The first in a series of four books for 10 – 13 year old girls, A Year in Girl Hell #1: Crushed (Hardie Grant Egmont, 2009) by Meredith Costain is a fun fiction series that deals with many of the issues facing young girls as they begin high school.
A Year in Girl Hell: Crushed
Lexi, Mia and Alysha believe that they will be best friends forever. When Mia is placed in a different class to Lexi and Alysha on the first day of high school, it is the beginning of a series of events that threatens the strength of their friendship.
Narrated by the anxious and insecure Lexi, Crushed follows the girls through their first weeks of high school. Lexi is trying to deal with the hassles of everyday life including an annoying younger brother and parents who are always arguing.
Lexi swings between wishing she could be with Mia and trying to keep up with Alysha, who is putting all her efforts into becoming friends with the popular girls. When Mia develops a new friendship with Michi and brings her into Pink HQ, the clubhouse the girls have set up in Mia’s garage, Lexi feels even more confused and insecure.
Surviving the Dramas of High School
For Lexi, the transition to high school brings a large amount of self-doubt, stress and uncertainty. Separated from the practical and caring Mia and emotionally worn out by troubles at home, Lexi follows Alysha’s lead rather than making decisions for herself.
Lexi’s insecurity underlies her immature actions. Even when she can see that Alysha’s behaviour is hurtful or embarrassing, Lexi is unable to step away, afraid that she will be left without both Mia and Alysha. She finds it difficult to step out from the group identity that the girls shared in primary school to forge her own individual identity in high school.
For Alysha, starting high school is an opportunity to align herself with the popular crowd, whom Lexi refers to as the “shiny” people. Alysha becomes obsessed with hair, make-up and fashion and does whatever is necessary to ingratiate herself with Paige and Jayde, the two alpha females of the grade.
Mia seems to manage best, accepting her separation during class time and finding a new friend in Michi. She works to maintain her connection with her two other friends, but is able to open the group up to include Michi and to evolve into a more mature friendship. She is confused and hurt by the behaviour of Alysha and Lexi, but seems to maintain her enthusiasm and positive outlook.
High School and Friendships
From the Starsearch band competition and notes passed in class to meeting at the local shopping mall and the many unwritten rules of dealing with the popular crowd at high school, A Year in Girl Hell offers a familiar and easy to relate to setting for girls in late primary and early high school.
As Lexi gets butterflies in her stomach every time popular heartthrob Jack Moxon looks her way, Alysha worries that she won’t be accepted into the popular crowd and Mia is confused by the hurtful behaviour of her friends, girls will recognise familiar doubts, confusion, conflicts, dramas and emotions.
Mia, Lexi, Alysha and Michi are fun characters that are sure to appeal to the girls in the target age range. Readers will recognise the issues the girls are struggling to come to terms with and the A Year in Girl Hell series is likely to be both enjoyable to read and an insightful glimpse into the dramas of approaching the teenaged years.
The second book in the series, A Year in Girl Hell #2: Dumped, is narrated by Michi and is due for release in the near future.
A Year in Girl Hell #1: Crushed (ISBN: 978-192-150228-6, 144 pages)
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