Bad (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"I guess, if you have to, you can get used to anything--even to violence breaking out, like an attack of the hiccups or something, and then going away as suddenly as it started. But, like Shatasia said, you could never get all the way relaxed about it."

Such is the life of 16-year-old Dallas now that she's been confined for six months to a juvenile detention facility for girls. Dallas used to love "skating" with her rebellious friends--shoplifting, hot-wiring cars, and purse-snatching--but she never expected to be caught with a gun. After being peer pressured into holding up a convenience store (her pals promptly disappearing when the authorities show up), and abandoned by her father who refuses custody, Dallas's world changes forever. In the rehabilitation center she must adjust to shared living quarters, structured schedules, lectures on drugs and sex, and countless volatile personalities. But amid all the chaos and tension and rules, Dallas also finds nurture--perhaps more than she ever received from her cold dad and absent mom.

Author of Invincible Summer, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, Jean Ferris paints a vivid portrait of the girls' facility, complete with fiery adolescent tempers, lost souls, and small but precious hopes for different lives. Dallas's voice is particularly poignant--young, introspective, and honest about the likelihood of her rehabilitation. Rather than forcing a cheery ending, Ferris keeps it real, leaving Dallas standing in the doorway on the day of her release, suitcase in hand, wondering what's next. (Ages 13 to 16) --Brangien Davis

From Publishers Weekly

Ferris (Invincible Summer) follows six months in the life of a 16-year-old confined to a criminal rehabilitation center for teenage girls in this novel based on interviews with young women in real-life rehab. Dallas craves the excitement of "skating"?hot-wiring cars, shoplifting, snatching purses?to fill the emptiness left by the death of her irresponsible mother and the coldness of her rule-bound father. But when she's caught in the midst of a convenience store holdup, gun in hand, and her father tells the judge that he can no longer control her, Dallas ends up in Girls' Rehabilitation Center, a stop between "Juvie" and a more punitive work camp. Through Dallas's eyes, readers meet the other wards at GRC, as well as the people who work to help (and sometimes hinder) them?wan, wispy Toozdae, turning tricks to support her siblings; Dahlia, wedded to the white supremacist credo; tough-talking Shatasia, determined to change for the sake of her baby; plus Mary Alice ("Malice"), a probation officer who revels in insulting and ridiculing the girls, and counselor Nolan, who runs their Anger Management sessions. Ferris often opts for insight over authenticity in Dallas's first-person narration ("At home, at school?when I managed to get there?everything seemed to be in slow motion and muted colors. I felt hollow and barely visible"). As a result, the narrator comes off as more of an observer than a fully realized character. But the author's willingness to explore the issues these girls face, as well as her refusal to settle for easy answers and sugarcoated endings, makes for a thoughtful novel. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (August 5, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374304793
• ISBN-13: 978-0374304799
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,010,080 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a provocative story about young delinquent girls., January 12, 1999

By A Customer

This is a very well written provocative story about several young girls in a correctional facility. It is primarily Dallas' story. Ferris tells us what it's like in the Girls Rehabilitation Facility while Dallas spends 6 months there for attempting to commit armed robbery. Only fifteen years old, Dallas, abandoned by her friends, boyfiriend, and her father, through her experiences in the GRC realizes that her decisions brought her to where she is, and no one else is to blame -- maybe. Also, she learns from her mates and her counselors that living life "straight" is extremely hard, and she has very little hope of changing herself or her behavior when she returns to her former situation. She's not sure she wants to change. Ferris does not gloss over violent situations. She tells it the way she apparently heard it when she was doing her research, talking with teenage girls in a detention center during the summer of 1993. Particularly poignant is the experience of one of the girls who goes home for the week-end only to be beaten up by one of her family members because she won't submit to his sexual advances. Instead, eager to try and change her behavior, she fights him off and walks a long way back to the GRC-- the only safe place she knows. We are left with a glimmer of hope that some of these girls will turn their lives around, knowing that if they do, it will take extraordinary courage, much help, more than average incentive and lots of luck. The girls come to life on the pages and won't be quickly forgotten.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Bad Bad or Good Bad, April 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Bad (Aerial Fiction) (Paperback)

A Review by Sarah

Dallas, a normal 16-year-old trouble maker, gets talked into robbing a convenience store with her fiends. Unfortunately, she is the one who gets caught and her father will not let her come home on probation because he has no control over her. The judge sends her to 6 months at a Girl's Rehab Center.

What I liked about this book is the topic. The topic of getting in trouble is hardly ever boring. For example, when Dallas and her friends were robbing the convenience store and Dallas got caught because she was holding the gun. One thing that I didn't like about this book is when Dallas first goes to the Rehab Center. Here, the author was mainly informative so my mind was left somewhat wandering. However, after that, which seemed like a never ending introduction to the Rehab Center and people, the book was interesting. It was more interesting because at the Rehab Center the author started telling about the different fights. Another thing that I didn't like about this book is how Dallas's father disowned her. This happened when he said that he would not take her back in because he had no control over her. I don't believe that a good dad would just give up that easily.

This book is very rewarding for its ending, so I recommend Bad to any reader that is willing to take the time to get through its mix of informative information and excitement for a meaningful ending. The book is fairly easy to read but may contain some information that may not be appropriate for young readers so I recommend it to reader's from 6th grade and up.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BAD, February 17, 2006

A Kid's Review

BAD Charlotte Cordell
My book was called BAD by Jean Ferris. This book is about a girl named Dallas. She lives with her father. Her mother had passed away when she was around 4 years old. She doesn't remember much of her mother, but from what her father says about her, she was not a good roll model. She was really irresponsible. She came home late and didn't care much for the family. When Dallas got her father mad by whom she hangs out with or what she does, he says that she is too much like her mother. Dallas was dating a boy named Ray. Ray and Dallas where friends with a girl named Pam and a boy named Sonny. Sonny was Pam's boyfriend. That was their group of friends. What they did to have fun was shoplift and break the law. They called it, "skating." One day they were really bored and they decided to do something that they had never done before. They were going to rob a small jiffy spot store. Pam had stolen a gun from her father and brought it along so they could get control of the cashier. They were sitting in a café one night and were deciding who would do what. They had come up with the plan that Ray, Pam, and Sonny would break an entry. So that leaves Dallas to be the one to hold the gun and threaten the cashier, even though she didn't want to. When it was time, they did as planned. Shortly after they had entered the store, police cars had showed up. Ray, Pam, and Sonny darted out the back door like there was no tomorrow. They left Dallas there for blame. They also made up a story that Dallas had stolen the gun from Pam's father so that Pam and the others wouldn't get in trouble. Pam got taken away and charged with robbery. She was sent to juvenile hall. Her father wouldn't bail her out knowing how much he didn't trust her. Since they had nothing to do with her there, they sent her to a rehab for people who committed crimes. It was like a school to teach them that it was bad and also teach them so they don't get behind. Dallas had to stay in rehab for at least 6 months. She could have visitors on weekends. Pam came to visit her after a couple weeks. Dallas was desperate to get out of there! Dallas's father had shown up one day. Does he take her home? Read the book to find out.
This book was a really good book. Every time I had to stop reading this book, I didn't want to. I could have just kept reading until I finished it. It was very exciting to read. The parts that got me most excited were the cliff hangers. They set me up for a big sensation to keep reading. The author definitely made me feel like I was in the book. Jean described every scene in the book very well so that I could just imagine in my head that I was there. The main conflict did interest me a lot. When I read the first 6 pages, I was already into the book. It reminded me of what not to do. Such as: Steal and break laws. The characters were definitely realistic. They reminded me of some people that I know. (Besides the whole breaking the law part) The book ending was very disappointing. It just had a very dead end. I wanted to keep reading. Nothing much happens at the end besides one thing that is very big. But if I were to tell you, you would know the whole ending.
The author wrote in the 3rd person. The book was read as if I was reading the persons life. The author used slang and regular everyday vocabulary. One of the characteristics in the author's writing is how accurate it is. She described exactly how it would have been in rehab. She also explained in graphic details of everything that was going on. Jean Ferris is a very good author. I got very involved with this book.
I rate this book a 9 out of 10. I loved everything about this book besides the ending. I wish the ending was more interesting, it just kind of stops. I definitely recommend this book to everyone. Age doesn't really matter. It's a really good book if you are interesting in this kind of book.
This book was amazingly written. It's a pretty easy book, but very interesting. It's interesting about how some teenagers may live their lives compared to others.