Title: Getting the Girl: A Guide to Private Investigation, Surveillance, and Cookery
Author: Susan Juby
Summary: At Harewood Technical High School, the worst thing that could happen to a girl is to get ‘defiled,’ or ‘D-Listed.’ When your picture goes up in the bathroom with a D written over it, you instantly become a non-entity: No one will associate with you, or even talk to you at all, ever again. When Sherman Mack, a slightly short culinary student and all-around nice guy, begins to fear that the new girl he has a crush on might get D-listed, he decides to find out who exactly is doing the ‘defiling,’ even if it means crossing the social boundaries of his school and asking questions no one really wants to have answered.
This mystery will keep you guessing, and gives both guys and girls a great hero to root for in Sherman. Even though like most young people, he has a lot on his plate (both literally and figuratively), he goes out of his way to help his friends and the Defiled. You’ll finish this book wishing Sherman was your next-door neighbor – a guy who stands up for what he believes in and a terrific cook!
Who will like this book?: People who like funny mysteries that aren’t intense or gory. Readers who like stories with heroic teens who aren’t afraid to stand up for what is right.
If you like this, try this: The Alice books, also by Susan Juby. 13 by Jason Robert Brown. Little Brother by Cory Doctrow. Paper Towns by John Green.
Recommended by: Nicole, Teen Librarian