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Rules for Being a Girl

by Candace Bushnell, Katie Cotugno, Anna Souillac

Cover of Rules for Being a Girl
Popularity 21

Marin has always been good at navigating these unspoken guidelines. A star student and editor of the school paper, she dreams of getting into Brown University. Marin’s future seems bright—and her young, charismatic English teacher, Mr. Beckett, is always quick to admire her writing and talk books with her. But when “Bex” takes things too far and comes on to Marin, she’s shocked and horrified. Had she somehow led him on? Was it her fault? When Marin works up the courage to tell the administration what happened, no one believes her. She’s forced to face Bex in class every day. Except now, he has an ax to grind. But Marin isn’t about to back down. She uses the school newspaper to fight back and she starts a feminist book club at school. She finds allies—and even romance—in the most unexpected people, like Gray Kendall, who she’d always dismissed as just another lacrosse bro. As things heat up at school and in her personal life, Marin must figure out how to take back the power and write her own rules.

Young adult fiction, social themes, friendshipYoung adult fiction, romance, contemporarysexual harassmentNew York Times reviewedYoung adult fiction, social themes, dating & sexTeenage girlsJuvenile fictionHigh school studentsHigh schoolsSchoolsTeacher-student relationshipsStudent newspapers and periodicals