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A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl by Tanya Lee Stone
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A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl by Tanya Lee Stone
Paperback $8.99
Jun 12, 2007 | ISBN 9780553495096

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    Jun 12, 2007 | ISBN 9780553495096 | Young Adult

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  • Dec 18, 2007 | ISBN 9780307433053 | Young Adult

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Product Details

Praise

“Three girls succumb to the charms of one sexy high school senior and emerge wiser for the experience in this energetic novel in verse. . . The free verse gives the stories a breathless, natural flow and changes tone with each narrator. The language is realistic and frank, and, while not graphic, it is filled with descriptions of the teens and their sexuality. This is not a book that will sit quietly on any shelf; it will be passed from girl to girl to girl.”–School Library Journal, Starred Review

“This amazing first novel is one of the most honest treatments of teenage sexuality to be found in YA fiction. . . . This will be much talked about, and every reader who has been swept away in a love affair will recognize its truth.”–Kliatt

“The kind of tell-it-like-it-is wisdom that comes from your best girlfriends. It’s irresistible.”–Libba Bray, New York Times bestselling author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels

“Candid free-verse novel . . . electrically charged.”–The Horn Book Magazine

“Stone’s novel in verse, more poetic prose than poetry, packs a steamy, emotional wallop. . . . The lessons learned here, however, are important.”–Booklist

“It’s fantastic–hip, edgy, and addicting. Sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, always real. Sure to be the new Forever.”–Cynthia Leitich Smith, award-winning author

“Every high-school age girl in the world needs to read this book, before they meet the proverbial bad boy.”–Teens Read Too!

“3 smart girls + 1 slick senior boy = 1 sharply observed novel about sex, sisterhood, and self-respect.”–Reading Rants!

A Bill’s Best Book chosen by ALAN–the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English


“The next Vagina Monologues, . . . for the teen crowd.”–Donna Freitas, Belief.net columnist and author of Becoming a Goddess of Inner Poise


“Stone’s intimate and honest work accurately depicts both the agony and ecstasy of teenage relationships from the inside out.”–VOYA, 4Q, 4P

Awards

ALA Quick Pick for Young Adult Reluctant Readers WINNER 2007

New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age WINNER 2007

Texas TAYSHAS High School Reading List WINNER 2008

Author Q&A

Q: How did you get the idea for A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl?

A: The title came to me first. I remember scribbling it in my notebook on a big slant and underlining it. As soon as I saw it in black and white, I knew what ideas I wanted to explore. Next came the voice of Josie, although she did not yet have a name.


Q: What do you hope readers take away from your book?

A: I hope it makes readers introspective about aspects of love and relationships, that they think about who they are, who they want to be, what is right for them. I hope it sparks discussions about love and sex, gets people talking about their experiences–past, present, and future. And I hope it resonates with women of all ages, since most of us have had at least one relationship that taught us something new about ourselves.


Q: What do you want young women to know about themselves?

A: That they can trust themselves. That they should listen to their own voice and not doubt it so much. That they can make mistakes and still be okay. Sometimes you have to take a misstep in order to learn what the right next step is. Following your own instincts will always serve you better than following someone else’s.

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