Official Review #2: "Getting the Girl"

"Getting the Girl" was written by Susan Juby, a Canadian author who lives on Vancouver Island.  She has written several other young adult novels, including the successful Alice MacLeod books which were made into a television series.  "Getting the Girl" is about a freshman who decides to figure out the mystery behind a strange and sinister social phenomenon at his high school.  Many interesting things happen to him as he investigates and the plot twists continue right up until the surprising conclusion.  Juby writes in a very realistic manner.  The language used by the teenage characters reminded me of some of the words I used and the way I talked as a teenager.  The way the main character investigates the high school mystery also seemed like the way a real teenager would do it.  He has no fancy equipment, he gets noticed when he tries to follow people, and he becomes easily distracted from his mission.  I thoroughly enjoyed the realistic portrayal of teenage life.  Juby tried to write a believable story and did it well.

This book is fast paced and easy to read.  Juby also interjects a lot of humor into the story.  This makes the book even easier to read.  Juby has a breezy sort of style, using simple sentences and short chapters to make the book flow quickly.  This book has an easily identifiable moral, yet at the same time Juby does not hit you over the head with it.  The focus is on the story itself rather than using the story to make a point.  Keeping with the non-moralizing theme, there are no simplistic "bad" and "good" characters.  This also lends to the realistic feel of the story.  Juby also deals with drugs matter-of-factly, treating them like a common high school occurrence, which they are and have been for a long time.  The characters also use moderately bad language; meaning that all of it would not be allowed on prime time television, but it would receive no more than a 14a movie rating and probably less.

Physically, the book is attractive and well-designed.  The picture on the front is of teenage feet, which (strangely) seems to be very common for young adult novels.  The text is large and easy to read.  This makes it suitable for younger teens to read.  The only caveats are the fairly mild expletives and depictions of drug use.  Any teen in middle school has probably heard of worse things, however.  Although suitable for younger teens, this book is funny enough and well written enough to be enjoyed by teens of all ages.  2008, HarperTrophyCanada, $14.99, ages 12 and up.