She’s got Moxie

As soon as I read the intro, I knew I was going to enjoy Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu.

For all the teenage women fighting the good fight.

And for my twelfth-grade Current Topics teacher for calling me a feminazi in front of the entire class. You insulted me, but you also sparked my interest in feminism, so really, the joke is on you.

Revenge is best served cold, you jerk.

Publisher’s Summary: MOXIE GIRLS FIGHT BACK!

Vivian Carter is fed up. Fed up with an administration at her high school that thinks the football team can do no wrong. Fed up with sexist dress codes, hallway harassment, and gross comments from guys during class. But most of all, Viv Carter is fed up with always following the rules.

Viv’s mom was a tough-as-nails, punk rock Riot Grrrl in the ’90s, and now Viv takes a page from her mother’s past and creates a feminist zine that she distributes anonymously to her classmates. She’s just blowing off steam, but other girls respond. As Viv forges friendships with other young women across the divides of cliques and popularity rankings, she realizes that what she has started is nothing short of a girl revolution.

Moxie is a book about high school life that will make you wanna riot!

Although I can’t really imagine a school in which things are truly as bad as they are at East Rockport High, the news these days makes it clear that we need more Moxie Girls. The book is horrifying, witty, and inspirational. As a mature adult, I appreciate the portrayal of Viv’s mother, a former riot Grrrl who says

“The mother I thought I would be when I was nineteen wants to tell you to do it,” she answers. “And the mother I’ve morphed into wants to tell you I’m afraid.”

The book is peppered with the pages of the zines Viv creates.

A great read about burgeoning teen activism. And boys, don’t think this is a “girl book”. You could learn a lot about what it means to be female by reading Moxie.