Studying Boys

i love this book. a great second book in the series. frances is a realatable character that everyone wants as a friend and theo is the good/bad boy every girl wants to date.

Frances Spinelli doesn't have time for boys, she's too busy studying. Her friends decide she needs some boy/girl interaction. They give her an ultimatum: join a club and meet some boys, or they will tell Theo, Blue's brother about the "secret" crush Frances has on him. Reluctantly, Frances joins the newspaper, and gets put in charge of starting the "homewirk club". It is her job to get a group of guys and girls to study together, in hopes of improving their grades. The first couple of meetings are a bust, until Theo's parents force him to help Frances. He is not happy, and Frances is mortified. His flippant attitude towards the club infuriates her, and she finally gets over her crush on him....just as Theo begins to fall for her. Can Frances get the homework club going? And will she give Theo a chance...or will she go back to her studious self?

Frances' friends decided she desperately needs an intervention to save her life or something like it. No, she's not a pill head or drunk, she's addicted to unrequited love for her best friend, Blue's, brother, Theo. Unless she gives it up and starts doing coed things with other guys and having a life, they will portray her as a stalker to Theo and ruin her chances with him. So, she joins the student newspaper and lands an important assignment on the first day; host a Homework club to integrate the all boys and all girls schools. She knows immediately it's a huge and possibly impossible assignment, but gives it her best shot. Only one taker shows up, a nerdy guy who'd be perfect for her, perfectly awful at least. So, a bit of blackmail gets Theo to help her by bringing his friends over, the problem being that all they study is how to party, with maybe a bit of sex ed. Frances is outraged, Theo amused. He challenges her to loosen up by sneaking out to go on an educational date with him, but he's the one educated. **** Nerds can have fun and be cool too. This book will give every shy, brainy girl a ray of hope and a few laughs. Its innocent sensuality almost reminds you of "Dirty Dancing", whose heroine has the same name as the star of this book. If you liked Putting Boys on the Ledge, you'll like this one twice as much. **** Amanda Killgore

Fourteen-year-old Frances knew that there was something weird going on when she walked into her friend Blue's house, only to be confronted by her three closest friends (Blue, Allie and Natalie), and she was right. For she is immediately bombarded with an alternative to her crush on Blue's older brother, Theo. The solution is that she must join a co-ed club, one where she will be able to meet some new boys, and possibly begin dating, so she can finally do something other than study during weekends. The problem, is that Frances' parents won't allow her to do anything that takes her mind away from studying. So she comes up with a great idea. She'll start a study club, that way she'll be with guys, but will be studying at the same time. Everybody wins. Until Theo joins the study club. Then all bets are off. After reading PUTTING BOYS ON THE LEDGE, the prequel to STUDYING BOYS, I knew that Frances was my absolute favorite character out of the four girls, so I was absolutely ecstatic to see that STUDYING BOYS was told from her point of view. Frances is an amazing character, who proves to readers that it's good to be smart, and that smart girls can get the cute guys just as easily as the popular girls. Stephie Davis is amazing at proving that girls can take a lead role in relationships, and that they don't have to agree with whatever the guy says to hold on to the romance. Overall, this is a very girl-empowering addition to the teen fiction genre, that will hold a special place in the hearts of female readers the world over. Erika Sorocco Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper