Review: Girl V. Boy by: Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout

Where I got it: The Library
Rating: 3 stars (fun.)
Cover Rating: 4 stars (fun colors to emphasize the title and the people match the actual characters.)
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Publication Date: July 8, 2008
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH

Luisa Perez is one of 11 other Luisa Perez's at her school. She has no defining talent to help distinguish herself from the others. That is until her English teacher, Mr. Sparling, assigns her an anonymous column in the school newspaper. After the principal of Dunfield (Dumpfield) High announces that the school is to be competing in a Literacy contest against the other schools in the area, Mr. Sparling decides that a Girl vs. Boy column would spark interest from the student body. The prize for winning is an extra long winter break. The student body throws itself into the competition, showing the school spirit nobody knew they had. Luisa writes her column under the alias of Newshoud while her male counterpart uses the code name Scoop. Luisa ends up dating a few guys whom she suspects of being Scoop. She finally snoops around and finds out who she thinks Scoop definitely is. She ends up hooking up with a really nice guy named Joey after many, many Dunfield Duds. Will she tell him who she is before she reveals herself to everyone else at the and of the competition Literacy Gala?

Okay while this book was enjoyable, I really could NOT stand Luisa - what a snob. She keeps mentioning how she can't believe everyone thinks she's a snob. I can believe it. Every guy she has an interaction with she's practically all over him. She talks to any male and she just leads into a "relationship" with them. After we get past Luisa being such a ditz however the book is actually a fun read. Predictable, but you still had to read until the ending just to make sure you were correct. I could not stand to put the book down or return it, until I found out everything that was going on. The characters weren't overly developed, but most of them were so shallow anyways it didn't really matter. This book was more "fun reading" then "smart reading" or rather "literature". So if you can handle Luisa whining and her general snobishness I would say read this, it's entertaining.