The Attitude Girl - Mila Bernadkin, Author

 

“Watch where you’re going, you dork,”  I hear suddenly from the right side.  It’s pretty-blond-but-really-dumb-and-mean Heather Stone, insulting a quiet, brilliant nerd, Norman Fixx, for accidently touching her shoulder with a food tray he’s carrying to his table.  “I’m sorry,” mumbles the always-so-polite Norman, “I didn’t mean it, honestly.  I’m so sorry.”  His apology apparently isn’t enough for Heather.  She’s out for blood.  “Listen, Bates, you psycho!” she continues to torture the poor guy.  “His name is Norman Fixx, not Norman Bates,” I yell from my seat.  “Leave him alone.  Didn’t he apologize?  Didn’t he say he was sorry?  What else do you want from him, his blood?”  “You shut up!  Who asked you?”  Heather shouts back and then narrows her eyes and asks, “Who are you, his mother?”  “Norman Fix-me-up, come here.  I want to talk to you,”  calls Ted “The Jaws” McAlly, Heather’s “bodyguard.”  “No, Norman Put-me-down sounds much better,” Heather declares and starts giggling.  Does she actually believe she’s being funny?  They all laugh.  All except for Nick and Brianna, that is.  Brianna Gold is the only one from that group I can tolerate.  And Nick…I look at him appreciatively.  He smiles at me and sends butterflies down my spine.  He’s so sexy, I feel a warm wave all over my body.  God, he’s gorgeous!  If looks could kill, I’d be a corpse right this moment.

 

‘I, Victoria Benson, a seventeen-year old high school senior, have an attitude problem.  Actually, I don’t have a problem with my attitude, but other people apparently do.’  Does it mean you have an attitude just because you want to defend one of the most nerdy boys in school?  Does it mean that you have an attitude just because you are mad at your mother after she loses her job and decides to take a sabbatical before even looking for another?  After all, what will I use for money when my 4 best friends and I decide to go on our weekly shopping spree?  Does it mean that you have an attitude when you find that your mother has found a ‘lump’ and things could get even worse than they already are?  Or when your OWN father left you when you were little and never came back?  Or when your OWN grandmother offers you money and your mother feels you shouldn’t take it?  Now tell me, why would these problems plus cause anyone to have an attitude?

 

While reading The Attitude Girl, I found myself wanting to agree with Vicky’s decisions as she tried to deal with her problems and disagreeing with the attitudes her best friends seemed to have toward her.  But then it hit me.  We are talking about 17 year old girls not an adults.  Their logic is totally different from mine.  Some of the pressures that were put on Vicky are some of the same pressures I can remember seeing and/or hearing about when I myself was a teenager showing me that some things never change. 

 

The Attitude Girl is a book that would be a beneficial read for all adults with pre-teen to teen age children as well as a beneficial read for the children themselves.  We can all learn a lot from this book.

The Attitude Girl is an 8 time award-winning book and after reading it I can see why.

 

2009

321 pages

Five Star Publications

ISBN# 978-1-58985-155-9