What do you think?
Rate this book
The Ruling Class
Desperately desiring to be one of the popular clique of girls who rule the school through their insults and bullying, Myrna Fry is willing to accept almost anything in order to win the friendship of the clique’s queen, Jeannette Sue, but when unfashionable Twyla Gay Stark arrives on the scene, Myrna anticipates that great changes may be ahead. Reprint.
208 pages, Paperback
First published October 12, 2004
4 people are currently reading
140 people want to read
About the author
Francine Pascal
1,147 books1,852 followersFrancine Paula Pascal was an American author best known for her Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High, the backbone of the collection, was made into a television series, which led to several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they remained so popular that several titles were re-released decades later.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
January 15, 2011
As someone who loves YA, despite being in my 20s, I try to give many books a chance, no matter how juvenile the plot sounds. That said, this plot sounded promising. A typical set of mean girls who rule the school, and a new girl from the wrong side of town who will take them down, teach them a lesson, or something similar.
However, this book was atrocious. The plot was very simple, predictable, and contrived. The characters had zero depth, even by YA chick lit standards. The new girl, who in this type of novel generally either 1) teaches them a lesson in a respectable way or 2) learns they are actually nice people and they change and become nice people is NOT like that in this book. Rather, she herself is just as nasty, judgmental, and outright stupid as they are. She takes the mean girls down by utterly humiliating them in ways that are just what they would do. I kept waiting for her to learn her lesson or something, but ti never happened. The book ends with her celebrating making them cry and hate themselves and too afraid to come to school.
Seriously the worst book I have ever read.
However, this book was atrocious. The plot was very simple, predictable, and contrived. The characters had zero depth, even by YA chick lit standards. The new girl, who in this type of novel generally either 1) teaches them a lesson in a respectable way or 2) learns they are actually nice people and they change and become nice people is NOT like that in this book. Rather, she herself is just as nasty, judgmental, and outright stupid as they are. She takes the mean girls down by utterly humiliating them in ways that are just what they would do. I kept waiting for her to learn her lesson or something, but ti never happened. The book ends with her celebrating making them cry and hate themselves and too afraid to come to school.
Seriously the worst book I have ever read.
August 15, 2011
Not only was this book horrible, it was REALLY offensive to a lot of cultures. The characters were under-developed greatly and I couldn't even get to know them since they had literally every personality out there. The plot line was cliche and the whole book is not worth your time. I do NOT recommend this to anyone.
March 25, 2010
I didn't like this book at all! Especially with the character Myrna Fry constantly sucking up to the 'popular's', and thinking that they actually like her.
Read
January 8, 2024guys i think francine pascal might be a literary genius
February 18, 2019
This novel about high school rotates mainly between Twyla and Myrna.
Twyla is the new girl at school, her family is poor, yet she is at a school that is filled with rich people. She is not popular, more of your average every day student. I was rooting for her, I wanted her to somewhat fit in, make friends, etc.
Myrna is obsessed with Jeanette Sue and follows her around like a puppy dog. It's sad how Myrna thinks she is such good friends with the clicky group and they just make fun of her and she doesn't see that. She's really naive, but it made for some amusing reading.
I don't know why Jeanette Sue was considered popular at the school and everyone was following her every move. She was annoying.
This novel reminded me of "Mean Girls." It was a fun, quick read. I enjoyed it when Twyla was getting people together to get revenge on "the ruling class." The ending did give me a laugh. I was expecting a light, fun read and that's exactly what it ended up being.
More of my book reviews can be found at http://bookswithkari.blogspot.com/
Twyla is the new girl at school, her family is poor, yet she is at a school that is filled with rich people. She is not popular, more of your average every day student. I was rooting for her, I wanted her to somewhat fit in, make friends, etc.
Myrna is obsessed with Jeanette Sue and follows her around like a puppy dog. It's sad how Myrna thinks she is such good friends with the clicky group and they just make fun of her and she doesn't see that. She's really naive, but it made for some amusing reading.
I don't know why Jeanette Sue was considered popular at the school and everyone was following her every move. She was annoying.
This novel reminded me of "Mean Girls." It was a fun, quick read. I enjoyed it when Twyla was getting people together to get revenge on "the ruling class." The ending did give me a laugh. I was expecting a light, fun read and that's exactly what it ended up being.
More of my book reviews can be found at http://bookswithkari.blogspot.com/
January 15, 2012
Normally I wouldn't even TRY to pick any of Francine Pascal's book, but since this was in the school library at plain view, I decided to give it a try. Pascal has another series: Sweet Valley High. Which I don't even want to read. (I read enough summaries to know how ridiculous and melodramatic they are. And is a very big series, so I don't want to experience it.) I might want to read the Fearless series, but first things first.
So . . . I picked this book.
The Ruling Class is about the the leader of a mean, powerful clique, Jeanette Sue. She's beautiful, with blonde hair and aqua eyes(Hmmm . . . where have I heard that kind of this description before? ) and everyone is frighten of her. And there is Myrna: a shallow, racist, ignorant girl who sucks up to Jeanette Sue even though nobody likes her. I hated this girl. So damn much. I couldn't believed the stupidity she had. She deserves the hate. And she talks like one of those shallow, non-intelligent girls. (So, do you, like, know what I mean, yeah?) It pissed me off.
And then there's Twyla Gay(who in the world wants to name their own kid "Gay"? ), the new girl. She has no style, she's undesirable, and--gasp--poor. And Jeanette's new victim.
The Ruling Class pretend to be friends with Twyla and she almost gets killed and raped.
SIGH.
Humiliated, Twyla turns to Deena, another JS's victim, and start to plot revenge against The Ruling Class.
May I start by saying this book was very unrealistic and stupid? First off, the characters were shallow and not-well developed, and it was to hard identify with any of them. Also, it was so poorly written, I cringed.
I read some reviews upset of Francine Pascal's views of Highland Park High School and its students. If you don't know how to write about another place you haven't visited, make a more deeper research or DON'T. WRITE.
The only thing I liked was the revenge plot. That's it.
This book was a big disappointment, even though I didn't have any high hopes for it. The ending was predictable and very plain.
If Francine Pascal was trying to make a Mean Girls-esque story-line and lesson, she failed terribly.
So . . . I picked this book.
The Ruling Class is about the the leader of a mean, powerful clique, Jeanette Sue. She's beautiful, with blonde hair and aqua eyes(Hmmm . . . where have I heard that kind of this description before? ) and everyone is frighten of her. And there is Myrna: a shallow, racist, ignorant girl who sucks up to Jeanette Sue even though nobody likes her. I hated this girl. So damn much. I couldn't believed the stupidity she had. She deserves the hate. And she talks like one of those shallow, non-intelligent girls. (So, do you, like, know what I mean, yeah?) It pissed me off.
And then there's Twyla Gay(who in the world wants to name their own kid "Gay"? ), the new girl. She has no style, she's undesirable, and--gasp--poor. And Jeanette's new victim.
The Ruling Class pretend to be friends with Twyla and she almost gets killed and raped.
SIGH.
Humiliated, Twyla turns to Deena, another JS's victim, and start to plot revenge against The Ruling Class.
May I start by saying this book was very unrealistic and stupid? First off, the characters were shallow and not-well developed, and it was to hard identify with any of them. Also, it was so poorly written, I cringed.
I read some reviews upset of Francine Pascal's views of Highland Park High School and its students. If you don't know how to write about another place you haven't visited, make a more deeper research or DON'T. WRITE.
The only thing I liked was the revenge plot. That's it.
This book was a big disappointment, even though I didn't have any high hopes for it. The ending was predictable and very plain.
If Francine Pascal was trying to make a Mean Girls-esque story-line and lesson, she failed terribly.
April 10, 2010
Jeanette Sue is the perfect girl. Twyla is the new girl, and the newest wanna be is Myrna. Myrna thinks she's the best, but she's not. She is just a wannabe stalker girl. It gets annoying after 3 chapters. Twyla is obsessed with Myrna, trying to get her to loose everything she has.
I can make a text to world connection. Everywhere in high-school, there's the it girl. The wannabes, and the newbie. Thats Jeanette, Twyla and Myrna.
I gave this book 1 star. I absolutely HATED this book. First of all, you cant even pronounce Twyla and Myrna's names! Like twill- a? or My- na? Myrna is the most annoying girl in this book. She hangs out with the Ruling Class, even though they hate her. She thinks she's the best of the best, and is a totally sucker for Jeanette. Twyla is the most stupid girl ever. She tries to hang out with the Ruling Class, even though they have ditched her at least 10 times before. She thinks Myrna is her best friend and wont stop bugging her. If you like to read about, wannabes, newbies and totaly b****es, then this book is for you
I can make a text to world connection. Everywhere in high-school, there's the it girl. The wannabes, and the newbie. Thats Jeanette, Twyla and Myrna.
I gave this book 1 star. I absolutely HATED this book. First of all, you cant even pronounce Twyla and Myrna's names! Like twill- a? or My- na? Myrna is the most annoying girl in this book. She hangs out with the Ruling Class, even though they hate her. She thinks she's the best of the best, and is a totally sucker for Jeanette. Twyla is the most stupid girl ever. She tries to hang out with the Ruling Class, even though they have ditched her at least 10 times before. She thinks Myrna is her best friend and wont stop bugging her. If you like to read about, wannabes, newbies and totaly b****es, then this book is for you
April 18, 2013
This wasn't the best book I've ever read but it held my attention! Jeanette Sue is the most popular and gorgeous girl in school. There are 4 or 5 others in the "ruling class" but they're just J.S. 's shadows. Then there's Myrna Fry. She's like a puppy dog. She always follows them around and will do anything to please the RC's. She was a major pushover and was always in denial about it. Next is Twyla Gay, the new girl. She came from a poor family and was just looking for acceptance and a friend. So she had to settle for Myrna. The RC's play nasty tricks on Twyla. She goes from wanting to be apart of the group to planning her revenge. The Ruling Class reminds me of Mean Girls, just different characters and a slightly different plot!
August 5, 2008
I loved this book it only took me like two or three days to read I really enjoyed it I learned that popular girl's arn't really what your exspect them to be that they are and they treat other's really horrible and in the end girl's don't want to associate with the popular girl's because they're bitter, disrespectful, and total b's .I also learned don't let no one treat you like crap or make you someone that you're not.Just be your self.Because you can be a nice popular girl that everyone nows and that everyone likes to be around! and no one is scared of!!! just like me for an example lol,lol
November 13, 2012
This was the first fiction book I read when I was a young teen. When I was young I didn't read books on my own time so the fact that I read this was a big deal. I had my mom buy it for me at the time from Target honestly because I liked the way the cover look and the description caught my eye too. I stayed interested through the whole book. I really felt for the girl being bullied. I think my reading the book and feeling for the girl has to do with my history of being bullied when I was younger. The book was really entertaining and I can see people other than young teens reading this book too. (young adults and adults) Most of all, I liked how the book was concluded in the end.
January 6, 2014
Oof. For some reason, the center where we had our retreat (at the Lutheran seminary in Hyde Park) had two copies of this book. I would not say it teaches kids good lessons, but whatever. My friend Kirsten and I were gonna book-club it and just each read it super fast, but it was so bad she couldn't get through it. I don't blame her - I quit after halfway through. Embarrassing thing is, I've read this before. Basically, teenagers are assholes, but LORD I hope they aren't as bad as Pascal's first-person narratives make 'em out to be.
October 8, 2011
In high school, things can be hard with a name such as 'Twyla Gay'. As she tries to make it though high school, the populars known as the 'Ruling Class' try to take her down and push away all her hope. The struggles she has to endure to defeat the RC show that even though you aren't popular or pretty, with friends you can achive anything you set your mind to, even putting the unpopular students in charge of the school!
May 15, 2012
The Ruling Class by Francine Pascal, isn't the best book ever written. It was too full of alot of confusion between different thoughts and storys. I think that it was an okay storyline, with different perspectives and what not, but everyone in the book is super snobby and stuck up, which makes it boring and almost dreadful to read. It's not bad, it's just not something i would really reccommened to other people looking for something good to read.
December 7, 2011
Students will be able to relate to this book. It's all about the politics of high school and what you need to do to make it through! Pascal has created characters that readers will be able to make a connection with. I would do a book trailer for this book and suggest it for my students ( 7th grade-9th) to read.
January 18, 2011
This book is great. Is about a girl called Twayla Gay who gets bullied in school. But when one of Jannetts pranks gets Twaylas life in danger.Twayla decides to put an end to this. So she and another girl who also got bullied mark an end to the rc.
January 23, 2008
This book shows just how smart, and dumb, some people can be. It puts a whole new view on revenge.. hilarious!
January 25, 2009
Really good book about popular buttheads, and getting revenge. Really funny, too. :D
Read
March 16, 2010i think this a very inpirational book!
September 5, 2010
Um kids who go to Highland High School are super normal (at least the ones I know)
I know this is a work of fiction but come on, give these kids some slack
I know this is a work of fiction but come on, give these kids some slack
April 4, 2011
Mean Girls did a better job. I think Francine Pascal should stick to what she knows.
April 20, 2011
it wasn't that bad of a book...but it was still a good book.
July 31, 2011
This was suck a great book!! I reccomend just taking a day to sit down and read it because it's such as easy read.
August 7, 2011
Super quick read, done in a few hours.
August 12, 2012
the ending ended really suddenly :P
January 30, 2014
I got a chapter into this book, and I just can't take all the stereotyped comments. Making fun of Mexicans, and Jews, and etc etc. This is a DNF for me.
November 2, 2022
Buy it says middle school me. Older me will have to reread it to see if it still stands up.
July 8, 2013
I have read so many of these books I can't remember all of them.
October 18, 2013
I absolutely love this book. I absolutely love the sweet valley high books. And I absolutely love this author. So all you haters can suck it.
May 9, 2014
It was OK, but a little different than most YA stories.......
November 3, 2019
An easy fun, typical high school clique book, but set in a prestigious city.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews