Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love

by Maryrose Wood

Book Overview

Meet Felicia, 14-year-old student at the Manhattan Free Children's School (also known as the Pound). In Felicia's world, she and her best friends, Jess and Kat, like to refer to themselves as the Sex... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385732767
• ISBN13: 9780385732765
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Length: 243 Pages
• Weight: 3.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.9" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

Don't Be Thrown Off by the Title: This is a Wonderful Book, Suitable for Younger Teens

The first thing that I have to say about Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love, by Maryrose Wood, is that, despite the title, it's NOT about sex. It's about relatively innocent high school freshmen exploring the world of love and dating. If anything, it's almost too cute for words. But not quite. Instead, it's simply adorable. The Sex Kittens of the title are three fourteen-year-old best friends who attend the Manhattan Free Children's School. They've christened themselves the Sex Kittens in response to a karmic incident with a kitten-themed deck of Tarot cards. (You'll have to read the book for details.) Naturally, once they call themselves Sex Kittens, it's a logical extension that they refer to the boys at their school as Horn Dawgs (or just Dawgs for short), and to the school as "The Pound." The narrator is Felicia, a young poet who lives in a tiny apartment with her bohemian mother. Felicia's defining attribute (besides being a poet) is her hopeless and consuming crush on Matthew, a classmate who is fixated on science experiments. In a moment of mind-boggling bravery, Felicia confesses her crush to Matthew, and proposed that they do an experiment for the upcoming science fair. Specifically, Felicia wants to explore X, that mysterious something that makes her fall for Matthew, while he remains largely indifferent to her. Matthew, in the interest of science, agrees to the project, and they unlikely duo is off! Matthew and Felicia interview people, they devise and watch various experiments, they collect data, and they do learn a few things along the way. Meanwhile, their collection of friends, Jess and Kat, Randall and Trip and Jacob, and eventually Deej, all have their own experiences with love, too. These are very PG experiences of love, by the way, with some hand-holding and kissing, but nothing at all for the book banners to grab hold of (beyond the title itself). There's a great deal about the feeling of being in love, the pains in the pit of your stomach, the wardrobe indecision, the rapid heartbeats... But overall, these are nice, believable kids who are easy to get attached to. What I like best about this book is the use of language. Felicia is a poet, and she is constantly making up or modifying words. The one that sticks with me that most is "insert sound of the Chinese gong, reverbeverbeverberating!" Isn't that great? The word reverberating is reverberating itself. There are also a lot of words in all caps, followed by exclamation points. This took me a bit of getting used to, but I have to say that it accurately reflects the moods and expressiveness of Felicia and her friends. These are high school freshmen, excited about first love and the freedom offered by their new school. They should speak with exaggerated emphasis, shouldn't they? If I had access to notes from my own 9th grade self, I'm sure that they would be filled with exclamation points, underlinings, and made up words. All that's missing in the text of the book a

Great read!

A great, clean book for teenagers who are just looking for something fun to read. This book would be wonderful as a girly summer beach read! If you liked books such as "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants", you will love "Sex Kittens". The characters are all unique and interesting, and I had so much fun reading it. I will definatly recommend this book to all my girlfriends!

What a delicious world!

From the hip, neo-feminist yumminess of Motherdear's bookstore to the Kitten clutches at the Moondance Diner to the dreamiest, free-range high school ever, if the world isn't like this book it had better do some catching up! Kids in this world are bright and vulnerable and articulate and somehow still seem to be kids! Dreams are very, very, veeeeeeeeeery big and just as attainable. For once, Maryrose Wood has created a book aimed primarily at girls that isn't uncool for boys. Excuse me, Horn Dawgs. I loved this book!

You will LOVE this book!

When I read this book, I couldn't put it down. This is a book for all who want to figure out the secret of love. It combines an intellectual, poetic mindset with the perspective that can only come from a teenage girl who lives in New York. I especially love how you become so enraptured with the characters & their lives as you're reading this book, that you identify with them and take on their ideas & sense of humor as your own. You become as anxious to discover the ending as the protagonists are. I love this book!!

Grandmas and aunts this book is okay to buy!

Some adults might want to know from one who read this book that Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love is not just an okay book, but a great book for teens! Don't they deserve to read a happy, witty book? Maryrose Wood writes so well and the action and words are so clever and encompassing that the book is a pleasure to read. The adventures of Felicia and her friends, the variety of teens and adults in the book, the mini-tour of New York are just delightful. People turn out good! Oh, it is just fun reading! I am buying it for all the people of the appropriate age on my birthday gift list this year.