Boys, Girls and Other Hazardous Materials

Charlie is the main character of the book, who faces more challenges than she’s expected. Being a freshman in Harmony Falls High School isn’t simple, not to mention all the dramas she’s been trying to avoid. Sometimes I feel sorry for Charlie and wish she would have gone through high school without big drops of rain falling on a window. I mean, yeah, she meets new people and makes new friends, but what makes it worst is that she can’t escape from her past. It will always be right in front of her no matter which direction she goes. I like Charlie a lot, and the best thing I like about her is she never gives up trying, even though her past keeps coming back to her. She’s the kind of person I know I would be happy to make friends with.

Will is the character at first I thought he’s nobody, but he kind of grows on me. He’s Charlie’s old best friend, and they’ve known each other for a long time. After he comes back into Charlie’s life, things start to move around a little. What surprises me is that Will and Charlie end up liking each other, and I’m like Oh My Word!!! I’m glad I’ve gotten a chance to know Will better throughout the book.

Boys, Girls and Other Hazardous Materials reminds me a lot of high school—good times, bad times, and most of all, freshman year. High school is you either like or you don’t. I’ve always liked high school—drama, homecoming, prom, and friends. I had tons of good times, and I liked being a freshman, well, at least I used to think that. It was one of those unforgettable years filled with excitements, adventures, and new discoveries. Boys, Girls and Other Hazardous Materials is definitely the kind of book that brings back my high school memories. I just love every single moment of the story!

Reader reviewed by Courtney Garcia

The book I read for my outside read assignment was Boys, Girls, and Other Hazardous Materials by Rosalind Wiseman. This story contains romance, drama, and also comedy. The events in this story can relate to most teenage girls and is really easy to comprehend and enjoy. This story is about a girl named Charlotte also goes by Charlie, who moves to a new private school, Harmony Falls High School. As she goes to the school, she discovers her old best friend Will is also there. The main character Charlie becomes really good friends with Will again and they begin to think of each other as more than friends. Charlies new best friend in the story is Sydney who is a really sweet girl and helps Charlie go through her struggles throughout the story. Charlie is part of the newspaper committee and Will is a varsity lacrosse player. This story contains your average teenage girl drama with the main character. However, the main conflict throughout the story is a huge mistake dealing with Will getting hazed by the seniors on his lacrosse team, but they have it taken too far. Charlie is left to chose the right decision to tell the coach about the hazing or leave it for Will to handle. The storys main conflict deals with this and Charlie is stuck in a terrible situation of not knowing how to handle it.