• Editor’s note: Lihu‘e Library’s Teen Advisory Board will contribute weekly book reviews of young adult general fiction. Next month look for winning book reviews from the teen book review contest. Two alligators, one baby duck, a hurricane, the world’s
• Editor’s note: Lihu‘e Library’s Teen Advisory Board will contribute weekly book reviews of young adult general fiction. Next month look for winning book reviews from the teen book review contest.
Two alligators, one baby duck, a hurricane, the world’s smallest police station and a surreal pirate-themed hotel are just a few of the things that Vicks, Mel and Jesse encounter on their road trip from the sticks of Niceville, Florida to the bright lights of Miami.
With her bleached hair and riot girl attitude, Vicks is the tough one who won’t admit how much she misses her boyfriend Brady, who just left for college. Jesse is the trailer-dwelling, church-going, good girl who has a secret of her own. Mel is the new girl in town with expensive jeans, her parents’ credit card and a loneliness that she hopes Vicks and Jesse and the open road will cure. Three girls that couldn’t be more different on a road trip that will reveal how much they need each other if they don’t kill each other first.
“How to be Bad” is a surprisingly hilarious and poignant exploration of friendship and growing up. The book is less about the road trip than it is about the girls learning to accept themselves and accept each other. The story is narrated in turns by Jesse, Vicks and Mel in alternating chapters so I felt really connected to each of the characters. I could understand why Vicks could not admit her vulnerability and also see how that distanced her from Mel and Jesse. Her friend’s couldn’t help her because Vicks wasn’t being true about her feelings and was hiding behind her tough-girl attitude.
It was refreshing to see Vicks, Mel and Jesse fight with each other and test their loyalty in a way that brings them closer. One of the hardest things about growing up for me was feeling the changes in myself and my friends as we made different choices about colleges, boyfriends, values and politics.
I would recommend this book to older teens who are facing changes within their group of friends. This book shows how important honesty and being yourself is in a friendship, and that growing up does not necessarily mean growing away.
• Sierra Hampton-Eng is Lihu‘e Library’s young adult librarian.
