Review: "Moxie," by Jennifer Mathieu

"Moxie girls fight back!" High school isn't great for Viv in her east Texas town. The girls at her school are constantly belittled and harassed by the boys. Viv, inspired by her mother's memory box from her teenage years as a Riot Grrrl, anonymously creates Moxie, a zine encouraging girls to stick together and fight back against the boys. The girls don't take Moxie super seriously in the first issue, but it gains some steam when Viv calls for girls to wear their bathrobes to school in rebellion against the dress code that singles out 1/3 of the girls in the school for varying reasons. Moxie takes on a life of its own, without Viv's help, when other girls use the group to call for action to fundraise for the girls' sports teams and to walkout of the school in protest of sexual harassment and the fact that the faculty isn't taking their reports seriously. All in all, this was a fun read for girl power, and there's a sweet first romance mixed in with a good guy too.

Mrs. Denney's Rating: ***

#review #romance #school #feminism #harassment