Doing it (Hardcover)

The characters are easy to identify with, most of us will recognise them from our own schooldays. The style of the book makes it easy to read, and the plot draws you along: although maybe I would say it is more well written popular soap than classic serial. The author shows a great deal of empathy with his characters and the problems they experience, and the language seemed about spot on to me. In other words, the book was, I felt, realistic and set in a world a lot will recognise. It seems clear that the author wanted to set teenage readers thinking about their lives, rather than preach to them about the right way to behave.

I personally don't think this will be a medal winner, but that isn't to detract from it being a good read. I also think this unashamed/explicit/relevant (delete depending on your viewpoint) book might appeal to those teenagers who perhaps aren't drawn by many of the teenage titles on the market. Of course, the aim is to interest boys, although I don't think girls will feel left out.

I don't want to give away the plot, but I think it would be reasonable to say that issues covered include a pupil having an affair with his teacher, attempted suicide, image conciousness, parent's separation, a girl who will, a boy who won't, a cancer scare, shoplifting, and many, many attempts to have sex! As you can see, a busy book!

Who is this book for? Well I guess anybody aware of the hype/debate will want to know this! I think most teenagers at 14 will not find the contents shocking or the language unusual, although many of their parents probably will. In short: your view on this will depend on whether you think books for teenagers should reflect the world in which many of them live, or whether you think the books should reflect a moral tone which needs to be put across. Read the book, decide for yourself!

The book may not be an award winner, but I think it will encourage debate. Hopefully it will encourage some new readers too.

(NB the book does contain strong language and explicit themes)

This wasn't the best teenage book I've read, but it was entertaining. I felt it was more soap than classic serial. It is written in a readable style, which is important for the target audience, I acknowledge, but which will probably not place it in the forefront for any awards. As stories go it's got the lot: sex, parties, shoplifting, divorce, attempted suicide, controlling teachers, affairs...

The book does include a lot of swear words and direct references to sex. It's best to remember the average 14 year old will learn nothing from this book, it's no doubt a milder version of what is discussed in the playground. This will still, no doubt, put off some parents from buying for their teens. The characters in the story are 17. I would probably not offer it to an under 14. It is both a strength and a weakness of this book that it doesn't seek to moralise - I can see both sides of that argument!

This book has, of course, stimulated a lot of discussion in review columns and on television. Any book which contains fairly liberal use of swear words, and deals with the issue of sex head on is going to attract question. In the end it depends on your own personal viewpoint. If you believe books for teenagers should present a moral ideal, and suggest a "better" way of living, rather than reflecting real life warts and all, and probably therefore propagating it, then this book probably won't be for you. If you feel that getting teenagers, especially boys, to read anything is a success, and the best way to do that is to tell it like it is, then you will probably think this book is one of the best you've seen for a long time.

You'll have to make your own mind up!

Having said that, it's an amusing, accurate story of four boys first discovering sex ... or at least trying to. It shows the intensity of those days and the terror that everyone else is doing it so you really should, as well as the power games that develop.

The characters aren't the most well rounded ones I have come across, but it is a good read for adults as well as older teenagers.