Customer Reviews

Bobby vs. Girls (Accidentally)

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4 star:		(4)
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I have a theory. A theory about why boy v. girl books are so popular with the youngsters. It goes like this: When you're a kid you find that sometimes the only way to feel real and included in a group is to point out the other kids that (for whatever reason) cannot be included. Now kids cannot help but notice too that human beings are neatly divided into two groups: men and women. By dint of your sex you instantly belong to a group of like-gendered people. And if you band together against the other group then it's even better because you immediately have easily identifiable "enemies" and "allies". Phyllis Reynolds Naylor has gotten a lot of leverage out of this idea with her The Boys Start the War/The Girls Get Even titles. Bobby Vs. Girls is of a similar stripe, but takes place a couple years down the road. Right about at that time when you're on the cusp of puberty and that other gender is about to appear to have a lot to offer . . . but not quite yet. It's a tricky time and one that Lisa Yee manages to wrestle into some kind of shape. The kids'll laugh with this one, and some of that may be due to sheer recognition more than anything else.

Bobby and Holly are friends. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but the two take care not to advertise the fact to their OTHER friends. Every day they walk a little ways to school and every day they split up before they arrive so that no one will see them walking together. The trouble between them, however, begins when Holly starts doing all these girly activities, like straightening her hair and doing her nails. Things pretty much go downhill from there. Bobby runs again Holly for student council representative, he gets stuck to a tree, she gets her dress ruined (by him), and egged on by their respective peers the two end up in an all out war. But when push comes to shove it's hard to truly abandon your real friends. Particularly when they come through for you in the end.

When it comes to her writing there are a couple things Ms. Yee likes. She likes herself a good description, that's one thing for sure. For example, there is the moment when Bobby finds himself in the presence of his true enemy. "Jillian Zarr towered over Bobby. She was freakishly tall for someone who was nine years old. Even her pigtails looked intimidating." Another things Ms. Yee likes? Humor. I can't think of many books where boys get stuck to trees because they're in particularly huggy moods, so here's the first. Finally, Ms. Yee enjoys adding elements to her books that you may not have seen before. I mean, stop me if you've already read a middle grade novel where the stay-at-home dad is a gigantic ex-football pro who fails utterly at his domestic duties but keeps on trying no matter what. She makes the potentially embarrassing also endearing, and there's much to be said for that.

When you consider how much material stand-up comedians get from the war between the sexes, I suppose it's strange that there aren't even more middle grade novels out there examining boy/girl relationships, particularly those before hormones kick in. As far as I can tell, the average pattern of boy/girl relationships consists of them (1) being friends, (2) splitting far apart once they realize that they're different, and then (3) coming back together when they hit puberty. This book takes place in that awkward stage near the end of (2) but not so far that it's really (3). This is a story where the boys are getting one last all-male hurrah out of their systems before puberty hits them over the head and cancels out their anti-girl tendencies.

The notable thing about this book is the fact that the characters are starting fourth grade. That's not a particularly popular age category for fiction. Fifth or sixth grade and you have crushes. Second or third grade and you have a lot of early chapter book tales. Fourth grade's right in the middle and it's rare. Rare but necessary, and I was happy to read something for once that involved a series of misunderstandings without making me cringe all that often.

Another advantage of a fourth grade novel? You get some pictures. Dan Santat has generally relegated himself to full-color lush picture books like Chicken Dance or The Secret Life of Walter Kitty until now. With Bobby Vs. Girls (Accidentally) he has to limit himself to the seventeen or so spot illustrations that crop up throughout the story. Still, Santat has a good feel for the material. I appreciated that in those few scenes where you see the boys and the girls on a level piece of ground, the girls are almost always taller than the guys. Chalk that up to another detail of fourth grade living. Bobby and Holly generally have to look befuddled and angry since that's the way they act and react in the book, but Santat is careful to include plenty of scenes where they're friendly, both before an after the hostile incidents, so that you don't always have to visualize Bobby as a doofus or Holly as a shrew.

There have been a couple 2009 books about kids who hit pre-adolescence or adolescence proper and suddenly find their friendships straining. The Kind of Friends We Used to Be by Frances Roark Dowell looked at girl friendships and how two people deal with growing into different personalities. Bobby Vs. Girls is a little more basic, since it's taking that old boys vs. girls notion and tying it into how kids grow not just into different types of people, but different genders entirely. What it really reminded me of were the Minn and Jake books by Janet Wong. Same mixed-up feelings. Same misunderstandings. I'd also love to pair this with Jenny Han's Shug, since that's a book about a boy/girl friendship from the unrequited girl's p.o.v. But if you've kids looking for a fun book to read just for reading's sake, Bobby Vs. Girls (Accidentally) has much to offer both genders. And despite their differences, I'm pretty sure both boys and girls will find much to enjoy.

I've been noticing that healthy, platonic, boy-girl relationships are pretty popular amongst kidlit authors lately. I can't tell if authors are forcing this idea upon kids or trying to appeal to a growing trend . . . In the past 5 years of teaching 5th grade, I haven't noticed a lot of serious boy-girl friendships in my classes but I haven't necessarily seen a strong hatred toward each other either, like presented in BOBBY VS. GIRLS or NO TALKING for example. Of course in my class when boys and girls are randomly paired to work together, I still get the looks, the groans, the mumbles, the heavy sighs . . . but by 5th grade, I like to think it's more show than anything, and that they're starting to grow out of the "girls have cooties/boys have cooties" frame of mind . . .

BOBBY VS. GIRLS however, takes place before 5th grade, in the awkward year of 4th grade. Boys and girls have mixed and mingled until now without giving it much thought. But suddenly things begin to change. Both sides are threatened by each other for some reason and differences are starting to become noticeable. Bobby Ellis-Chan's best friend is (and always has been) Holly Harper. They've been spending time together, hunting for rocks and walking to school together, since before either can remember. However upon entering 4th grade, things are not so normal between them. Holly is spending an awful lot of time with Jillian Zarr, a mean 4th grade girl who's pigtails scare Bobby, and Bobby's afraid that Holly may actually be turning into a girl! Before he knows it, Bobby has (accidentally) set in motion a series of events that pit the boys against the girls, and himself against his (former?) best friend.

Poor Bobby can't seem to catch a break in this book. He's the tender-hearted, always mean's well, type of character Ben Stiller tends to play in movies. "You're not the best at anything, but not the wost. So no one's threatened by you. You're just there," one of his friends tells him at one point in the story. He wants a pet dog more than anything, but gets stuck with a stupid goldfish (who he stubbornly names Rover). He doesn't mean to spill red paint on Holly's dress, but it sure does upset a lot of girls in his class. He doesn't mean to get stuck to a Koloff tree, but it just looked so lonely and sad. And just as he didn't mean for any of these things to happen, he certainly didn't mean for his best friend Holly to slip away from him, but she is.

The imagery in this book is great as well. I loved the parents hiding in the bushes on the first day of school. When St. James announces that a classmate's thrown-up lunch resembles "bloody worms", I couldn't help but chuckle. Author Lisa Yee's description of a roomful of approving 4th grade "bobblehead dolls" nodding their heads in unison is hilarious. This fun language will make this an easy read for students, and one they can enjoy and get something out of at the same time. You wouldn't be able to tell from the cover, or the page length, or the illustrations throughout the book, but Yee has weaved plenty of bigger, coming-of-age issues into this plot. It's much deeper than first expected.

Unlike the title suggests, this book is not about Bobby vs. the World (although it feels like that at times). This book is about Bobby growing up and dealing with the changes happening around him. Whether it's getting to know his dad better (a former NFL superstar who means well in his new stay-at-home role), or struggling to live up to expectations placed on him by his boy classmates, Bobby makes decisions, suffers the consequences, and learns from his mistakes. I know plenty of students who could relate!

Bobby Ellis-Chan is just a normal fourth grade boy, and like all normal fourth grade boys he has realized a thing or two: one thing is that boys and girls just aren't supposed to be friends...so he can't be seen in school with his best friend Holly. And another thing is that boys are supposed to be better than girls...so when he has the chance to run for classroom representative, even though it's against Holly, he has to take it. But when Holly, in her turn, starts to act like a normal fourth grade girl (why would someone want to wear nail polish and dresses, for goodness' sake?), Bobby's not so sure that what every normal fourth grader knows is actually right.


Bobby is one of the most realistic, entertaining boy characters I've seen in the category of contemporary realistic fiction for years (which, incidentally, means that those other boys aren't so contemporary, anymore, huh?). Every child has to live through that painful time when girls are just about ready to start acting like grown-ups, while boys, on the other hand, just want to stay kids for as long as they can...and Lisa Yee has captured that tension and dynamic extremely well. The simple, yet well-crafted language and constant humor, interlaced with the perfect amount of poignancy, make Bobby vs. Girls (Accidentally) a story that will be accessible and enjoyable for boys, girls, and parents alike. A great start to a new series.

Bobby Ellis-Chan starts fourth-grade on the wrong note--he's allergic to dogs and ends up with a boring fish instead, and then he accidentally alienates his best friend, Holly. Bobby deals with being the middle child, between his football-playing big sister, Annie, and wand-wielding baby sister Casey, not to mention his busy mother and athlete-turned-PTA-lady dad. Bobby has lots of hilarious, accidental adventures, including a race for student council; unintentionally teaching old Rover some new tricks; and a sticky, stinky mess. Great read!

When nine-year-old Bobby Ellis-Chan runs into his friend Holly Harper at Wild Acres Amusement Park during the Labor Day Fiesta, he is excited to see her. But something is different. Holly's once wild hair is now straight and shiny. And she would rather go clothes shopping with Jillian Zarr than rock hunting with him. What's up with that?

Bobby's father is "Freezer" Ellis-Chan, a former linebacker with the Los Angeles Earthquakes pro football team. The "Freezer" is now a stay-at-home dad who is an awful cook and terrible at doing laundry. One thing the "Freezer" is good at is embarrassing Bobby in front of his friends. More than anything, Bobby wants a dog of his own, but because of his asthma, this isn't possible. After Holly wins a game of Goldfish Toss and gives Bobby her prize, he names his new goldfish Rover. Bobby uses "magic" to teach Rover tricks while wondering why Holly has changed so much.

Fourth grade is another big change. Bobby still enjoys acting silly with his friends, Chess and St. James, but the girls get in the way of the boys having fun. Mrs. Carlson, Bobby's fourth-grade teacher, is way cooler than his third-grade teacher, who insisted on calling him Robert. Mrs. Carlson lets him go by Bobby, compliments his art work and plans a special field trip for the class.

After an accident on the playground leads to hurt feelings and cross words, Bobby feels bad, but he gets mad when an embarrassing secret is revealed. He doesn't like being at war with the girls, especially Holly, and he wonders if their friendship will ever be the same.

In BOBBY VS. GIRLS (ACCIDENTALLY), Lisa Yee sweetly and humorously portrays the tender age when opinions of peers shape behavior, when parents change from being heroes to sources of humiliation, and when friendships between boys and girls transform almost overnight. The clever illustrations of Dan Santat complement Yee's writing and help bring to life the characters and events on the pages. I look forward to reading more about Bobby and Holly as they journey through fourth grade.

--- Reviewed by Donna Volkenannt

So many of the books written for 8 year old boys like my eldest son are in one way or another on my hit list lately: too misanthropic and mean-spirited, too violent, too tv-or-videogame-tie-in, or just plain bad. I truly enjoyed _Bobby vs Girls (Accidentally)_ because while it is silly and over-the-top (in a good way), it realistically portrays relationships of the 4th grader crowd it describes (and the parents, too). It's fun, funny, touching, and well-written. Hooray!

This book was order for my 11 year old son in order for him to complete a book report. He enjoyed the book very much.

The book called BOBBY VS.GIRLS is an amazing book.It is the most interesting book i have ever read in my life.

The book called BOBBY VS.GIRLS is an amazing book.It is the most interesting book i have ever read in my life.