Boy2Girl

by Terence Blacker

Rating:***` (3 1/2 stars)
Age group: 12+
Type: Realistic fiction

Matthew Burton's cousin is coming to do more than visit--he's living with Matthew's family for a while, because of his family. Sam Lopez is moving to England from America and it's a big change for him. He's kind of an outcast, and one day Matthew's group he hangs out with sets him a deal: if Sam pretends to be a girl for 5 days to infiltrate a girl group at school, he can be part of their gang. It works, and soon everyone's convinced Sam (Samantha) is a girl, but after 5 days, Sam doesn't want to stop. He just keeps going. Then his father comes to town, and he must hide from him. And on top of that, he still has to break the news that he's a boy!
This book is very interesting. Sam does a strangely good job of being a girl. However it's one of those stories where the narrative changes quite a lot. Other books like that change every chapter, but here the narrator changes every few paragraphs. It's kind of unnerving. And also the girl's group at school is called the B****es which is slightly strange, even though they have a good explanation for it. But other than that, this is a pretty good read.