Rat Boys: A Dating Experiment

Rating:
Summary: If Only It Could Really Happen!!!
Review: I think this book is a very interesting and fun book for teens to read. I like it because it relates to a teen's life, and where I am right now in life. This book keeps you into it and keeps you guessing to see what's going to happen next. That makes me want to continue to read the book, knowing something's going to happen, although I might not know what it is. Lastly, I think Thom Eberhardt really wrote a wonderful and creative book, even though it is isn't true, teens would still do anything to reach their goal, using magic or not.

Rating:
Summary: Worth Avoiding
Review: In the past couple of years, the world of young adult literature has been able to move past the desperate cliches of boy/girl dating and into a place where characters' thoughts, feelings, and comments about the opposite sex are realistic, albeit awkward and somewhat comical. This book, however, throws us back a few decades. Yes, I realize that it's intended to be easy-going and fun, but it decends to the point of being surface and stereotypical. The characters talk like two highschoolers out of the eighties, more Valley Girl than today's teens would ever be. And their stereotypical eccentric shop-owner friend reminds us of so many other characters--see any John Hughes teen movie. Admittedly, there are some funny moments as the girls set out to get dates by transforming pet rats into real boys. But the whole theme of "the unpopular girl against the popular girl" ends up making the characters seem ridiculous and shallow.

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious!!
Review: This book is gut-wrenchingly funny. On the same par as any of Louise Rennison's books--I don't know why it hasn't gotten similar publicity. No marketing? 2 friends find a magic ring & decide to zap their pet rats into dates for a school dance. Problem: the very cute boys still act a little like rats. But the popular girls are way jealous!