Starred Review ALA Booklist

Starred Review Leticia, a gossipy high-school student, knows that "Girl fights are ugly. Girl fights are personal." She says this after overhearing that Dominique, the tough-as-nails basketball player, is planning to beat up pink-clad fashion-plate Trina at 2:45. The infraction was minor e oblivious Trina cut off Dominique in the hallway t for Dominique it was the last of a series of insults, the worst of which was being benched by Coach for failing to improve her grades. Bouncing between the three first-person accounts within the span of a single school day, Williams-Garcia makes the drama feel not only immediate but suffocatingly tense, as each tick of the clock speeds the three girls toward collision. Dominique's anger and frustration is tangible; Leticia's hemming over whether or not to get involved feels frighteningly authentic; and only Trina's relentless snobbery seems a bit simplified. Most impressive is how the use of voice allows readers to fully experience the complicated politics of high school; you can sense the thousand mini-dramas percolating within each crowded classroom. Along the way, the characters' disregard of such high-school stalwarts as A Separate Peace and Of Mice and Men subtly prepares the reader for the messy and gut-wrenching conclusion.

Starred Review for Publishers Weekly

Alternating among the perspectives of three girls at an urban high school, Williams-Garcia (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Like Sisters on the Homefront) shows once again her uncanny ability to project unique voices. Benched by the basketball coach for her low grades, Dominique is trying to bite back her rage when “some stupid little flit comes skipping down B corridor like the Easter Bunny.... Skipping. In all that pink” and walks between Dominique and her “girls,” “like she don't see I'm here and all the space around me is mines.” That's it—Dominique vows to “kick her ass” at exactly 2:45. Her intended victim, Trina—already full of herself over her looks, and pumped up because she's about to hang her latest masterpiece of art in a hallway)—does not hear, but Leticia does, and she can't wait to tell her best friend (“That would be something to see.... Trina getting stomped on school grounds”). And when Leticia's friend argues that Leticia ought to warn Trina, the plot quickens rather than taking a simple path around should-she/shouldn't-she. So well observed that the characters seem to leap off the page, the novel leaves a strong and lingering impact. Ages 12–up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Mar.)

Horn Book

This novel offers piercing snapshots of the struggles of three urban high school girls and the threat of school violence. Trina flits by Dominique; Dominique takes it the wrong way, vowing to fight Trina; Leticia witnesses it all. The fight goes down, and readers are left to wonder what might have been had Leticia intervened. An intriguing setup with a provocative conclusion.

Kirkus Reviews

It's more than just three high-school girls—self-centered Leticia, skipping the last few minutes of her before-school, repeat Geometry class; angry Dominique, begging her teacher for five more points so she can play in the next basketball game; and overconfident Trina, hanging her Black History Month artwork in the corridor gallery—in the wrong place at the wrong time. When Trina cuts in front of Dominique and her girls, Dominique threatens, "I'm gonna kick that ass at two forty-five," and Leticia witnesses it all. Short, nuanced, alternating first-person chapters reveal the truth behind each girl's motivations throughout the day and challenge readers to ponder the culpability of each teen when Dominique carries out her threat and Leticia refuses to intervene. References to A Separate Peace and other literary and historical allusions help fuel the riveting debate. With a realistic look at girl-on-girl violence and gripping characterization, Williams-Garcia masterfully builds tension to the momentous ending. Although readers can anticipate the tragedy that transpires, it is shocking and agonizing nonetheless. (Fiction. YA)

School Library Journal

Gr 8-10 All Leticia wants to do is to mind her own business. She's too busy stewing about being assigned to early-morning math tutoring to worry about anyone else's problems. Sure, she's intrigued when she overhears bad-girl basketball player Dominique threaten to beat up bubbly, self-obsessed Trina for bumping her in the hallwaywho wouldn't be excited to get the inside scoop on juicy gossip like a girl-on-girl fight after school? But she doesn't feel the need to get involved, even after she realizes that Trina didn't hear Dominique's threats and thus has no idea that she's going to get jumped. Will she follow best friend Bea's advice and warn Trina of the danger she faces, before a potential tragedy can unfold? In alternating chapters narrated by Leticia, Trina, and Dominique, Williams-Garcia has given her characters strong, individual voices that ring true to teenage speech, and she lets them make their choices without judgment or moralizing. Even the hostile, defensive Dominique is drawn in an evenhanded way that leaves this thought-provoking tale without a clear-cut villain. Teens will relate to Leticia's dilemma even as they may criticize her motives, and the ethical decision she faces will get readers thinking about the larger issues surrounding community, personal responsibility, and the concept of "snitching." Meredith Robbins, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School, New York City

Voice of Youth Advocates (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

When Trina brushes past Dominique in their high school hall, it seems like nothing. But Dominique is looking for a fight, and Trina gives her the chance for one. Leticia overhears Dominique tell her friends that she plans to go after Trina at the end of the day. Will she tell Trina what she knows or let it play out? Williams-Garcia tackles girl-on-girl violence in a novel told in alternating first-person chapters by each of the three girls involved. Observing one day at a New York City high school, readers see how seemingly disconnected events and students can come together with tragic results. The randomness of the event that leaves Trina targeted is accurately described as ôtriflingö by LeticiaÆs friend Bea, an intriguing ôoff-cameraö character who gets the story from Leticia via cell phone and who urges Leticia to tell Trina what she knows to prevent the incident. What all three girls have in common is their adolescent self-absorption, and as the story plays out without a forced happy ending, readers will be left to consider how things could have been different. The voices of the three girls, unique and distinctive through much of the book, seem to blend for a bit past the halfway mark, but teens who live the reality of girl fights and getting jumped every day will surely see themselves and their friends in these girls whose lives change forever because of a chance contact in the hall.ùVikki Terrile.