Do you know what a butterfly, caterpillar, and a steam kiss are? If you read the ABC’s of Kissing Boys by Tina Ferraro you will find out! At first this novel seems very superficial, but as you continue to read on, it is evident that every teen girl must read this book!
It's Parker’s junior year of high school and she can’t get over the fact that all of her friends made varsity soccer and she’s still on the JV team. Each year the school has a sport’s fair and this is where Parker thinks she can get on to the varsity team. Parker devises a plan to kiss Luke, her brother’s college friend and the previous year’s prom king. Luke will demand at the varsity team’s kissing booth that the coach put Parker on the varsity team and that he will pay $300 for a kiss from Parker. Luke warns Parker that the kiss has to look real, but Parker has never had a real open mouth kiss before.
Parker teams up with Tristan, a freshman, who coaches her on kissing. Both of their parents have an ongoing feud and if either father finds out what is going on between them, the world will come crashing down. Somewhere along the way Tristan and Parker seem to develop a relationship, but Parker has a hard time admitting it.
Parker’s friends begin to ignore her and act like she never existed when she doesn’t make varsity. Her friends also gossip and make fun of her because they think she is dating Tristan the freshman. Her friends say that they have her best intentions at heart, but Parker doesn’t know who to trust. Meanwhile, Parker and her old best friend Becca, reconnect during the time that Parker’s friends are ignoring her. Parker realizes that Becca is the only friend that has always been there for her and that she shouldn’t have forgotten about Becca when she started hanging out with the popular girls from the soccer team.
I think this book is more for junior high and early high school students. Boys will have a hard time connecting to this novel because much of the plot deals with gossiping and backstabbing that goes on in female relationships. This book definitely needs to be taught to all the girls going into high school because it will help them to realize that gossiping will only lead to trouble. This novel will also help girls to discern true friends from superficial ones. I could see this being a great independent reading book for the girls or to be taught in English or Sex Ed. Girls who are into sports will definitely connect with this book also because it deals with the competitiveness of making the team.
