Pages: 191
Intended Audience: Teens
Genre: Real life / Social issues
Notes for Parents: Some strong language, disturbing scenes, bullying, homosexuality, mentions of drug use, discussions about racism
The Inside Cover
Maxie’s a cartoonist.
Rick’s a design genius.
Back in grade school, they used to come up with crazy inventions, like mousetraps with a zillion parts.
But high school is nothing like child’s play. The traps Maxie and Rick encounter now are a lot more complicated—and a lot more dangerous…
What the cover doesn’t tell you:
Maxie and Rick were best friends in grade school until Rick started getting bullied. After an incident of extreme bullying, Rick and his family moved away. Now it’s high school, and Rick has moved back.
What’s good?
This was a short but powerful story about friendship, bullying, identity, and how to deal. The characters are well done. Maxie is flawed and makes some bad decisions, but she’s sincere and genuinely wants to be a decent person, while Rick is a tragic character that yearns for acceptance. Even though I didn’t like Tay and can’t understand why Maxie would be friends with her, she, Sean and Dexter are excellent supporting characters. Together, they all represent the array of teens that can be found in the high school experience. Despite the very serious subjects (and there are several), the book never feels heavy or preachy. While problems get solved in the end, the solutions are not handed to the reader in a pretty package – they are wrapped in compromises, acceptance, and disappointments that feel real and satisfying.
Best Part: The drawings.
What isn’t good?
It seemed strange that the kid who isn’t gay was always getting picked on and the openly gay guy being raised by his gay uncles wasn’t. Also, Maxie’s parents seemed a little too perfect, and Tay was completely unlikeable.
Worst part: Tay .
Recommendation þþþþo
This was an intense story packed into less than 200 pages. It touched on several teen issues and condensed it into a snippet of a teen girl’s life – done very convincingly. This is not a happy read, but it’s a good one. Recommended.
Schmatz, Pat. Mousetraps. Minneapolis
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