The Queen Bee of Bridgeton

The Queen Bee of Bridgeton by Leslie DuBois follows Sonya a ballet dancer who is out of her element at a fancy private school.  Sonya lives in a very poor neighborhood with her mother and sister.  Her sister really wants out and works to be admitted to a fancy private school and Sonya is admitted a year later.  The two are totally out of their element both in race and class.  Sonya has always handled this by remaining invisible however when a popular boy singles herself out she finds herself entangled in a social mess of epic proportions.

This is an entertaining book that tackles race and class and bullying with a bit of dance on the side.  Sonya is a determined girl with a love of dance and her family situation is interesting.  The controversy was trashy and scandalous and the ending of the book was fascinating.  I didn't however love the romance.  I had a problem believing that a good girl would stay in a relationship with a guy whose sexual past was so horrendous (he was part of a group that kept score based on their sexual activities) no matter how reformed he appeared.  The relationship was obsessive and too serious and the ending of the relationship was too perfect.  The book is short and a quick read.  The digital edition is available from the kindle store for .99

Appropriateness:  This is a trashy trashy book but as opposed to most trashy novels it has a good message..  The main character has a good heart and works hard to get what she wants.  She is naive and gets very drunk after drinking a spiked drink and does things she regrets (which is a good lesson).  There is quite a bit of sex talk and some scenes of a sexual nature (but nothing erotic).  There are some weird things with the relationship that parents should talk to their girls about how important it is to not let the things they find important suffer because of a relationship.  All in all this is a book with a very good message of hard work and honesty.  I would recommend this book for a teen audience 13+