THE BOY BOOK: A Study of Habits and Behaviors, Plus Techniques for Taming Them
E. Lockhart
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Fiction
Hardcover: 0385732082
Paperback: 9780385732093
224 pages

Ruby Oliver is back!

E. Lockhart, author of the much acclaimed and popular THE BOYFRIEND LIST, has delivered a sequel that holds its own. THE BOY BOOK: A Study of Habits and Behaviors, Plus Techniques for Taming Them, details the humorously heartbreaking junior year of Ruby Oliver, now 16 years old and newly-licensed to drive.

The drama from last year's debacle may be past, but it's far from over. There isn't any nice way to say it: Ruby is a social leper. Everyone looks at her and sees a fishnet-stockinged slut, which isn't exactly every girl's dream nickname. Her best friends from last year --- Kim, Cricket and Nora, the girls with whom she wrote THE BOY BOOK --- aren't speaking to her. Her ex-boyfriend Jackson is still going out with Kim, even though she's off in Tokyo. And Ruby's parents are still making her see Dr. Z, the shrink they hooked her up with to help her cope with the panic attacks that take over when life gets too crazy.

Universal Truth: "A guy becomes instantly more desirable when he is with someone else. And that is bad. Because you can't have him. And also because it's stupid and kind of sick."

As the gods would have it, Nora starts speaking to Ruby again after the whole topless photos incident drops her to Outcast Status Ruby. Ruby gets a job at the zoo, and things begin to change. Jackson leaves a note in her cubby, and she has to figure out what she's going to do about it. Tell someone? Write him back? Ignore it? Throw it away? But she hasn't forgotten about Jackson, even though:

1) She's hoping Noel (the guy from the bushes incident) will kiss her.
2) Angelo (the family friend) has hidden skills that make him an option, to say the least.
3) Kim stole Jackson from her because it was "meant to be."

With Tate's November Week drawing closer and Ruby's parents finally agreeing to let her choose the more expensive trip, she has more guy options than she knows what to do with and needs to decide what she's going to do. So when the drama gods decide to pay her another visit and show her something she never should have seen, Ruby is faced with the kind of decision that's bound to teach her the truth about friends, enemies, crushes, jobs, parents, Tate and the secrets in THE BOY BOOK.

   --- Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens

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