Sister Mischief

May 23, 2011
Debut novelist Goode shows she's as much of a "word nerd" as her charactersâfour juniors bringing their queer-friendly brand of hip-hop to Minnesota's Twin Cities, like it or not. High School Musical this ain't: soon after readers meet Esme, the book's verse-slinging, no-nonsense narrator, she's losing her virginity in the back seat of Charlie Knutsen's Camry, basically to confirm what she already knows: "Definitely a homo. Like Same-Sex City, population Esme." She and her friends Marcy, Rowie, and Tessa are Sister Mischief, a hip-hop crew taking their lead from Queen Latifah, Missy Elliott, and other pioneering female rappers. But when they try to form a club devoted to discussing queer and hip-hop culture, they find opposition from school policies and classmates, and a clandestine relationship between Esme and Rowie threatens the group's stability. Conversations about (admittedly important) issuesâsuch as the politics of suburban white girls rappingâcan feel forced, but Goode knows her stuff. The girls have an encyclopedic knowledge and deep love of hip-hop, and Esme's emotionally charged rhymes flow freely. If ever a book needed a soundtrackâor a beatboxâthis is it. Ages 14âup.

November 1, 2011

Gr 9 Up-Told from the perspective of Esme Rockett, this novel follows the teen and her friends as they coalesce as Sister Mischief, an all-girl hip-hop group, and depicts Esme's first same-sex relationship. Esme and her girlfriends and bandmates Marcy (DJ SheStorm), Tess (The ConTessa), and Rowie (MC Rohini) have always felt out of place in their small, conservative Minnesota town and, as outcasts, are often the target of the popular students' ridicule. When the girls petition to form a hip-hop gay-straight alliance, they face more derision and even opposition from the administration, but find strength in the community. The narrative voice is peppered with hip-hop slang and often achieves a kind of poetic effect, particularly as Esme describes her encounters with and admiration for her lover, Rowie. These encounters aren't explicit, but they are sensual and culminate in questions of identity and living "out" for both Esme and her would-be girlfriend. Goode incorporates the trope of footnotes to document the characters' text messages and Esme's spur-of-the-moment scribbling in her journal, and this feature neither adds nor detracts from the greater narrative. The novel is notable for the uncommon credit for critical thought it gives its characters, and their ruminations on hip-hop history, sexism, and social alliances are inspiring, though in some cases (in the proposed student alliance mission statement, for example), they veer into unrealistically academic territory. A nontraditional approach to an uncommon subject, Sister Mischief sets the lesbian coming-of-age narrative within a markedly positive hip-hop culture of the characters' own creation.-Amy S. Pattee, Simmons College, Boston

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2011

Hip-hop and rap, racial tensions, sex positivity, religion, coming out, even parental abandonment: At its low points, this reads like a checklist of hot-button issues.

But beneath the politics and too many lists of hip-hop/rap artists lies a touching story of impossible first love between narrator Esme, who knows she likes girls, and good friend Rohini, who might like girls but whose family is too traditionally Indian for her to even consider openly questioning her sexuality. There is also an improbable but entertaining students-against-administration subplot as the girls (Esme, Rohini, tough-but-beautiful Marcy and good girl Tess, who has fallen out with the A-list Christians) fight a recent ruling against any rap or "associated" apparel or materials at school. They create an alternative 4H (Hip-hop for Heteros and Homos) and hijack an assembly to drop some seriously intellectual beats. Highlighting the clutter of issues are frequent intrusions of a political, message-heavy adult voice. Do teen rappers, even white Jewish lesbians in the Christian heartland, really come up with lines like "We're done with sex hypocrisy up in this here gynocracy"?

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from June 1, 2011
Grades 10-1 *Starred Review* Goode's debut is a provocative, authentic coming-of-age story that explores the power of language in shaping identity, structured around the subversive, expressive nature of hip-hop music. Word nerd Esme is a 16-year-old Jewish lesbian in the sterile minivan parade of Holyhill, Minnesota. She and her friendsbutch Marcy, religious Tess, and Indian Rowieare the members of hip-hop crew Sister Mischief, who write rhymes to confront issues of race, gender, class, and sexuality. When the principal outlaws violence-inducing culture, including hip-hop, the girls plan a guerilla performance to bring awareness to the masses, while Esme and Rowie's burgeoning relationship sends them spinning in new directions. Esme's flowing, slangy narrative is expressive and idiosyncratic, and her relationship with Rowie is sweet and seductive. All of the girls realistically defy stereotypes, and their strong relationships with each other and their families (particularly Esme and Marcy's amazing dads and Rowie's mom) are the linchpin of the story. Goode sometimes tries too hard to deconstruct hip-hop culture, and the slang may trip up some readers, but, overall, this debut is full of big ideas, big heart, and big poetry, with a positive, activist message. Sex, language, and alcohol and drug use limit this to older teens.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2012
Seventeen-year-old Esme, a.k.a. MC Ferocious, is part of an all-female hip-hop group called Sister Mischief. The novel begins with Esme's coming out as a lesbian, then follows the ensuing drama as she develops a crush on a group member. The snappy dialogue smacks of trying too hard, but vibrant characterization brings the idiosyncratic subculture to life.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)