Derby Girl
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When sixteen-year-old rebel Bliss Cavendar, who is miserable living in a small Texas town with her beauty pageant-obsessed mother, secretly joins a roller derby team under the name "Babe Ruthless," her life gets better, although infinitely more confusing.
REVIEWS & SUMMARIES
School Library Journal ReviewPublishers Weekly Review
Summary / Annotation
Excerpt
Author Notes
COMMUNITY REVIEWS
Same Sarcasm/Wit of Juno Screenplay submitted by ErinDurrett on February 8, 2010, 7:48pm When I began reading this book, having known it was made into a film starring Ellen Page, I instantly identified the character of Bliss Cavendar with Juno's main personality, Juno MacGuff. Both share the same sense of ironic humor, sarcasm, and wit, and while reading this book, I couldn't picture anyone but Ellen Page as Bliss Cavendar. The story begins with 16 year Bliss giving us a description of how her life sucks and more specifically the lack of anything "cool" in her hick town of Bodeen, Texas. When Bliss goes school clothes shopping with her pageant-crazed Mom in Austin, she sees a flyer for roller derby and decides she has to check this awesomeness out for herself. Enlisting the help of her best friend Pash, Bliss escapes to Austin for a night that changes her life. When "Malice in Wonderland" tells Bliss she can be her own hero and should try out for roller derby, Bliss's new life begins. She tells her parents she's joining a SAT prep class and enters into the world of roller derby as “Babe Ruthless”, meets band boys who get her sense of eclectic music taste (enter her fav band t-shirt starring Stryper), checks out parties, and gets into all sorts of fun. However, once Bliss emerges from her euphoric state, she realized that she's left her bff Pash behind, lied to her parents, and her teammates (you have to be 18 to compete in roller derby). In the end, she makes up with Pash, solves her boy troubles, and her mother realizes that her dreams are better left to Bliss’s younger pageant friendly sister and the roller derby really is Bliss’s thing. This was a fun teen read with a lot of quick wit and sarcasm. I found myself laughing throughout the story and became understanding of the trials Bliss had to endure. This is a quick and high spirited read!
PUBLISHED
New York : Henry Holt, 2007.
Year Published: 2007
Description: 234 p. ; 20 cm.
Language: English
Format: Book
READING LEVEL
Lexile: 930
ISBN/STANDARD NUMBER
0805080236
9780805080230
SUBJECTS
Identity (Psychology) -- Fiction.
Roller derbies -- Fiction.
Interpersonal relations -- Fiction.
High schools -- Fiction.
Texas -- Fiction.