Customer Reviews

The Girls

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I loved reading the book! It really shows what a lot of girls go through.

It's about this popular group of girls: Candace, Renee, Brieanna, Darcy, and Maya. Maya is the newest girl, Candace is the leader, Darcy is her best friend, and Brieanna and Renee are also good friends. Maya's life is going good, until one morning when she is told by her Dad that they are going to Magic Mountain and she is allowed to bring one friend. She calls all of her "friends" and finds out that Darcy is having a sleepover that she wasn't invited to. Friendless and confused, Maya goes through her day not knowing where she went wrong.

Meanwhile, at Darcy's house, everyone is having fun dressing up in wigs and making fun of Maya except for Renee. Renee doesn't agree with the others in excluding Maya. She's positive that even everyone else, except Candace, feels the same way! But the rule is that whatever Candace says goes. If Candace likes or dislikes something or someone, everyone else has to follow her lead. Renee knows that this is wrong, but she doesn't know what to do.

The book is seen through all of the characters' eyes, each chapter belonging to the mind of one of the girls. I think that all girls should read this.

This is an excellent book about exclusion and cliques in Middle School. The book is told from five different views and leads to understanding of each of the characters. I felt Maya's pain as she was excluded from the group and never did find out why. Renee and Brianna were good friends who just didn't want to be excluded. I think these are the girls that are like most Middle School girls I have dealt with over the years. Darcy still doesn't understand how manipulating Candace is, and wants to believe she is still her friend. Candace is the type of person who is just plain mean. There is no reason except she seems to be very angry with her life, and she takes it out on everyone else. This is very fast paced and I read it in one sitting. I plan to read it aloud to my classes, as I believe there are many valuable lessons to be learned. Excellent book.

The Girls was a very good book. It kept me entertained, and wanting to know what's going to happen next. I read it in six days, and I don't normally read books that fast. This book was about seventh graders, but I found it good and easy to relate to as a ninth grader.

This book is about 5 girls. Candace, the leader of the group, Darcy, Candace's biggest follower (best friend?), Brianna, the actress in the group who hates her nose, Renee, the girl who's parents are going through a divorce and who talks slowly (a vegetarian?), and Maya, another girl in the group who moved from a tough neighborhood. Candace decides she doesn't like Maya anymore, and suddenly everyone doesn't like Maya anymore. This book is about these girls and what happens in their lives after Maya is dumped from their group.

This book was very good, and a page-turner. It has a very interesting story, and it is easy to read. The only thing in this book I didn't really like was that one of the characters was supposed to be a vegetarian, but she eats chicken in the book. But this didn't affect the story, so I still give this book 5 stars.

Read this book. It is really awesome! I highly reccomend it!

Gone are the days of "family reading" on a regular basis; instead, it's a lot of back and forth to school and activities. So that's why I've gotten into the habit of playing audiobooks during those car rides. My daughters don't complain, they leave their Gameboys at home, and we get to talk about the books we hear together.

As the mom of a 9 yr. old and 11 yr. old, "The Girls" in audiobook form was perfect for the car. You can listen to a chapter in a single trip, and shut the tape/CD off and talk about what's just happened. The story's told by a different girl in each chapter, and all the voices lived up to their characterizations.

Candace was snide and flippant and excellent as the leader of the group; Renee was slow and thoughtful and her confusion about the whole situation was made even more powerful by the separation of her parents and the pain she was going through - you could hear so much of what was going on inside just by the tone in her voice; Brianna was every bit the actress and daughter of her well-educated parents; Darcy was wonderful as Candace's best friend and "enforcer" - her voice revealed her insecurities even as she was being cruel to her "victims"; and Maya had the right note of sadness and loss to her chapters - she sounded younger and more naive than the others, and it came through in her voice.

This is a great audiobook to get for longer car trips as well. No more fighting over which music CD we listen to! Amy Goldman Koss tells the story of exclusion and group behavior very convincingly, and the audiobook from Full Cast Audio brings it to life with actual teenage girls as the narrators. Give it a try!

Maya, Renee, Darcy, Brianna, and Candace are in the same clique, but 'friends' might be too strong a word. Candace, the unquestioned leader, gets to know somebody she thinks is cool, and the other four act happy about it. Still, they persevere, inviting each other to sleepovers, ruling the school together. The entire friendship though, is hugely one-sided, everything relying on Candace. This becomes painfully clear when, without any explanations, Maya is deemed unworthy. And now she's just...out. The remaining three girls deal with Maya's new nobodiness in their own ways(ignoring it, obsessing over it, etc.) All the girls are very realistic. Candace your typical popular girl everyone is terrified of, Maya is crushed and despairing about ever having a social life again, Darcy is pretty much your average simpering toadie, and Renee and Brianna want to be nice to Maya, but are afraid of Candace's wrath. This was a wonderful book. It was so refreshing to read something from the points of view of everybody involved, not just the victim. I know some people whine about never knowing why Maya was suddenly kicked out, but really, to me that just adds another layer of realism. Who can fathom the mind of the popular girl/huge bully(very interchangable roles)? Really, I doubt Candace herself knows. I simply laughed out loud at the darkly humorous ending, which is not narrated by any of the five main characters, but an entirely new girl, Nicole, indicating Candace is probably starting up a new 'girl collection'. This is a great book and I would recommend it to all girls between the ages of 10-14.

Maya was part of the group that was headed by the popular Candace. At least she was part of the group until Candace got bored with her. The only reason Maya found out is that she called a friend and her friend's mother asked why she wasn't at Darcy's sleepover. The other girls in the group don't hate Maya though, and they aren't sure why they are supposed to. One by one the girls come to realize that maybe being Candace's friend is that good.

I liked this book a lot when I read it back in 6th or 7th grade. This time around I found it a bit unrealistic and the girls incredibly two dimensional. The head girl Candace is really mean on the outside but really deep on the inside? If she were really that deep on the inside she would have probably found some better friends, or just been an outcast. Maybe not though, maybe tormenting other people made her feel in control of her out of control thoughts.This was a fast read about girls finding out where their loyalties lie and that sometimes the most popular, doesn't mean the best. A lot of the time these girls would say things or make references to things that seemed way beyond them. I'm not saying young girls are idiots, but there are certain things you don't allude to at that age, because you haven't been exposed to it. Just because I, upon rereading this, did not enjoy it this time around, this does not mean that younger girls won't find it appealing. It's a quick read and most girls will probably be able to relate to at least on of the other girls. I do like how this book ends though...very leading.

First Line:
"Last Saturday, I stumbled half asleep into the kitchen, aiming for a bowl of granola, thinking it was just any old Saturday morning."

Favorite Line:
"My mom's cosmetics were a bottle of dandruff shampoo and a lipstick."

I read this book for the first time back in 03...it was my favorite through middle school and high school. and sometimes I still read it now that I'm nearly done with college. Honestly this book is pretty true to life in most schools and these types of things don't go away just because you move away to college. I love reading in my spare time and even though this book was meant to be read by middle school ages (like I was when I first read it) it still is a fun read for me as an adult. I definitely recommend it for young girls, it opens the door for discussion about friendships and cliques.

This is a fun story, it sucks you in from the very first page and you dont want to put it down until your done. Read it!

Amy Golden Koss did a god job at writing this book, "The Girls". I do believe the theme is "keep your enemies close and friends away." This type is a Dial book.
"The Girls" has different characters in each chapter. Teens you're going to like this book if you want to know about friends. However, you might get confused on the chapters but that's what makes it more fun to read it.
This book is very entertaining and interesting. I think it's interesting because I love reading and this book talks about friends. This book teaches you who's your real friend and it also gives you ways to see how friends can be to you, so if you want to know about friends, read "The Girls".

The Girls by Amy Goldman Koss was a great book. I really enjoyed reading the book because it was written from all of the girls' points of view. The book was about a "popular group" of girls that everyone wants to hangout with. The group consisted of Darcy, Candace, Renee, Brianna, and Maya. One day Maya's dad said he'd take Maya and a friend to a water park. Maya calls each girl but all of their mom's say they are at Darcy's. Maya didn't know what she did to get left out. But that night the girls "pranked" Maya on the phone and she got very upset. Maya knew she was "kicked out" of the group but she didn't know why. Monday at school none of the girls talked to her; although at lunch Renee and Brianna sat by her!! Candace and Darcy then started hanging out with Nicole, a new girl.

I liked how the book showed how some girls can be really mean to others and how to deal with girls like Candace; everyone has a girl like Candace in their lives. Overall it was a great book and every girl should read it!

I read this book when I was 11 years old. I am now 18 and remember it to this day. This is an extremely powerful book that I would recommend to any middle school girl. Middle school is a very difficult time for girls socially and this book acts like a mirror. Whatever experience you had/have it made me feel like I was not alone. And at that age no girl is ever alone. If you have young daughters I really do urge you to have them read this novel. It's stuck with me for a very long time.