Girls Don’t Fly by Kristen Chandler - ADVISABLE

Chandler, Kristen Girls Don’t Fly, 300 pgs. Viking, 2011. $17.00. Language: PG (3 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG13 (Sexual Content); Violence: PG

Myra is a teen-age girl with: parents who work too much, an older sister who’s pregnant out of wedlock, four younger brothers who adore her, and a boyfriend that just dumped her. Myra finds herself doing things she normally wouldn’t, like dressing up in a chicken costume, and becoming fascinated by birds and the Galapagos Islands, and through the process, really does “find” herself. 

I liked the way the chapters began with a fact about birds and related to the story. The book has a “hopeful” feel to it in spite of all the demands placed on Myra. While the book was about a girl personally learning to fly, sometimes all the bird information was a distraction for me. The sexual content makes it inappropriate for a middle school. 

HS-ADVISABLE. Reviewer: M. Mathews, middle school librarian.