Boys, Girls and Other Hazardous Materials

Reader reviewed by Lia

Charlie is both nervous and excited to start 9th grade at Harmony Falls away from her supposed best friends. She is ready to start over and make some new friends. Charlie makes friends easily enough and even lands a piece in the school newspaper. But when she learns questionable stuff about the school's beloved lacrosse team, Charlie has make a decision: will she stand-by or stand-up.

This book was a nice quick read that I finished in one sitting. It had light romance, lots of BFF bonding moments and doing what's right. The writing was very simple and easy to get in to. The characterization was done very well of the main character. All her emotions and thoughts felt realistic when she was debating about what to. It was a fast, enjoyable read.

Reader reviewed by Curren

Boys, Girls & other Hazardous Materials: by Rosalind Wiseman tells the story of Charlie Healy, a freshman in high school.  I had to read this book as an assignment.  It details Charlies (short for Charlotte) difficult journey of trying to fit in, make friends and figure out who she is.  Charlie switches to a new private school, Harmony Falls, in order to avoid her former enemies, Lauren & Ally.  She does so because those were the two girls who made her middle school experience miserable.  The author follows her journey as Charlie makes a new friend, Syndey, and reunites with her old friend Will.  Charlie and Will were friends since they were little kids and the book goes back and forth from their friendship to their relationship as more than friends.  Will is a lacrosse player and is involved in a bad incident that went too far.  Charlie knows about the incident and has to make some tough decisions about how to handle it.

I think Rosalind Wiseman does a good job describing the struggles that teens go through today.  The incidents in her book are very realistic and very much like real events happen in real life. For instance, many people have had to choose between doing what is right or living with regret for the rest of their life.  Coming from a teenage boy I could not really relate to a lot of the struggles faced by the girls in this book.  I feel that this would be a very good book for teenage girls.  However, it doesnt exactly hook me into the story as a guy.  This book was pretty good because it is a lot like teen life because there is a time in ones life where a person must choose between their friends and what is right.  Even though guys and girls go through the same struggles, the way we approach them is very much different.  Therefore, this book was kind of hard for me to read.

I would suggest this book for girls of teenage years but not for adults or boys.  I say this because the events in this book relate to the struggles of a teenage girl and the people around her.  As a guy, I didnt exactly want to read it all day.  I would recommend this book to any girl who has friend, boy, and family drama in their life.  Therefore, I would recommend this book to every teenage girl on earth.  

Reader reviewed by dejohnruffin

Boys, Girls, and other Hazardous Materials



In Rosalind Wisemans novel, Boys, Girls, and other Hazardous Materials, Charlie Healey faces adversity at her new high school. Her middle school life was bad, and it did not leave her with any good memories, because mean girls were everywhere. Her new high school, Harmony Falls, was supposed to be her chance to start over. She thought it would be a good idea to join the newspaper staff, so she did. She actually started making some real friends, like Sydney and Nidha. It was exciting and nerve-wracking, and she didnt know what new people she would meet or run into. She had hope for her future to be drama-free until she runs into her ex-best friend, Will. Will had moved away two summers ago, and now hes back with a new group of questionable friends that basically run the school. Later on in the story, Charlie witnesses Will hurt an innocent delivery man as part of a hazing prank. All Charlie wanted to do was have a drama-free freshman year, but she couldnt escape the drama. Her secret feelings for Will stop her from telling him not to haze the delivery guy. She must make the hard decision of making this come between their friendships or protect their friendship by keeping his actions a secret. But Will cant be stopped because he wants to earn his loyalty with the upperclassmen. During the story, Charlie learns that both sexes are capable of doing bad things, but at the same time, doing good things.

I liked the book, because Rosalind Wiseman chose a topic that people could relate to. Some of the characters were funny, like Nidhi, Sydney, and Michael. I also like how Charlie chose to do the right thing, even though she had strong feelings for Will.

At the same time, I thought it was a little unrealistic. I wish I could have read more about Sydney and Nidha because they were funny, unique, and loyal to Charlie. I disliked some parts, because Charlie is a typical, used-to-be-a-follower-now-is-trying-to-be-a-wannabe-leader. I disliked how the story sort of drags itself and the action doesnt start until towards the end of the story. There were very much predictable parts in the story but Rosalind knows how to throw curve balls in when the plot is starting to slow. This book has a unique portray of high school because it tells you that there are some adults you cant trust but there are also ones that are wise and you should listen to them. Thats the major message I got from this book. The helpful adults in this story play a big role to because they give Charlie some advice and help her get over her conflict if she should tell on will for hazing the mailman and they teach Will to hang around the right people.

This book has a lot of pros and cons but the pros outweigh the cons. Charlie obviously learns her lesson that doing that doing the right thing is better than doing nothing at all. Will learns to hang with the right people next time. Bye the end of the story, Charlie doesnt know who to trust but everything gets resolved and everyone is happy except the bad guys. Overall I do enjoy this story and would recommend it to you.