How could they think he was a terrorist?

Big Mouth Ugly Girl. 0-06-447347-3. Joyce Carol Oates. 2002. ALA Best Book for Young Adults. Ages 12-18. Contemporary Realistic Fiction. Caucasian youth. Suburban middle-class.
To help them deal with the emotional conflicts they face at Rocky Ridge High School, basketball jock Ursula Riggs and newspaper columnist Matt Donaghy have secretly created the alter egos of Ugly Girl and Big Mouth. Their alter egos are not enough to protect them when Matt is suspended after his threat to blow up the school is reported and Ursula comes forward to prove Matt’s innocence. Matt returns to school, but emotions run high as both teens quit their extracurricular activities and become outsiders to their social cliques. The teens turn to each other and develop a close relationship while Matt and his family struggle with the backlash of their lawsuit against the school. After an anonymous bomb threat is traced back to a overzealous religious leader and his crazy daughters are exposed as Matt’s original accusers, life seems to return to normal. Matt’s column is going to be published in The New York Times and Ursula’s team convinces her to rejoin the team. The two teens come to realize what is important to them, which now includes each other.

This book could lead to discussions on social cliques, rumors, courage, and the role of cell phones, e-mail and texting in relationships today. Children might write about a time when they or someone they knew had the courage to stand up for another person, the consequences, and any lessons they learned from this action.

Joyce Carol Oates gives her readers a realistic story about teenage angst that can be interpreted on different levels. First, the author develops a plot in which the main characters face the challenges of correcting a false accusation and come to realize that there are costs associated with just being accused. Then, Oates adds the plot of a developing friendship between her two characters throughout this ordeal. Finally, she tells the story of two teenagers' struggles with their own self-perceptions.  Oates lets readers inside the heads and the emotions of her main characters, Matt and Ursula. By writing the narrative from her characters’ viewpoints, readers understand the characters' flaws even better. Once Matt labels himself as a "Big Mouth, " readers can observe that he begins to think before he speaks. However, Oates handles the complexity of  Ursula's poor self-image with a subtle difference.  Only Ursula's chapters are written strictly in first person, allowing the reader to really view the transitions when "Ugly Girl” surfaces. Readers see the red and inky black emotions emerge on the basketball court and see when Ursula feels disconnected with the petite, feminine women in her family.

This story contains thought-provoking subplots through which Oates introduces additional her teenage-oriented themes. Oates delivers an intriguing theme about the impact of the threat of school violence on a community through the reactions of the Rocky Ridge’s administration, the police, the neighbors, and Matt’s classmates. Some readers might wonder how their own community would react if a similar threat was present in their city. The theme of conflicts in families with teens is seen in Matt’s family’s struggle after he tarnished their reputation and in Ursula’s family’s values and priorities that seem to revolve around everyone but her. Oates also shows the importance of courage and true friendship when she contrasts Matt’s relationships with his old friends to his new bond with Ursula. Teenagers who read Big Mouth, Ugly Girl can be forewarned that one misunderstood conversation can impact so many lives. Teens can see that some family conflicts are universal. Finally, teens can also see the value in finding and keeping supportive friends in high school.

Big Mouth, Ugly Girl could easily lead to a discussion in a middle school or high school classroom about the impact of labels that we put on ourselves and others. In a Social Studies class, students could research causes of violence in schools, research their own district's policies, and write a persuasive essay recommending changes or additions to the policies to help deter this kind of violence. In a Communications class, students could write about the advantages and disadvantages of modern technology in our daily communications. They could reflect on a time when technology got in the way of  someone's true message. Finally, students could read op/ed articles in the New York Times before taking on a writing assignment in which they create a class newspaper.