Sister Mischief

by Laura Goode

Overview

“Full of big ideas, big heart, and big poetry, with a positive, activist message.” — Booklist (starred review)

Listen up: You’re about to get rocked by the fiercest, baddest all-girl hip-hop crew in the Twin Cities — or at least in the wealthy, white, Bible-thumping suburb of Holyhill, Minnesota. Our heroine, Jewish lesbian lyricist Esme Rockett (aka MC Ferocious), freaks out her Christian high school — and falls in love — in this righteously funny and totally tender YA debut. Exciting talent Laura Goode lays down a snappy, provocative, and heartfelt novel about discovering the rhythm of your own truth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763664565
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	08/06/2013
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.10(d)
Lexile:	850L (what's this?)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

 

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This is a feminist love letter to my own mischievous sisters."
- Laura Goode — Quote

Editorial Reviews

"This is a feminist love letter to my own mischievous sisters."
- Laura Goode — Quote

From the Publisher

Debut novelist Goode shows she's as much of a "word nerd" as her characters—four juniors bringing their queer-friendly brand of hip-hop to Minnesota's Twin Cities, like it or not. High School Musical this ain't: soon after readers meet Esme, the book's verse-slinging, no-nonsense narrator, she's losing her virginity in the back seat of Charlie Knutsen's Camry, basically to confirm what she already knows: "Definitely a homo. Like Same-Sex City, population Esme." She and her friends Marcy, Rowie, and Tessa are Sister Mischief, a hip-hop crew taking their lead from Queen Latifah, Missy Elliott, and other pioneering female rappers. But when they try to form a club devoted to discussing queer and hip-hop culture, they find opposition from school policies and classmates, and a clandestine relationship between Esme and Rowie threatens the group's stability. Conversations about (admittedly important) issues—such as the politics of suburban white girls rapping—can feel forced, but Goode knows her stuff. The girls have an encyclopedic knowledge and deep love of hip-hop, and Esme's emotionally charged rhymes flow freely. If ever a book needed a soundtrack—or a beatbox—this is it. Ages 14–up. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Hip-hop and rap, racial tensions, sex positivity, religion, coming out, even parental abandonment: At its low points, this reads like a checklist of hot-button issues.

But beneath the politics and too many lists of hip-hop/rap artists lies a touching story of impossible first love between narrator Esme, who knows she likes girls, and good friend Rohini, who might like girls but whose family is too traditionally Indian for her to even consider openly questioning her sexuality. There is also an improbable but entertaining students-against-administration subplot as the girls (Esme, Rohini, tough-but-beautiful Marcy and good girl Tess, who has fallen out with the A-list Christians) fight a recent ruling against any rap or "associated" apparel or materials at school. They create an alternative 4H (Hip-hop for Heteros and Homos) and hijack an assembly to drop some seriously intellectual beats. Highlighting the clutter of issues are frequent intrusions of a political, message-heavy adult voice. Do teen rappers, even white Jewish lesbians in the Christian heartland, really come up with lines like "We're done with sex hypocrisy up in this here gynocracy"?

Snappy dialogue, likable characters and an original concept make it hard to entirely dismiss this one, but the message overwhelms the good stuff. (Fiction. 14-17)

Kirkus Reviews