However, the author did have yet another female character who is horrible at math. However, the book admirably has no romance: the story is all about Moxie, proving that books about girls, for girls, don't have to be full of romance and boys. I would peg most of the characters at sixteen. The entire thing feels as if the characters should have been older, but the 'thirteen' business was stuck in last minute for some reason. What was the author thinking? A temporary tattoo I could understand, but when it was revealed that it was actually real, I was incredibly disappointed by how utterly wrong it was. It's completely illegal to tattoo someone underage.

The piercings, yes, are all right for minors. Yet Moxie's roommate has a tattoo and numerous piercings. There was, however, a MAJOR mistake that disrupted my immersion in the novel. The subject matter is different, though, with Moxie constantly trying to find out how to be an interesting, unique person, never realizing that she's been interesting and unique all along. The Reinvention of Moxie Roosevelt is a lot like Harriet the Spy the plot follows basically the same arc, complete with lost notebooks galore. At my boarding school, a triple was a slightly oversize double with an extra set of furniture shoved in. Moxie's 'triple' involves three separate rooms. (The book passes the Bechdel test in spades.) So: very cute, very fluffy, nice antidote to all of the paranormal-love-triangle boarding-school books and the we're-so-rich-we-just-can't boarding-school books. The book's probably closer to middle grade than YA, which means-holy moly hurray-that Moxie has the occasional crush but there's no focus whatsoever on boys and dates and love triangles. What I like, though, is how understated the reaction is. Really, even if the obvious hadn't happened, well, the obvious would have happened. Helped out Johnny Depp at a crucial moment. Been asked to play a drum solo on a hot band's upcoming album.

Crewed an ocean sloop (as the assistant to the swabber.) to help save sea cows. She's not sure yet who she wants to be, so she creates a number of characters.but those characters have all done things that are, shall we say, a little unlikely for your average thirteen-year-old. Well, several, actually, but the first one's a biggie: She lies. At boarding school, though, she's a blank slate, and she's determined that her name will not be the most interesting thing about her.īut Moxie makes a mistake. It's off to boarding school for Moxie, and it's an opportunity that she's determined not to let slide-up until now, she's been in school with people she's known her entire life. When I went to boarding school, pretty much my entire frame of reference was the Chalet School series.which, believe you me, did not turn out to be much like modern-day, non-Alps-y, reality.Īnyway. Except that everything I knew about boarding school came from Harry Potter books. Nope, I was just a regular girl going to a regular boarding school.

The reinvention of moxie roosevelt