Girl, Going on 17: Pants on Fire [Paperback]

Sue Limb (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

It's never fun when a great summer comes to an end.

Particularly when one argues with one’s adorable, but grossly insensitive, boyfriend the night before school starts. It’s such a terrible fight, Jess doesn’t know—are they broken up? Should she apologize? Too bad Jess is spending all her time in detention and can’t talk to Fred to figure it out. A sadistic new English teacher has decided Jess needs an attitude adjustment, and Jess can’t seem to stop making terrible mistakes. When she ends up pantless in her own backyard, Jess is left to ask herself: Where did she go wrong? And what can be done to make it up to Fred and salvage this horrible, horrible year?


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-10–Ever since Jess Jordan surprised readers by stuffing bags of minestrone soup down her bra to create the perfect filler in Girl, 15, Charming but Insane (Delacorte, 2004), the laughs havent stopped. This third book about the teen does not disappoint. Jesss boyfriend, Fred, is great. Her best friend, Flora, is super supportive. She gets along with her librarian mom and she has made peace with the fact that her father is gay and living in Cornwall with his lover. In fact, she keeps planning out how to best introduce that newly unearthed fact once school starts. On the last day of break, Fred suggests that perhaps they can keep their relationship a secret so as not to ruin his reputation as a loner. An incensed Jess abruptly rushes home, knowing that Fred will call to apologize shortly. He never does. In addition to starting out the school year with this black cloud, Jesss favorite teacher has been replaced by a woman who takes an immediate dislike to her. As Jess muddles through the first few weeks of school without Fred, she finds herself in nonstop odd predicaments that will keep readers entertained. Another fun, funny tale of teen angst, British style.–Emily Garrett, Naaman Forest High School, Garland, TX
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 7-10. Jess has love troubles in the latest installment of Limb's delightful British-flavored series. It's never easy to watch summer end, especially a perfect one spent with a new boyfriend. It's even worse when school signals a romantic breakup. Fred apologizes for being a prat, but that doesn't sooth Jess' heartache when he announces that he doesn't want to be part of a couple when school starts. Jess' romantic setbacks are compounded by her mother's new dating life, a prickly English teacher named Miss Thorn, and the replacement of the annual school comedy show with Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. As in the bard's play, miscommunication and misunderstandings are the order of the day, but Jess faces each calamity with self-deprecating humor, perseverance, and daily text-message guidance from her father ("Worship not Armani nor Versace, for they are false gods, and besides, I'm not made of money"). Good humor is hard to come by in teen novels these days, but this book will keep readers laughing all the way to the last page. Pass it on to readers who like Louise Rennison's novels. Cindy Dobrez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (September 11, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385732198
• ISBN-13: 978-0385732192
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,253,966 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars But this attempt is still worth a read, February 20, 2006

By 

Bibliophile "Fitzpatrick" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Girl, Going on 17: Pants on Fire (Hardcover)

The third in this series. Limb still delivers a funny and insightful book about teen angst and identity. But Jess's dilemmas are getting rather stale by this third retelling. It seems that variations of the same plot keep coming to fruitarian. Fans of this series will enjoy Jess and Fred's antics but Limb has failed again to capture the same level of freshness, humor and brilliance of Girl, 15, Charming but Insane. But this attempt is still worth a read.