Rating: 
Summary: Reality Check!
Review: 'The Girls'is a great, realistic teenage book. It's about a group of 5 "popular girls". The girls do everything together, and they think they're all best friends. Really, it was just Maya, Darcy, Renee, and Brianna under control of Candace.
I loved reading this book because it's totally true about middle-school girls and I see it everyday. But at the same time I didn't like it because it was like a reality check. 'The Girls' totally flaunts how cruel middle-school cliches can be. When Candace basically dumps Maya out of the group and then starts talking about her behind her back, it was almost daring the other girls to say something and get dumped too. I felt guilty reading this because I've seen this in action and havn't spoken up. It shows all the sides of the story and while I was reading this I was disgusted that they could be friends and not have them say anything, but then it still happens daily.
This book has a very good perspective of "relationship bullying". The only thing I didn't understand about the book was why Candace felt that Darcy, Brianna, and Renne felt like leeches. I mean, they're supposed to be her friends, why should she feel like they're too attached? Do all "ringleaders" feel this way about their followers?
I would recommend this book to girls from about 6th grade through high school. It's pretty easy reading but it's still fun to read. If you're having problems with your friends and feel like your cliche is breaking off or slowly dumping you, this is a good point of view. Even if you're not going through that but want to avoid doing that to your own friends than this is your book.
Rating:
Summary: Believable and compelling
Review: Amy Goldman Koss's "The Girls" is a horribly realistic portrayal of the nastiness that goes on in middle-school cliques. The story is alternatingly told from the points of view of all five girls in the group, which was a wise decision on Ms. Koss's part as it allows us to develop a varying amounts of sympathy for all the characters, even the meanest ones.One of the most sympathetic figures here is Maya Koptiev, who at at the outset of the story has been the most recent one to be ostracized from the group. The ostracization of Maya (and others, as the tale progresses) is initiated by the clique's ringleader, Candace Newman. Nasty, gutsy, charismatic, and possessing the power to make everyone around kowtow to her, Candace is altogether too believable a character - as is her ugly-acting sidekick, Darcy. Yet at the same time, both girls' characters are three-dimensional. You might want to hate them, but you can't. Rounding out the group are weak-willed Brianna, who wants to remain friends with the excluded Maya but can't quite manage to wriggle out of Candace's proverbial clutches; and shy Renee, who dithers her way through sentences and worries about her father, the "jukebox man". Also prevalent are supporting players Keloryn (Darcy's college-bound older sister) and Nicole (a redhead Candace adopts for what Brianna refers to as her "girl collection"). At 121 pages, "The Girls" is a short novel, but everything is there that needs to be. It is an (unfortunately) accurate and very compelling story from beginning to end.
Rating:
Summary: Believable and compelling
Review: Amy Goldman Koss's "The Girls" is a horribly realistic portrayal of the nastiness that goes on in middle-school cliques. The story is alternatingly told from the points of view of all five girls in the group, which was a wise decision on Ms. Koss's part as it allows us to develop a varying amounts of sympathy for all the characters, even the meanest ones. One of the most sympathetic figures here is Maya Koptiev, who at at the outset of the story has been the most recent one to be ostracized from the group. The ostracization of Maya (and others, as the tale progresses) is initiated by the clique's ringleader, Candace Newman. Nasty, gutsy, charismatic, and possessing the power to make everyone around kowtow to her, Candace is altogether too believable a character - as is her ugly-acting sidekick, Darcy. Yet at the same time, both girls' characters are three-dimensional. You might want to hate them, but you can't. Rounding out the group are weak-willed Brianna, who wants to remain friends with the excluded Maya but can't quite manage to wriggle out of Candace's proverbial clutches; and shy Renee, who dithers her way through sentences and worries about her father, the "jukebox man". Also prevalent are supporting players Keloryn (Darcy's college-bound older sister) and Nicole (a redhead Candace adopts for what Brianna refers to as her "girl collection"). At 121 pages, "The Girls" is a short novel, but everything is there that needs to be. It is an (unfortunately) accurate and very compelling story from beginning to end.
Rating: 
Summary: This book has no plot!
Review: I found this book in my 11 year-old sister's room, and thought it looked interesting. Boy was I wrong! This book can be confusing to follow because each chapter is writted from another character's point of view. Not only does this book have so weak a plot that it seems to be non-existent, but the portrayel of the four teenage girls who are the main characters is totally false! The plot in this book is so unbelievable! I wouldn't waste your money on this book. If you desperatly want to read this book, then borrow it from the library, but do not spend your own money on it!
Rating: 
Summary: Pre-Teen Peer Pressure
Review: I thought that this book was really good because it describes about how the life of being a teenager really is.Its not easy fitting in or choosing the right group of friends and just because you think you fit in doesnt necessarily mean it is the right group. Choosing your friends is hard and I think this book really describes that.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: Maya's a member of a middle-school clique, until one day, when their "leader" decides to ditch her. Maya's confusion, along with three of the other girls in the clique's emotions are explored in short chapters that switch back and forth from one girl to another. What emerges is a sad, but very true picture of how cliques function and how girls treat their "friends." My main gripe with this book was that it was far too short and read more like a short story than a novel. I wish that the characters had been expanded a bit more, but maybe by keeping it short, the author was trying to prove a point.
Rating:
Summary: The Girls
Review: Since I am 18 yrs old, this book was a little bit young for me but it won more than one award so I decided that it was worth my time. The book shows the members of a clique from each individuals perspective. The book is a little bit juvinile but it shows the troubles that preteens face- divorce, the want for acceptance and watching their parents age.
Rating:
Summary: The Girls
Review: The Girls
Amy Goldman Koss
Maya's life was going great when she moved into town and became friends with the most popular girl in school named Candace. That would change after one night during the end of summer break. Maya isn't invited to Darcy's sleepover because Candace considered her boring now. It's time for Renee and Brianna to make their own choice on whether they were going to be Maya's friend or just follow the leader of their group, Candace.
This was a book that can really relate to real life problems people go through. It's about making your own decision, not follow someone else's, and learning how to stand up for what you truly believe in.
I would really recommend this book to people of the ages of 11-14. I got caught up in this book the more I read it. I personally would rate this book a 4 with 5 being the highest.
Rating:
Summary: This book has no plot!
Review: The Girls consist of Maya, Renee, Candace, and Brianna. All of a sudden the 4 girls decided not to be friends with Maya, leaving her to wonder why they don't like her anymore.
The book wasn't very detailed. It didn't even tell where it took place. It was hard for me to stay focused because I kept forgetting who the characters were or getting them mixed up, and not knowing who did what in the book. Personally, there were just too many girls to keep track of.
However, I think a lot of girls can relate to it or atleast understand the concept. It wasn't horrible. I don't think I would recommend it to anyone just young girls like my neice because she is 13 and going in to middle school. Younger girls would maybe like it more.
Rating:
Summary: The Girls
Review: The Girls Puffin Books, 2000, 121 pp., $4.99
Amy Goldman Koss ISBN 0-14-230033-0 Could you put yourself in the position where all of a sudden, your closest friends begin teasing and taunting you? Well, that's the position that Maya is in when friends Renée, Brianna, and Darcy turn on her, and she can't figure out why. Then popular, intimidating Candace calls her and says some awful things, and suddenly it becomes crystal clear: the other girls don't like her because of Candace; if they did stay Maya's friend after Candace began to dislike her, they would be out of Candace's clique. The book The Girls shows how hard it is to be left out, mocked, and how to get back on your feet.
I really loved this book because I felt as though I could instantly connect with Maya. She has the same problems every middle school girl has, and Amy Goldman Koss describes her emotions very well. The writer's craft was unique; with each new chapter, a different girl would narrate the story and the "Maya problem" as she saw it through her own eyes.
The book The Girls was addictive. I enjoyed reading the different perspectives that each individual girl had on the problems going on within their clique. Once I picked it up, I just couldn't put it down!
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