It's Not Easy Being Bad [Turtleback]

Cynthia Voigt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2002

The bad girls are back - and they're worse! Mikey Elsinger is having a crisis. She's started a new school and she wants to be popular. Her best friend Margalo thinks the words Mikey and popular don't belong in the same sentence. Margalo knows how people work. The rules are quite clear: to be popular, you must a) be nice to people; b) know when to keep your mouth shut; and c) wear the right clothes at all times. Mikey doesn't stand a chance...does she? The funny, touching sequel to BORN TO BE BAD and BAD, BADDER, BADDEST.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the third novel about Mikey and Margalo, heroines of Bad Girls and Bad, Badder, Baddest, Newbery Medalist Voigt demonstrates that, indeed, it's not easy being bad: Mikey and Margalo, now in junior high, are working overtime at their schemes and plots and machinations. Unfortunately, Voigt seems to be having difficulty, too: despite many scathingly witty moments and sharp insights here, elements of the story feel trumped up. Previously unfettered by their peers' opinions, Mikey and Margalo are forced to reconsider their maverick behavior when they enter the brave new world of seventh grade. As Margalo puts it, "It's not really being popular I want. I just want not to be unpopular." But when Mikey's ill-considered plan to ingratiate herself with the popular crowd backfires, both girls are out for revenge. A sample: Margalo takes to heartily greeting Rhonda, a ringleader of the popular girls, by calling her "Barbie"; when Rhonda is flirting with an eighth-grade boy, Margalo humiliates her with, "And I see you brought Ken to school with you today." Voigt, however, starts striking false notes. Margalo, for example, is now billed as clever at fashion, able to assemble fantastic looks from thrift-store shopping, but the author lacks the girly-girl enthusiasm of, say, a Phyllis Reynolds Naylor or a Caroline Cooney to credibly integrate Margalo's sudden stylishness into the story line. Readers will know the attention to clothes is akin to a gun in Act One of a play, and sure enough, Margalo's prize thrift-store purchase turns out to be a popular girl's mom's discard. While more intelligent than most similarly themed middle-grade fiction, this Mikey and Margalo installment doesn't stand up to its predecessors. Ages 9-13.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7-Mikey and Margalo are back and enduring the daily challenges of junior high. This third title in the series is very similar to the others, and while it reads fairly well on its own, there are some details that may confuse readers who are unfamiliar with the earlier books. Now in seventh grade, the best friends still vacillate between desperately wanting to be popular and relishing their status as outcasts. They alternate between competing with and comforting one another. Major traumas include Mikey's sneaky campaign to be allowed to play on the eighth-grade tennis team, and Margalo's shame at being discovered as a thrift-store shopper. While Voigt successfully captures the nature of being a female adolescent, Mikey and Margalo are so spiteful and manipulative that it's hard to really care about or truly root for them. This is a quick but fairly empty read, to be added only where Bad Girls (1996) and Bad, Badder, Baddest (1997, both Scholastic) have a following.
Ronni Krasnow, formerly at Arlington County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Turtleback
• Publisher: Demco Media (December 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0606242651
• ISBN-13: 978-0606242653
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Cynthia Voigt won the Newbery Medal for Dicey's Song and the Newbery Honor Award for A Solitary Blue, both part of the beloved Tillerman Cycle. She is also the author of many other celebrated books for middle-grade and teen readers, including Izzy, Willy-Nilly and Jackaroo. She was awarded the Margaret A. Edwards Award in 1995 for her work in literature, and the Katahdin Award in 2004. She lives in Maine.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Jaime, March 11, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: It's Not Easy Being Bad (Bad Girls) (Paperback)

There are two main characters. They are Mickey and Margalo. Mickey is a tough kid who is always getting into fights, but nobody realy knows her other side except Margalo. Margalo is part of a big family that dosen't really have much money to spend, so that makes them both unpopular, but they are best friends. The story begins with Mickey and Margalo having a conversation about not wanting to be unpopular. So they decide that they are going to make plans to become more popular. The most exciting part is when Margalo went to the Thrift Store and picked out a cool outfit and when she went to school every one loved it. The story ends when they both become popular and they finally realize that having their friendship is better than being popular. I like this book because it was funny and it makes me think about all the crazy things people my age do just to fit in. I recomend this book to anybody who wants to read a funny adventure about friendship and life as a 7th. grader.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 3rd Book and Margalo and Mikey are still great!, May 14, 2001

By 

Maryam (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: It's Not Easy Being Bad (Bad Girls) (Hardcover)

Mikey Elsinger and Margalo Epps are not your typical type of teenagers. They love causing trouble and hide their feelings. They were best friends from the first day of 5th grade or so they say. Mikey is a short, stocky, girl who is always seen as the bad girl. She always goes for what SHE wants and always tries to leave in a mess. Margalo is a quiet girl who can pretend to be like other girls. She is in a large family and therefore her family is not very rich. Mikey is the only one in the universe who can figure out Margalo and Margalo is known as the bad girl's friend. In this 3rd book, both girls experience middle school. The school where they are all nobodies. Mikey and Margalo will not let this pass and so begins another great book of the lovable, yet defensive, unforgettable best friends.

4.0 out of 5 stars Pure fun, but surprisingly thoughtful, June 27, 2010

By 

Aletheia Knights - See all my reviews

This review is from: It's Not Easy Being Bad (Bad Girls) (Paperback)

You don't have to have read any of the other Bad Girls novels to enjoy this third offering in the series, but once you've finished it, you may just find yourself tempted to get your hands on all of Mikey and Margalo's adventures. In "It's Not Easy Being Bad," Cynthia Voigt gives us an inside look at the perhaps unlikely friendship between two seventh-grade girls. Mikey is outspoken, athletic, and wholly her own person; Margalo is sensible, a bit exotic, and sometimes yearns to be accepted. Throughout the course of the novel, the two struggle to find their place in seventh grade society, while still retaining their individuality. Mikey is full of wild ideas, and Margalo is the voice of reason, as they navigate cliques, vendettas, and unjust school policies. The novel is full of thoughtful passages highlighting the difference that so often exists between our inner lives and the personas we present to the world, and Voigt possesses an understanding of middle-school social structure and mores that would do a sociologist proud. There are no pat answers in this novel; it's not a road map to popularity, nor an idealistic "be-true-to-yourself" screed. Margalo becomes a social chameleon of sorts, becoming all things to all people, without ever really getting to know them or revealing anything of herself; the superficial friendships she develops with girls from various cliques stand in sharp contrast to her all-genuine bond with Mikey.

Although the girls, Mikey in particular, find themselves in trouble several times over the course of the novel, they're not really "bad" girls - just a couple of kids trying to find their place. Their personality and wit will win readers' hearts, and young readers, if not acutely aware of Voigt's insight and deft use of irony, will most likely find this novel appealingly sympathetic and hilariously funny.