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
