Jailbait [Hardcover]

Leslea Newman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 14, 2005

Andrea Robin Kaplan is a clique unto herself.

In other words, she has no friends. Her only goal is get through high school with the least amount of humiliation possible, which should be easy— nothing ever happens in the suburbs, right? Wrong.

One day, as Andi walks home from school, a little brown VW drives up and she meets Frank. Frank makes her feel beautiful and special. With Frank, Andi forgets how alone she is.

From boundary breaking author Lesléa Newman comes a haunting story about a girl who is all alone, and a man old enough to know better.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9-11–Andi is an average student in 1971 suburban Long Island, doesn't have many friends, doesn't open up to anyone, and blends in. When a car drives by and toots at her several days in succession, the 15-year-old begins to create a romantic scenario in her head about the driver. Soon afterward, he stops and says, "Get in, gorgeous." What ensues is a daily meeting after school, when Frank takes Andi to an abandoned house and compliments her, makes her feel pretty, and shares physical intimacy without sex. Andi is ecstatic. However, Frank, moody, unpredictable, and quite a bit older than she, explains that if they're seen in public he will go to jail. On her 16th birthday, they have sex, and she is disappointed. Furious, he tells her that if she ends the relationship, he will paste the intimate photos he took of her around school. They reconcile and make plans to run away, but he never shows up. Andi is hurt–but only for a while. She's grown up a bit since meeting Frank and has started to stand up for herself. Now, too, her brother has returned from college and convinces her of her self-worth. Through Andi, readers see just why some girls take up with the wrong men and do most anything to keep them. While Frank remains a mystery, Andi's family is well developed. The story will keep teen girls listening as the tale unfolds, whether they've loved and lost or not.–Karen Hoth, Marathon Middle/High School, FL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 10-12. It's 1971, and tenth-grader Andi Kaplan--overweight, unpopular, and bored with life in suburban Long Island--becomes involved with a 30-year-old drifter, Frank. Andi's self-absorbed parents are clueless that she spends intimate afternoons with Frank. When she is with him, he buys her lingerie and calls her "a beautiful woman"; he is also verbally and psychologically abusive. Her decision to lose her virginity spurs him to become physically abusive as well, and he finally rapes her and forces her to perform oral sex. The cover image of a girl's mug shot, eyes blocked by a censor bar printed with the novel's title, suggests sensationalized material. But Newman handles the difficult and depressing topic carefully and with compassion. Sex scenes are not graphic or gratuitous, and Andi's desperate desire to be valued is a believable motive for her actions. While the story is firmly rooted in 1971, the topics addressed are, unfortunately, just as relevant today. Andi matures enough to stand up for herself and eventually tell a supportive person what has happened. A powerful portrait of an unhappy girl who wants nothing more than to be loved. Debbie Carton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (June 14, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385731981
• ISBN-13: 978-0385731980
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,335,147 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lesléa Newman is the author of 64 books for readers of all ages including the middle grade novel, HACHIKO WAITS, the poetry collection, STILL LIFE WITH BUDDY, the short story collection, A LETTER TO HARVEY MILK, and the children's books A SWEET PASSOVER, THE BOY WHO CRIED FABULOUS, THE BEST CAT IN THE WORLD, DONOVAN'S BIG DAY, and HEATHER HAS TWO MOMMIES. Her literary awards include poetry fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation. Nine of her books have been Lambda Literary Award finalists. A past poet laureate of Northampton, Massachusetts, she is a faculty member of Spalding University's brief-residency MFA in Writing program.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, but well-written., October 7, 2005

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jailbait (Hardcover)

Leslea Newman, Jailbait (Delacorte, 2005)

It is quite probable that, no matter what happens with Leslea Newman's career, she will forever have her name linked with Heather Has Two Mommies, her 1990 juvenile picture book that inspired a firestorm of controversy (that still rages today). She could win the Nobel Prize for Literature next week, and people would probably still refer to her as "the person who wrote Heather Has Two Mommies." Whether Jailbait was an attempt to break the mold by writing another book with an undeniably controversial theme or not, I've no idea, but I must admit the thought crossed my mind more than once.

I find it exceptionally interesting that a previous Amazon reviewer (August 16, 2005) criticizes the novel for not "[disproving] the myth that young girls always understand the consequences sexual involvement with an older man can bring." I'm not terribly sure where that reviewer is getting her information; in America, the myth (and the law to back it up) is that no "child" of either sex understands the consequences of sexual involvement with an older member of either sex. And while to say exactly how Newman tackles that question would be the spoiler of spoilers for the book (for that question and how it is addressed, predictably, is the climax of the novel), I have to say that from where I'm standing, the previous reviewer seems to have read exactly the opposite of the book I did.

It's impossible to judge the book without looking at the deeper ethical concepts raised, unfortunately, but I think I managed to base my review more on the book's construction than the questions it addresses. It is aimed at the 10-12 grade crowd, and the language fits. The characters are well, and surprisingly, drawn; for a book set in 1971, the token trapped-in-the-sixties stoner is surprisingly understated, and one has to give at least grudging respect to the idea that Newman had to have been tempted to turn said token stoner into a stereotype. Instead, he turns out as human as the rest of the cast. The boyfriend, who is of course at the core of the book, is handled quite well; Newman uses the book's first-person-singular to keep us from knowing any more about him than her protagonist does, which proves on more than one occasion to simultaneously frustrate the reader and lend an air of veracity. (One imagines an author with lesser skills sending her protagonist off to play amateur detective, a move Newman wisely avoids.) Our hero's parents slip a little now and again towards stereotype, but that's to be expected in literature aimed at the teen set, and Newman never takes it too far.

An interesting book, both well-written and worth thinking about for its subject matter; I just wish Newman had strayed as far from conventional morality in the latter as she did from conventional genre writing in the former. *** ½

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Ugh!, January 11, 2007

By 

Tina "Tina" (Montreal, Quebec) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Jailbait (Paperback)

I really wanted to like this story. It sounded interesting and different.

Instead, I got to read about a sullen, uninteresting and completely screwed up teeanagers in the 1970's.

Kind of boring and very typical. There was not a redeeming feature in any of the characters and the storyline was stilted and rigid.

Not a good read.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, October 18, 2006

By 

Daria Snadowsky "young adult author" (Nevada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jailbait (Hardcover)

I finished Jailbait a couple of hours ago, and I'm still shaking. It's a young adult novel, but it could also be horror. Leslea Newman does a perfect job of detailing how an average girl from a sleepy suburban town can suddenly find herself to be "jailbait."

I knew this book was about an underage girl, Andrea, who gets involved with an older man, so when I started reading it yesterday I assumed that although I may find the story interesting and well-written (which it absolutely is!), I doubted I would ever be able to identify with this character at all. I would never get into some strange man's car to begin with. Or even if I did, I certainly never would get physical with him. And there's no way I would ever lie or steal for some guy. Or would I? Am I really above succumbing to some suave older man's wiles? While I never had an experience quite like Andrea's, in retrospect . . . I did take some pretty brainless risks back when I was a teenager. And I rationalized them the same way Andrea does.

This novel made me question my self-assuredness and highlights how stealthily sexual predators operate. Jailbait is scary not just because of the plot but also because how easily readers, via Newman's honest prose, can identify with Andrea's state of mind and the emotions propelling her well-meaning but destructive choices.

Jailbait should be required reading for all young adults, and their parents.