Cover of The Rites Wrongs of Janice Wills

The Rites Wrongs of Janice Wills

The Japanese hold a Mogi ceremony for young women coming of age. Latina teenagers get quinceaneras. And Janice Wills of Melva, NC ... has to compete in the Miss Livermush pageant.

Read more

Janice loves anthropology—the study of human cultures—and her observations help her identify useful rules in the chaotic world of high school. For instance: Dancing is an effective mating ritual—but only if you're good at it; Hot Theatre Guys will never speak to Unremarkable Smart Girls like Janice and her best friend, Margo; and a Beautiful Rich Girl will always win Melva's annual Miss Livermush pageant.

But when a Hot Theatre Guy named Jimmy Denton takes an interest in Janice, all her scientific certainties explode. For the first time, she has to be part of the culture that she's always observed; and all the charts in the world can't prove how tough—and how sweet—real participation and a real romance can be.

Funny, biting, and full of wisdom, this marks the debut of a writer to watch.

Audience
young adult
Length
medium · 224 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked The Rites Wrongs of Janice Wills? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked The Rites Wrongs of Janice Wills. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Gotta Get Some Bish Bash Bosh Shares young adult, realistic fiction, fiction
  2. Future Imperfect Shares young adult, fiction, romance
  3. What Is Real Shares young adult, realistic fiction, fiction
  4. Pretty Bad Things Shares young adult, realistic fiction, contemporary

“People who read The Rites Wrongs of Janice Wills tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love
  2. OyMG
  3. The Downside of Being Up
  4. The Lovely Shoes

“If you want more of the same (literary fiction), start with these.”

  1. Winter White
  2. Belles
  3. No Place to Fall
  4. Keeping the Moon

“If it was the realistic fiction that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Walk Softly, Rachel
  2. Head Above Water
  3. The Opposite of Love
  4. Masked

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Holiday Homecoming
  2. Miss Teen Sweet Valley
  3. Getting Real
  4. Damas, Dramas, and Ana Ruiz