The Nowhere Girls

Starred review from August 1, 2017
Enraged by unpunished sexual assaults and the unchallenged rape culture at their high school, three new friends resolve to take action. White high schooler Grace Salter has just moved to Prescott, Oregon, and finds messages of pain and anguish scratched into the walls of her new room. Overtaken by curiosity, she does the unthinkable for a new girl at school and talks to two girls during lunch: Rosina Suarez, a Mexican-American queer punk rocker, and Erin DeLillo, a white girl with Asperger's who admires the android Data from Star Trek. They both explain that the former occupant of Grace's room was effectively run out of town after accusing three popular jocks, two of them current students, of gang-raping her at a party. Grace is incensed and, together with Rosina and Erin under the collective pseudonym the Nowhere Girls, rallies other girls in the school to rise up against misogyny, rapists, and the power structures that protect both. Reed's refusal to shy away from the entrenched realities of sexism as well as the oft-overlooked erasure of intersectionality within feminism yields a highly nuanced and self-reflective narrative that captures rape culture's ubiquitous harm without swerving into didactic, one-size-fits-all solutions or relying on false notions of homogenous young womanhood. Scandal, justice, romance, sex positivity, subversive anti-sexism--just try to put it down. (Fiction. 13-17)

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Starred review from September 1, 2017
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* In her new bedroom in a West Coast town, Grace Salter finds words carved into her closet, pleas left by a girl in incredible pain: Kill me now. I'm already dead. That girl, Lucy Moynihan, was gang-raped by a group of popular boys; finding few allies in town, she and her family eventually moved away. Grace just wants a fresh start for herself, but she can't forget about Lucy, or about the boys who still brag about their conquests online. She joins forces with Rosina, whose music obsession and attraction to girls puts her at odds with her conservative Mexican family, and Erin, who has Asperger's and is obsessed with marine biology and Star Trek. Together, the three form the Nowhere Girls, an anonymous group dedicated to resisting the sexism that has only flourished in the aftermath of Lucy's rape. This is a graceful addition to the growing list of books about rape culture. Where it stands out is in its inclusion of Us chapters: sections of the book that take a collective look at the girls in the town, presenting them as a united front while also acknowledging the depth and differencespositive, neutral, and negativeof their personal sexual experiences and interests, or lack thereof. A thoughtful, literary portrayal of female sexuality in a culture that often rejects it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

Starred review from September 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-This gritty and timely novel examines the culture of sexism and rape through the eyes of three girls and a chorus of the universal "Us." Grace, the new girl in town, just wants to blend in to the point of invisibility. Having been forced out of their conservative Southern Baptist Church when her preacher mother becomes "too liberal," Grace is still reeling from the ostracism and is struggling to figure out who she is and what she should believe. Rosina, the daughter of a very conservative Mexican American single mother, spends her days babysitting her younger cousins and working in her family's restaurant. What she really wants is recognition as a gay punk rocker who needs more from life. Erin, a teen on the high-functioning side of the autism spectrum, consumes herself with marine biology and Star Trek while wrestling with appropriate emotions and reactions and an overly involved mother. "Us" iterates the thoughts, fears, and conflicts of a chorus of unnamed characters. When Grace discovers that her new room was also the room of Lucy, the girl who accused a group of popular boys of gang rape last year, she convinces Erin and Rosina to help her get justice for Lucy. Neither one is particularly enthusiastic about the idea, but slowly an anonymous group of "Nowhere Girls" begin to attack the sexist culture of their school despite negative reactions. The strong characters do not detract from the equally strong plot but move it forward with compassion and strength as they address with frank honesty what it means to be female in today's world. The empowerment of the girls in this book will resonate with young adults. VERDICT A must-read for every teen.-Janet Hilbun, University of North Texas, Denton

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2018
Grace, Erin, and Rosina are very different but united by their shared disgust at what happened to classmate Lucy Moynihan after she accused some popular boys of rape. In response, the odd trio starts the Nowhere Girls, a shadowy group committed to resisting sexism and sexual assault. Reed's novel is marked by diverse representation, strong prose, and an unflinching portrayal of rape culture.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)