Reviews

A Girl Named Mister by Nikki Grimes

kevinhendricks's review

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3.0

A quick story written in free verse (though I listened to the audiobook) about a teen who gets pregnant. What makes the story interesting is the way it weaves in the story of Mary and parallels the two girls' stories. It does dive into a lot of religious issues and finds grace and forgiveness in teen pregnancy, though it also feels a little simplistic (there's more focus on pregnancy and the resulting fallout than any focus on dealing with sex, lust, safe sex, etc.).

libraryjen's review

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3.0

Short, even for a book in poetry form, this one was lyrical and pretty, but predictable.

jdianm's review

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4.0

Nikki Grimes adds the voice of a young teenager to a relative void of protagonists dealing with her reality quite simply. Mister tells her experience in humble, noble prose, with a few alternating similarly written journal poem of Mary in the time leading up to Jesus' birth. This gives Mister a route to restore her faith and find middle ground between God's rules and her violation of them.

samanthapearl's review

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5.0

I absolutely loved this book. Once I started reading it I simply couldn't stop and ended up reading it all at once.

A Girl Named Mister is the story of a 14 year old girl who breaks her promise of abstinence to God and finds herself pregnant after her first time having sex. Throughout the book we go back and forth from Mister's perspective and a book of poetry called Mary Mary. The author is able to dance back and forth between these two flawlessly. The writing is beautiful and lyrical. I really can't say enough about how amazing the book is.

Mister is one if the best characters I have ever read about. I related to her on such a crazy level. Granted I was also a christian teen mom so I may be a little bias. Either way, I absolutely adore her and she is one of my favorite fictional characters. Also, this is now one of my all time favorite books.

I recommend this to everyone. If you like books in verse, try it! If you like stories about teen moms, try it! If you want a quick read, try it! It's written in verse and only takes about 2 hours from start to finish so what have you got to lose?


You can find this and all my other reviews at https://fourmoonreviews.blogspot.com

voya_k's review

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3.0

I wonder if Zondervan published this instead of a mainstream house because of the anti-abortion message... Anyway, it was sweet other than that.

waitingforthesecondstar's review

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5.0

I feel that Grimes captures perfectly the fear, guilt, and shame that comes with “breaking a promise to God.”

This book is not for everyone. Some of the “religious” expressions may be offensive or off-putting to anyone who didn’t grow up in church and/or doesn’t have a strong understanding of Christianity. But, for me, it was like a walk back through my teenage years—and the outpouring of support Mister receives in the end is comforting and hope-filled.

aundie27's review against another edition

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2.0

A warning to girls to stay chaste because you can get pregnant the first time. Eye roll.

I liked that it was told in verse with Virgin Mary's story interspersed. It is also incredibly short.
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