It was a fairly predictable story. It seemed like the author took the storyline from the movie "She's the Man", which was funnier and more interesting than this book. Thought it would be more in-depth. It is okay, but definitely not one I would read again. ( )

I read Babe in Boyland as part of a challenge I set for myself to read more contemporary books.
Let me tell you, if you don’t read a lot of Contemporary Books and want to get more into them, Babe in Boyland is an EXCELLENT place to start.

This book was fast-paced and funny. The characters were all enjoyable and witty, and the premise/plot was so cute and fun. Plus, I am IN LOVE with this woman’s writing. After reading Babe in Boyland, I went and immediately checked out all the other books my library had by Jody Gehrman, and for each one, the writing was so good!

Jody Gehrman has a talent for making me laugh our loud in public. Which, let me tell you, is a VERY good thing.
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The main character Natalie (who doesn't seem to have a personality beyond a superiority-but-also-a-victim complex and the "adorable quirk" of swearing in German...) disguises herself and goes undercover as "Nat" to an all-boys school with the help of her two best friends Chloe (the bitchy-but-really-has-a-heart-of-gold hit friend) and Darcy (the friend whose only distinguishing feature seems to be having pink hair, I don't even know.)

In the week undercover as a boy, Natalie learns a lot about men, women, gender roles, and herself. She has some good personal growth, and there are some touching moments with minor characters. Plus she has a hot roomie, Emilio (who is Hispanic so, y'know, diversity and stuff) that she has some crazy instalove stuff going on with.

Basically, if you want to read a book that's the Amanda Bynes movie "She's the Man" but with a play instead of soccer, this is the book for you! It's a fun, light read, but don't expect it to be more than it is. ( )

The book "Babe in Boyland" is about a high school junior, Natalie or Dr. Aphrodite. Natalie writes a relationship column for the school newspaper. Some guys in the school started to say that she wasn't telling girls the honest truth about guys, that she was telling them what they wanted to hear. So she tried her best to get the truth out of guys at a party that her friends threw. That plan completely backfired and she took this project to a whole different level. Natalie and her friends, Marcie and Chloe, decide that it would be a good idea to dress Natalie up as a guy and put her in Underwood Academy for Boys. There she learns about guys and girls in a completely different way than she expected. Now she realizes that she is falling for her dreamy roommate, Emilio. Later in the story Natalie ends up kissing Emilio in disguise as her normal self. A mean girl from her normal public school hears about the kiss, confronts Natalie, and tells all of the guys that she's been disguising herself as a boy. All of the guys forgave her, but Emilio was furious because she lied to him and he shared personal information with her. Natalie very thoughtfully apologized to him, Emilio forgave her and they started dating each other.

I really liked "Babe in Boyland" because it reminded of one of my favorite movies, "She's the Man". This book was really good and it was a good light read. I kind of wish that it wasn't so similar to "She's the Man". With many similarities to the movie I still really enjoyed the comedy and the little bit of romance that it had. I feel like this book was a little relatable to my life. I think it was relatable because you don't really know what other people are thinking. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes comedy, romance, or just doesn't understand the people around them. ( )

Why I Read This: It looked like a fun, cute read.

Plot: This story reminded me a lot of She’s the Man with Amanda Bynes which is not a bad thing because I absolutely loved that movie and recently found out it was based on one of Shakespeare’s plays. The plot was a little predictable, but there were parts that were still unique to the story. I loved the theater components of and how they were incorporated perfectly into the story. What I had a hard time believing was how it was so easy for her to be enrolled into the school without any problems or people asking too many questions. That would not have happened in real life, but obviously the same rules don’t apply to books which is why they’re so amazing.

Characters: Natalie was hilarious, witty and sarcastic. She was very relatable and I loved her. I also really liked her two best friends, Chloe and Darcy. They couldn’t have been more different from each other, but that seemed to make their friendship even more believable and realistic. Emilio was super adorable and I loved that he was shy around other people, but very comfortable when he was with Nat (aka Natalie). I really liked them all, especially the three friends Natalie makes at the all-boys school she attends for a week.
Cover: The cover is super cute and is what first drew me to the book. The girl is gorgeous and has the biggest and prettiest eyes ever!

Overall Impression: Hilarious! I found myself literally LOLing various times throughout the book. I had fun reading it which is what I was hoping for. I will definitely pick up other books by Jody Gehrman now that I know how great this one was. ( )