Thirteen and wildly creative, Kara McAllister just had her best idea yet. Kinard creates a highly credible middle-school universe of popular girls, dorky boys, unpredictable teachers, and volatile loyalties she hits all the right notes as Kara learns that first opinions are rarely accurate and that the scientific method does not always apply to human beings. Kami Kinard’s debut novel The Boy Project: Notes and Observations of Kara McAllister is a good-hearted look at the trials and tribulations of eighth-grader Kara McAllister who has one huge problem: Kara is the only person in her grade to have never had a boyfriend.
Unobtrusive observations, note taking, charts, graphs, and questionnaires (incorporated throughout) are all part of her plan, which has humorous and unexpected side effects as her views of, and feelings for, her subjects shift during the course of her research. Not that there’s a huge difference.” Her goal is twofold: win the science fair with this project and achieve her other objective-unlimited texting, promised by her parents in return for an A in science. Her sympathetic, entertaining heroine, Kara McAllister, dismayed at not having been kissed by age 13, is determined to use the scientific method to get a boyfriend: “I’ll be the eighth-grade version of Jane Goodall, except I’ll be observing boys instead of chimps. Ignatow's The Popularity Papers (BCCB 5/10) offers a similarly science-based approach to middle-school politics with a bit more nuance, but for the girl bent on hooking a particular fish, Kara's advice might do the trick.Kinard’s first novel reads a bit like Field Notes of a Romantically Frustrated Kid. There are, however, plenty of girls out there who are often driven by the need to be noticed by "the guys," and for them Kara may serve as an interesting role model as she consistently puts the needs of her friends first and even manages to maintain a sense of individuality as she begins dating. From the opening entry in which Kara describes her Spin the Bottle encounter with Chip, "a total dweeb," the story is entirely predictable, and the unyielding focus on boys-not just by Kara but by every other teen female in the story-offers a rather depressing portrait of life as a adolescent girl. Recording her observations on notecards and presenting her data in various charts and graphs (included in the book), Kara negotiates the tricky terrain of middle-school dating, at first floundering awkwardly while talking to boys (especially after her BFF gets a BF, leaving Kara alone in her inexperience) but eventually learning to just be herself and, in doing so, getting the guy. With those goals in mind, she devises a scientific experiment that aims to address the hows and whys of attracting the opposite sex.
She also wants to get an A in eighth-grade science-well, she wants the unlimited texting that said A would buy her.
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