Don't Kiss Girls

Pat Flynn (author)
Bec Wheeler (illustrator)

Puffin Books, Australia: 2008; 145pp

ISBN: 9780143303121

Genres: humour, realistic fiction

Issues: change, friendship, relationships

A book about the confusion and embarrassment that accompany the changes of adolescence.

It's the beginning of high school and Tony Ross has discovered girls, although it's not entirely clear whether girls have discovered him with quite the same enthusiasm. His best mate, Kane, is tall, good-looking and full of condescending advice such as how to practise kissing using a tap washer. But when Tony and Kane find themselves competing for the attention of the beautiful Ashleigh Simpkin, their long friendship may be in danger.

Very much a book about the confusion and embarrassment that accompany the changes of adolescence, Don't Kiss Girls will appeal to readers who enjoy schoolyard tricks and humour. Lacking the depth of character and relationships of To the Light, this is a fairly ordinary story that is redeemed by its humorous empathy with children struggling to understand more adult emotions.