I really wish we'd gotten some of the other girls' friends. I don't mind Sonali and Gwen, but I would have loved Sarita from Jess's book, for example.
Chrissa has just moved in with her grandmother, who claimed her house was too big for just her after her husband's death. So here come Chrissa, her older brother Tyler, their doctor mom and potter dad.
Chrissa immediately has to deal with bullying in school. It happens directly to her when her valentines are stolen and it happens to Gwen in front of Chrissa.
Things only get worse and even take on a physical form. Chrissa is stabbed in the back by someone's mechanical pencil and she has to push the lead out of her skin in the girls' room. Gwen has her bangs chopped off by Tara, the queen bully.
Throughout the book, Chrissa is afraid to tell anyone what's happening. I understand this lesson, because it can be hard to tell, but at the same time, JUST FUCKING TELL SOMEONE. One of those little bitches friggin' stabbed you with a pencil, for fuck's sake.
Chrissa finally tells the truth, turns bully-lite Sonali into a friend, befriends formerly homeless Gwen, and the three get the bullies separated into different desk "clusters" at school.
Gwen's homelessness is a very minor plotline I wish they'd spent more time on.
I like both of Chrissa's parents and her grandmother, but her brother is not going to win any sibling awards anytime soon. He doesn't listen when Chrissa tells him Tara and Jadyn are mean girls. He even goes along with one of their plots and snaps her goggles on her face, leaving red marks behind. And his apology for that is not nearly sufficient enough. He's a dick.
And he continues to be kind of a dick in the second book. This time Chrissa faces off against him though and even becomes involved in some minor bullying herself, although it culminates in a more major accident.
Set in summer, Chrissa, Gwen and Sonali have become fast friends, but Tara is also showing signs of changing and Chrissa wants to give her a chance. The other two do not and they basically cut Chrissa out of their lives because she's willing to give Tara a chance to change. Dick move, you two. I can understand not wanting to hang with Tara, but don't cut Chrissa out because she's willing to let people change and you're less trusting.
There are instances of text bullying and cyber-bullying, both of which Gwen and Sonali think Tara is behind. Chrissa points out there's no evidence and they really turn against her. Chrissa turns out to be right though! Jadyn is the culprit, so they both have to suck it up and apologize for jumping to the wrong conclusions.
This book is more about how people can change and move forward in their lives, and how we need to try to give them a chance to make things right. But it's also about how easy it is to become caught up in bullying behavior, whether it's minor or not.
I remember liking these more when they came out, but now a decade later, I wasn't really feeling either. I like the characters okay, but not nearly as much as past GotYs. I actually ended up with the Chrissa doll, but it wasn't long before I sold her.
WTF is up with the illustrations for Sonali, too? She's way lighter in the art than her doll. The darkest she is is right there on the second book cover and that's still way lighter than the doll. SIGH.
So yeah, important message in these two books, but the execution hasn't held up, in my opinion. Kind of wondering why I liked these enough to buy the doll back then. Maybe I liked the movie better...
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