Sticks and Stones

by Beth Goobie

Jujube is thrilled when Brent asks her out. She is not so happy when the rumors start flying at school. Pretty soon her name is showing up on bathroom walls and everyone is snickering and sniping. When her mother gets involved, Jujube’s reputation takes another hit. Deciding that someone has to take a stand, Jujube gathers all the other girls who are labelled sluts—and worse—and tries to impress on her fellow students the damage that can be done by assigning a label that reduces a person to an object.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Contemporary, Canada, Teen, Spanish Literature

96 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Beth Goobie is best known for her quirky and dark young adult novels. She's published several of them, beginning in 1994. Her novel Before Wings won the Canadian Library Association's Young Adult Book Award in 2000, and was chosen by young readers for the Best Books list of the American Library Association.Much of the turmoil in Goobie's life has been laid bare in two books for adult readers, Scars of Light, which is autobiographical poetry, and The Only-Good Heart, a book of short stories. Both are built on the theme of cults, abuse, and emotional torture. They were, she says, both therapeutic for herself and a warning to others.

Reviews

[Mike O'connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because a staff member didn't think it belonged in the library of an intermediate school. After reading, I would respectfully disagree. While the subject matter may not be appropriate for our younger students, our 7th and 8th grade students could learn a great deal from this story. The message is quite simple: reputations are hard to make but easy to break. In particular, it highlights the power that a few cruel rumors can have on a young persons Psyche. While I didn't particularly care for the book, I do not want to see it removed from our library.

[Victoria (Latte Nights Reviews) · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5/5

[Destineyp111 · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book was easy to go through and it was fast. I like how she doesn't let one word define her and i like how she gets together the al the "sluts" and they "attack" brent.

[Danylle DuPris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jujube is a freshman girl in school and for the first time a popular boy that she has liked for a long time now is asking her to the Valentine’s Day dance, Brent. When they go to the dance Brent doesn’t just want to dance, he wants to go out to his car to get “something”. As they’re outside in Brent’s car they move to the back seat were things start to get a little out of hand. Jujube doesn’t want it to end up this way. They go back inside to the dance.
At school, Monday, Jujube is getting teased because she was in the back seat with Brent. She keeps hearing jokes about how she was a “perfect ten” “you’re a pro” and “how amazingly fast you were”. Jujube doesn’t understand. After awhile she realizes that she’s been hearing these jokes because they’re about her and Brent. She’s been getting called a slut and now she’s is worried about how she looks everyday because she doesn’t want to come off as a “slut”.
“Sticks and Stones” by Beth Goobie is such a great book because it explains what rumors can do to people and how it can affect their life in and out of school. People don’t understand how other people can hurt each other with just one word. I recommend this book to teenagers mostly because many kids can learn from this and understand what they can do to another person by starting rumors and calling them names.

[Kaleigh Langlan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an easy read, I finished it in a day. It was definitely a teen book, the issues were high school problems, but very real problems of rumors impacting a woman's image. It had a nice ending as well!

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

I REALLY liked this one.

"It's not the words. It's the way they're used." -- a fav quote.

[Tangerine · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars

Uhm.. this book took a weird turn like I understand this is YA but like... why was it written like that.. I'm pretty sure there are typos too.

I've enjoyed a few other books from orca soundings but this was not it. I know this is a feminist book but why is she acting like that in the end...

I would've finished this sooner but this just lacked my attention

[Camila Perez · Rating 3 out of 5]

4 Spanish class

[Alyssa Goode · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was very good. The book was very interesting and gave a good message on bullying. It was realistic. When Jujube was getting bullied I thought it was sad because the entire thing got out of control. I really liked the part where the club got together and decided to stand up for themselves against bullying.

Jujube is the main character who gets bullied. She shows a mix of emotions during this time. But the thing that stands out the most is her strength. She doesn't let the bullying effect her to much and tries many different things to overcome it. Carlos is a quiet guy who supports Jujube without making her feel uncomfortable. His patience is present in this book , especially when Jujube doesn't want his help. He understands where she is coming from and lays off a little until she is ready to except his help.

I would recommend this book to most high school students. I think this book would be appropriate for both boys and girls. This book does cover a touchy subject so I think that anyone who has been recently bullied and is still sensitive to the subject should proceed with caution before reading this book,but it all depends on how you choose to take it. This book could be a very uplifting thing and make someone feel better and help them in their situation.

[Jordan Whipple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jordan Whipple, 5-6, sticks and stones, n/a, 77, 9/29/09,9

jujube changed the most in this book. she had a boyfriend and then she was going to have sex in the back seat but she backed out because she thought they were going to fast. so the next day she went to school and there was writing everywhere saying she was a slut. so she didn't want to go to school one day so her mom went in and talked to the Principal and said she wanted all the writing off of the walls so she changed from being a slut to being a goody goody girl!

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book shows how quickly bullying can happen and how mean it is. Jujube's reaction to it all was very realistic and I felt so badly for her. I loved the ending. I think this could've made a great full length book.

[Nicole Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book! I've never hurt someone like that, but it makes me wonder why we give each other titles about what they do with their lives.

[sasha19 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm about to read this book so wish me luck ok guys please! thank you

[Grace Cypert · Rating 2 out of 5]

I chose to read this book because it is a high/low book. From class, I learned that high/low books are books with highly engaging subject matters with low reading levels. They are made for struggling readers who want to practice reading without having to read younger story level books. High/low books can strengthen readers' vocabulary, reading fluency, and confidence. I think high/low books are a great resource for readers, however I did not enjoy the story of the one that I read. "Sticks and Stones" by Beth Goobie follows the story of Jujube as she is ostracized from her school. A rumor spreads that she is "easy" and a "slut", which is written all over the bathroom walls. In retaliation, Jujube creates the "slut club" with all of the other girls who have been ostracized from school, and for her final english project, she creates a presentation on graffiti, including pictures of the schools' bathroom walls. Standing up to bullies and being confident in yourself are great themes for a YA book, and I had no issues with this part of the book. However, I felt like the characters did not have much personality, and the story took awkward detours. For example, at one point, Jujube and her friend Carlos took a ride in his father's plane. This was a very strange scene that did not move the story forward whatsoever. Even though I feel like this high school bully trope is overused, I still think it can be written in a meaningful way. Unfortunately, this book does not do that.

Pages: 80

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

At just 88 pages of actual story, and those pages small with large, spaced out type, this book was a quick read. I wouldn't be surprised if some of my struggling readers found it hard to finish it in an hour, like I'd expect.

The premise is typical high school: a girl goes out to a boys car and kisses him, but when he moves a little faster, she has her doubts. When they return to the dance, all the other guys think the couple had sex, and the boy doesn't disagree. The girl gets shamed for her behavior, while the guy is praised. In this story, though, the girl finds a few ways to help herself and her friends make a point about the power of words.

As with most Orca publications, this is a very low-level book, but a high-interest topic for high school students. The language is high-school, but the word "slut" appears throughout the book, and I think "cunt" showed up once, too. Although graffiti is still a frequent method of communication, at some schools, this story could be updated to somehow show the cyber-aspect of this behavior. All the same, I thought it was a good read, with a solid message and a mostly happy ending for everyone.

[Sophia McHardy · Rating 1 out of 5]

The blurb laid out a promising premise with like a progressive moral message and made the book sound like it was some hard hitting social commentary or smth. Firstly, the book turned out to be just over 100 pages as a physical copy rather than an ebook so even if the writing had been amazing it would have still felt too rushed. Instead, the writing was genuinely awful. If the book was rated purely on the writing style this would have been the worst book I have ever read. Characters were just plucked from nowhere with a one sentence backstory like “Sophie is my sister (it was kind of unclear I think they were sisters?) and she was slut shamed but she’s cool with it now” or “Carlos is my friend and has a plane”. Linking to the stupid plane, I think the book spent more time talking abt how the main character almost crashed a plane bc Carlos dad stupidly let her fly it when she feels super immature and ridiculous but anyway longer talking abt going on a cute little plane ride than anything of any substance

[Alondra Ramirez]

This book talk about Jujube a 15 year old girl who sadly got into the drama of a school.The book starts with Jujube going to a school dance where the most popular and cutest boy ask her to go who had a really bad reputation.Jujube was so happy about it that she went.In the school dance things happen and of course the rumors fly really fast.Jujube proclaim her innocence while her classmates girls and boys keep spreading more rumors about her.The humiliation that she got make her do her English report about the bathroom walls that were used to "expose" girls.She and her friend took pictures of the "graffiti" on the bathroom walls and make her presentation.She decide to make a group with the girls who were on those wals,who were call names,who people bring down just because of rumors.The last thing Jujube do was make her classmates say sorry and see those walls different.

[Selena Gamboa]

Sticks and Stones is a fiction book about a girl named Jujube is being bulled at school being called a slut, it written on the walls and even students calling her a slut. It effects her by her emotions, and her actions, but she accepted and said "by the end slut is coming out like any word, when you can say a word you own it, which means the word cant bother you no more." I think this quote like is very outstanding and facing her fears at school. What I have learned about this book is to stand up for myself and everything will fade away and never bother me never again. I would rec emend this to other people if their not like outstanding to them-self's. Sometimes i wonder why did this writer, Beth Goobie decide to write this story, did she had this problem in her life like this? This brings a lot emotion in my mind and glad for this book to show me how other people feel being bullied.

[Elena Pousada]

Lea Burgos

Este libro trae atención a una problema seria que pasa cada rato en la escuela secundaria. Ya no le dan mucha atención porque se ha convertido en algo normal. El libro se enfoca de los sentimientos de Jinjolé y lo que en verdad pasa. Enseña que ya gente no lo coge en serio, como la escuela de Jinjolé, que no solamente la ignoró a ella, pero a su mamá. Esto no debe ser algo normal porque niñas como Jinjolé sufren mucho y se quedan con trauma. Con este libro, podemos entrar un poco en las mentes de adolescentes y recordarnos que a todos se le debe respeto. Me alegro que Jinjolé pudo resolver ella misma, pero no todas las historias terminan así. Jinjolé sirve como ejemplo perfecto para niñas que están en esa situación, tienen que ser fuertes y saber que ellas no hicieron nada malo, y no importan que crean otros. Las palabras pueden doler, pero no te definen.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the story stick and stones jujube a high school student faces challenges of being called dirty names and talked about her behind her back. At first she gets beat down by being called names but then gets back up and takes it in a positive ways and turning it into a class project. In the beginning of the story it starts out slow then gets the meaning to shows more and going throughout the story she realizes that she can let these words hurt her so she stands up for herself and goes up in front of the classroom and turns it into a class project and proves her point. In my option I think that this is a slow starting book and you can see the message throughout the book. I recommend this book.

[Julien Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

“ Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” However they do. Jujubee finds this out the hard way when her crush finally finds the guts to ask her out. At first, she thinks things are all peaches and creams but she soon finds out that high school relationships comes with a lot of baggage to it. One piece of baggage would be rumors. Rumors start going around about Jujubee being a slut. However, Jujubee won’t take this abuse lying down. She is going to fight for her reputation and soon change the way people view her as a person.

[Abby Mcnish · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really took some turns, Jujube first liked brent they went to a dance and Brent took her to his car, and then brent ghosted her. He acted like she wasn't even a person at school after the night of the dance. Jujube then got called name and she was over it and she told her mom. she went to the principal because jujube saw her name and 12 others girls' names along with her. She and Carlos had a project over graffiti and that is why she used all of the girls' names in the guy's locker room.....

[Lauren Gilbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the story sticks and stones jujube a high school student faces the challenge of being called names and talked about behind her back. She doesn’t take it so well at first but as time goes on she turns it into a positive by incorporating others talked about into a class project. In my opinion the story starts out pretty boring but as it goes on it gets more interesting and the meaning of the story starts to show.

[Neleah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that this book was good and it tells a story in a very dramatic way of what goes on in schools and some stuff that can or does happen I think that it is a book that teenagers should be reading. This book is about a guy or multiple guys who juge the girls in there school 1-10 on how they look how they dress how there makeup is ect. After they are done picking on them and picking a number they will decide if they are a “slut” or not.

[Sophie]

I highly recommend this book to people who have gone through slut shaming themselves and people who think that slut shaming is funny. being accused of being a slut can be totally degrading and girls tend to take it one of 2 ways. treat it like a joke like everyone else does, or let it get under your skin and change how you dress, how you walk, and how you do everything to try and change that opinion of you. people don't know how much a 4 letter word can hurt until they've been given this name.

[Elise S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was good. The book was decently interesting and gave a good message on bullying. It was realistic in today's world. I thought this book was a very quick and easy read because it was only 86 pages when almost all of the books I read exceed 100 pages. I recommend this book to anybody interested in books about bullying or looking for a quick read.

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Super quick read. Usually, for the most part, the books in this series are interesting. This one was just plain bad.

While these books tackle social themes, they are usually aimed at audiences that are pass middle grade....not this one.

This book sounds like a 13 year old wrote it. Corny, corny, corny.

Pass.

[Jasmine Delgado]

I really enjoyed this book a lot i thought it's very inspiring for young girls this book sends out a good message and let me tell you this girl in this book knows her value and she didn't let a guy control her. And i love how what this book is based off as can happen in real life this book in general is very inspiring and i think you should read this book the message it sends out is outstanding.

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When you can say a word, you own it. Which means that that word can't do anything to you anymore. It's just a word... Not your name. Not you."

"It can't last forever..." "Yes, it can." "You're a person. You're a human being."

"Painting over those words would be like a Band-Aid-just covering it all up. You don't change things by cover them up."

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a quick “skinny” read that I can recommend to the kiddos.