Title: Big Mouth & Ugly Girl Author: Joyce Carol Oates
Publish Date: April 2003
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Pages: 288pp
ISBN: 0064473473
Classification: Fiction
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age Range: 13 and up
Annotation: When sixteen-year-old Matt, AKA Big Mouth, is falsely accused of threatening to blow up his high school and his friends turn against him, an unlikely classmate, Ursula Riggs AKA Ugly Girl, comes to his aid.
Summary: Big Mouth is Matt Donaghy, a popular well-read teen who likes to make jokes. After making a seemingly harmless comment, he finds himself unexpectedly driven into the center of a controversy over safety within school. Ugly Girl is Ursula Riggs, a loner and star of the girl’s basketball team. She doesn’t care what anyone thinks or feels. She barely knows Matt, but steps in to defend him when everyone else is against him. The two form an unlikely friendship and eventually a romantic relationship.
Evaluation:Extremely well-written story with engaging characters that sort of become your friends. The novel explores a post Columbine-era where school shootings, or bomb threats are not taken lightly. The characters are well developed, making them seem real and missed when you finish reading. Overall, a very satisfying read.
Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness:
- Being accused of something you did not do.
- Having everyone turn his or her backs on you.
- Being a loner/outcast.
- Opposites attract.
- Discovering who your real friends are.
Reason this book was chosen: I read some great reviews about this book and thought it was an interesting look inside a post-Columbine era when it can be dangerous to not take every remark seriously, yet false accusations and rumors can really hurt people's reputations and lives.
Similar Titles:
Awards:
ALA Best Books for Young Adults, 2003
ALA Popular Paperbacks, 2005
