Book Review: The Fashion Disaster That Changed My Life by Lauren Myracle

The Fashion Disaster That Changed My Life by Lauren Myracle 
(Penguin Group)

Smack dab in the middle of the worst years of her life: Middle School, Allison a 7th grader has to deal with figuring it ALL out. Between friendships, crushes, and the all consuming pursuit to be popular, she is deeply entrenched in a preteen's complicated world! With that said, while I was reading, I thought back to my days of teaching 7th grade and even further back to my days of actually experiencing that horrid era of existence. It is an excruciating time of self discovery and unwarranted input from peers. This book captures this pain and confusion very well and is entertaining to boot.

NOW FOR THE BAD PART: The book is inappropriate for a girl of middle school age. Some of the language, sexual innuendo, and subject matter will add fuel to the already hormone-induced curiosity fire raging in tweens. Furthermore, some of the language, while common with that age set, shouldn't be promoted as acceptable. The delicate balance is what was so awesome about Clueless. The language could have been way more vulgar to portray popular nineties parlance, but Amy Heckerling avoided vulgarity while capturing the vernacular authentically. Any time a book aimed toward ages 10 and up (the suggested age on the book) uses the term "ménage à troi," you know you've got to shelve the book until the reader is 14, if then.  Well written? Yes! Entertaining? Yes!  Too mature for the suggested reader? Definitely!

If she had just framed The Fashion Disaster That Changed My Life as being recalled by a high schooler, summed up with a successful update at the end (e.g., Allison and Meagan are going to the same college in the fall or Rachel wasn't prom queen, Mika was), teenagers 14 and up would more readily go for the middle school plot. It's a fun read, but just too mature for the intended audience.

Moral of the story: Parents, you may just have to read/skim books before you allow your kids to read them. Just because it's at a book fair or in the library doesn't mean that it is acceptable for all children.