Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9–This lightweight foray into the love life of 14-year-old haiku-writing Felicia, one of the supremely self-confident sex kittens at the Manhattan Free Childrens School (aka the Pound) will provide hours of laughter and empathetic nods from readers who enjoy the trendy lingo. The Pound is a free-spirited place where students can cut class at will, never do homework, and spend lots of time doing extremely original projects, and Felicia and her fellow kittens, Jess and Kat, make the most of every opportunity. The Horn Dawgs are the male students, and Felicia has zeroed in on making her science fair project a study on the Search for X, otherwise known as the thing that makes the one you love love you back. The Dawg participant is Matthew, the object of her affection. While the title might make some adults cringe, in fact the story is nearly squeaky clean and lots of good fun with a predictable but happy ending.–Susan Riley, Mount Kisco Public Library, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 7-10. After 14-year-old Felicia falls for Matthew, a passionate science student at their alternative Manhattan school, she concocts a scheme to kindle his affections. Framing her unrequited crush as a scientific query, she proposes a joint science fair project to investigate love's "X-factor" --" Why some combinations of people fall in love and some don't." Matthew accepts, and their research, involving fellow students and the adults in their world, drives this uproariously funny debut novel. The premise is farfetched; could any teen so calmly discuss with her crush why he doesn't return her feelings? But like any romantic farce, realism gives way to giddy humor, intrigues, and captivating characters, while Felicia's strong, pitch-perfect narration will easily win readers, whether she is talking about her New Age mother (" Can someone give peace a frikkin'chance already, so the poor woman can MOVE ON?"), chatting with her best friends, or musing about love. Despite the potentially suggestive title, the characters are intellectually, not sexually, precocious, and this will appeal most to young, gifted teens feeling the shock of their own first crushes. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (January 24, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385732767
• ISBN-13: 978-0385732765
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,053,729 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Be Thrown Off by the Title: This is a Wonderful Book, Suitable for Younger Teens, July 16, 2006

By	Jennifer Robinson "Editor of Jen Robinson's B... (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The first thing that I have to say about Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love, by Maryrose Wood, is that, despite the title, it's NOT about sex. It's about relatively innocent high school freshmen exploring the world of love and dating. If anything, it's almost too cute for words. But not quite. Instead, it's simply adorable.

The Sex Kittens of the title are three fourteen-year-old best friends who attend the Manhattan Free Children's School. They've christened themselves the Sex Kittens in response to a karmic incident with a kitten-themed deck of Tarot cards. (You'll have to read the book for details.) Naturally, once they call themselves Sex Kittens, it's a logical extension that they refer to the boys at their school as Horn Dawgs (or just Dawgs for short), and to the school as "The Pound."

The narrator is Felicia, a young poet who lives in a tiny apartment with her bohemian mother. Felicia's defining attribute (besides being a poet) is her hopeless and consuming crush on Matthew, a classmate who is fixated on science experiments. In a moment of mind-boggling bravery, Felicia confesses her crush to Matthew, and proposed that they do an experiment for the upcoming science fair. Specifically, Felicia wants to explore X, that mysterious something that makes her fall for Matthew, while he remains largely indifferent to her. Matthew, in the interest of science, agrees to the project, and they unlikely duo is off!

Matthew and Felicia interview people, they devise and watch various experiments, they collect data, and they do learn a few things along the way. Meanwhile, their collection of friends, Jess and Kat, Randall and Trip and Jacob, and eventually Deej, all have their own experiences with love, too. These are very PG experiences of love, by the way, with some hand-holding and kissing, but nothing at all for the book banners to grab hold of (beyond the title itself). There's a great deal about the feeling of being in love, the pains in the pit of your stomach, the wardrobe indecision, the rapid heartbeats... But overall, these are nice, believable kids who are easy to get attached to.

What I like best about this book is the use of language. Felicia is a poet, and she is constantly making up or modifying words. The one that sticks with me that most is "insert sound of the Chinese gong, reverbeverbeverberating!" Isn't that great? The word reverberating is reverberating itself. There are also a lot of words in all caps, followed by exclamation points. This took me a bit of getting used to, but I have to say that it accurately reflects the moods and expressiveness of Felicia and her friends. These are high school freshmen, excited about first love and the freedom offered by their new school. They should speak with exaggerated emphasis, shouldn't they? If I had access to notes from my own 9th grade self, I'm sure that they would be filled with exclamation points, underlinings, and made up words. All that's missing in the text of the book are little doodles of hearts and rainbows and champagne glasses (though there is some of that on the cover).

There are plenty of other nice things about the book. The girls are, for the most part, self-confident, and the kids all have talents and interests that they're passionate about. Felicia has a wonderfully close relationship with her Mom, and a believably strained relationship with her suburban father (and his new family). There's a great scene in which the kids from The Pound stand up to some "unhip" racist idiots, in defense of their new friend Deej and her schoolmates. But really, the reason to read this book is that the Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs are realistic portrayals of nice kids having their first look at love. Who wouldn't want to spend time with them?

This book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on July 16th, 2006.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun read for preteens and younger teens , June 24, 2006

By	Gary H. Cassel "Flamingnet.com" (Baltimore, MD, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A racy title may suggest a racy story normally, but Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love is anything but. Felicia, Jess, and Kat are fourteen-year-olds at the Manhattan Free Children's School, an alternative environment for the story that allows them midday chais at diners and virtually no bothersome studies. The three call themselves the Sex Kittens, so the boys are dubbed Dawgs. In the science competition of the century, Felicia decide to enlist the aide of science guru Matthew--her crush--who breeds genius bunnies, to find the secret of love. While no easy task for a group of girls, their adventures and experiments while searching for "X" create a knot of boyfriends, pretend boyfriends, secret crushes, unrequited love, and a really good story.
Opinion: If you can manage it past the SOMEWHAT EXCESSIVE capitalization and LOTS of puns on kittens, this book is REALLY good. Although the Kittens are all a little crazy--I personally don't know any teens who would volunteer their deepest emotions for a science fair project--the Dawgs, who are more grounded, tie the book together. The end, definitely a happy ending of the usual sort, was not at all what I had expected, due to the many twists romances. While not for the Gossip Girl set, this is a fun read for preteens and younger teens looking for romance and adventure without the more mature issues dealt with in other novels of this sort.

Reviewed by a student reviewer for Flamingnet Book Reviews
www.flamingnet.com
Preteen, teen, and young adult book reviews and recommendations

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read!, May 24, 2006

By	Lily Penny - See all my reviews

A great, clean book for teenagers who are just looking for something fun to read. This book would be wonderful as a girly summer beach read! If you liked books such as "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants", you will love "Sex Kittens". The characters are all unique and interesting, and I had so much fun reading it. I will definatly recommend this book to all my girlfriends!