The V Club [Hardcover]

Kate Brian (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 6, 2004

When Victoria A. Treemont, the most revered and reclusive woman in Ardsmore, Pennsylvania, passes away, she leaves behind a $160,000 scholarship fund that rocks the worlds of the students at Ardsmore High School. The successful candidate must "exemplify purity of soul, spirit, and body." Everyone agrees that this caveat can mean only one thing: The recipient of the scholarship must still be holding on to the big V.

Welcome to the V Club -- where members embrace abstinence, get off on civic duties, and heat up their chances to clinch the Treemont scholarship. What better way to prove purity than to pledge allegiance to the virginity flag? Besides, chastity belts are sooo 1300s.

Kai, Mandy, Debbie, and Eva have put their futures on the line. But will their deepest insecurities and darkest secrets ruin their chances at the scholarship, or worse, their relationships? Or will they discover the true meaning behind Mrs. Treemont's famous last words?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up–When Mrs. Treemont dies, leaving a substantial sum of money for a scholarship, the students at Ardsmore High take note. The only catch is that the candidate "must exemplify purity of soul and body," which everyone assumes is another way of saying "virgin." Four friends–Eva, Kai, Debbie, and Mandy–all have reasons for wanting the money. However, unbeknownst to her friends, Kai has already shamefully lost her virginity. Everyone thinks that Debbie has, but she's using slutty behavior to hide, for her own reasons, her brains. Eva's in love with a guy who doesn't know she exists. Mandy and her boyfriend hope to consummate their love on Mandy's birthday the following week. The author has deftly used the scholarship aspect of the story as a vehicle to make the case for abstinence without moralizing. The breezy, light tone and some plot elements keep the story from being entirely realistic, but Brian's intuitive understanding of the roller coaster of emotions that teens go through when it comes to physical attraction, first sexual encounters, and true love is right on target.–Catherine Ensley, Latah County Free Library District, Moscow, ID
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 9-12. Call it the Nunnery of the Traveling Pants--or, in the lingo of the recent teen-hormone fest by Melvin Burgess (see companion review), Not Doing It. Produced by 17th Street Productions, the same book mill responsible for Ann Brashares' Pants duet, this slickly packaged novel deals with the strain that vying for the same scholarship puts on a group of friends, all senior girls. What makes the competition particularly freighted is its unusual stipulation: the winning candidate "must exemplify purity of soul and body." The Virginity Club, or V Club, evolves as a resume-friendly way for students to proclaim their "purity." Although the alternating perspectives--four in all--prevent character from gaining much depth, they do allow Brian, author of The Princess & the Pauper (2002), to represent the full range of teens' attitudes about sex and levels of sexual experience. In the end, though, the focus is more on the shifting dynamics among the friends than anything else; when intimate situations occur, Brian keeps things strictly PG-13. Problems resolve tidily and purposefully by story's end, with lessons about self-respect, honesty among friends, and frequently unpredictable ramifications of sexual decisions nicely absorbed. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers (April 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689867646
• ISBN-13: 978-0689867644
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,785,144 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a total Jersey girl. I grew up in Bergen County, went to Rutgers University, lived in Hoboken for a year (requisite post-college party time) and then moved back to Bergen, got married, and bought a house ten minutes from where I grew up. I graduated from Rutgers with a double major in English and Journalism, worked as an Editor for four years, then decided I liked writing better and struck out on my own. You've been reading my books ever since!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure at Heart, May 19, 2004

By 

renaynay "renaynay" (Tallahassee, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The V Club (Hardcover)

What a cute, funny novel - and that means a lot coming from an adult reading a teen novel. Yet, the plot intrigued me from the get go and I couldn't resist. Call it a guilty pleasure.

Revolving around four best friends, the story finds Mandy, Kai, Debbie, and Eva vying for a unique $160,000 scholarship, one that requires its applicants to be "pure." The problem is that everyone, including school personnel, are stumped on the purity portion. How can you judge who's really pure?

To answer this burning question, Mandy (with her friends' help) brings The V Club to life - an organization uplifting the virtues of virginity. Yet all four girls are keeping secrets that could dismantle the club before it even gets off the ground.

With all these secrets, tensions are flaring. Through it all though, the girls learn valuable lessons in friendship and what it means to pure at heart ... and that's where it really counts.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars LoVeD iT <3!, June 11, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The V Club (Hardcover)

one of the greatest books i have evcer read. it discusses almost every topic imaginable. one of the reasons i loved this book was because it discussed sex and what can happen after you have it. Mandy did it for the wrong reason and this book can show girls the bad effects of having sex. it showed how girls can work hard to get what they want. it shows how firends help friends out when their in bad situations. it shows how doing things another person wants you to do can hurt you. this book show inspiration, determination, and much more. it's easy to read and discusses all sorts of types of situations. it was really inspiring.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The V-Club, October 20, 2005

By 

Leanna Schild - See all my reviews

This review is from: The V Club (Hardcover)

The V-Club(virginity club) starts when Mrs. Treemont suddenly passes away and leaves behind a mysterious scholarship. The Treemont Scholarship requires that you "exemplify purity of soul and body" in order to recieve it. Becaus of this scholarship, four friends, Eva, Debbie, Mandy, and Kai, must learn how to deal with the problems in their lives. They all want, and need, the scholarship for there own secret perosnal reasons. In her book " The V-Club", Kate Brian tells a intriguing story about the crazy lives of four best friends who compete with each other for a scholarship that requires them to expain why they think that they are pure enough to recieve it. This is a very funny, but serious book, relatable to "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants", that helps you to understand what most all teenage girls in high school go through every day. It lets you understand just how hard it is for teenage girls to juggle boys, family, and school, while still trying to take care of themselves. Brian tells a profound story that's up-to-date, and unpredictable, which any girl can relate to.