Some Girls Are
High-school senior Regina Afton has been what she believes is an important part of the most popular girls’ clique during middle and high school. And then she’s not. Summers spins a story in which kids are mean, abusive, and quixotic, while adults are for the most part absent or ignorant. Regina, nearly raped by her best friend’s boyfriend, pays for telling by being victimized in a hate campaign. Only her deceased psychiatrist’s teenaged son seems to really care, and when she tries to take revenge on his behalf after her former friends bully him as well, egregious behavior spins out of control. Comeuppance-seeking readers won’t mind that most of the characters are flat: Regina and her once and future crowd make up for their lack of depth with spiteful tongues and dangerous degradings of themselves and their fellow students. An additional choice for collections where Gossip Girl maintains a loyal following. Grades 8-10. --Francisca Goldsmith