Lissa has had enough. The members of the football and soccer teams at her school have been at war for more than 10 years, and it's starting to get ridiculous. This is the second time the car has been egged while she was making out with her football player boyfriend Randy, and it's the second time he's left her to take off after the soccer player who committed the crime. Lissa is tired of coming in second place to a stupid rivalry that no one really remembers how it started.
This war has got to stop, and Lissa thinks she knows what to do. She calls together other girlfriends of football players and some soccer players to suggest her way to end this pointless battle: the girls need to stop hooking up with their boyfriends until the boys stop fighting each other.
Things look promising for Lissa and the other girls, until homecoming when Lissa catches Randy kissing another girl in the bathroom. Heartbroken, confused and more than angry, Lissa is ready for a real war.
Shut Out is a PG-13 retelling of the Greek comedy Lysistrata by Aristopanes. Lissa is a take action girl who is able to rally the other girls in the school in teaming up against the boys. She has some cool friends, like Chloe the more liberated girl who suffers in reputation and Ellen a former best friend who just happens to be dating a soccer boy. Add in relationship issues with Randy, and the cute soccer boy Cash, and Lissa has a lot more on her plate than the silly war.
Kody Keplinger is a teen writer, and this book is a fun fast read. The language is authentic, and while the plot may make some readers uncomfortable, older teens will recognise the different kinds of relationships, and how sometimes we lie to our friends and ourselves.
Fans of Siobhan Vivian's Not That Kind of Girl or Megan McMCafferty's books will enjoy this book, as well as fans of funny realistic fiction, that deals with some big issues.
I'll see you @ the library!
Katie (Getting ready to read Human.4 by Mike Lancaster)