Big Mouth and Ugly Girl

Title: Big Mouth & Ugly Girl
Author: Joyce Carol Oates
Year: 2002
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age: Teen
Summary: Matthew Donaghy (Big Mouth) has always had a big mouth. But it never got him into trouble — until one day when two detectives escort him out of class for questioning. The charge is that Matt has been accused of threatening to blow up Rocky River High School. Although he is innocent of the accusation, people shun him, and many adults, including the principal of Rocky River High School, get suspicious.

Ursula Riggs is a strong athlete at Rocky River High. She secretly gives herself the proper name “Ugly Girl.” Ursula has no time for petty high school distractions like friends (except for her friend Bonnie) and dating. Ursula is content to mind her own business. She hardly knows Matt Donaghy at the start of the novel.

But Ursula knows injustice when she sees it and is not afraid to speak out.

“Big Mouth & Ugly Girl.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 15 Nov 2009, 22:37 UTC. 18 Nov 2009 .

My Thoughts: This book is a fun read on a topic that most people probably never give a thought to: being on the inside of the newspaper headline. It is about high school gossip, and how strong of a person you need to be not to get sucked into it. “Ugly Girl” is an incredibly strong female character, who I think many girls could relate to. I especially love how she compares herself to a horse throughout the story…it is just such an apt way to describe how insecurities can make you feel sometimes.
More than just the obvious, I loved how Oates shows how easily people can be thrown into hysterics, and how they are usually tricked into it by the most unreliable source. She highlights how the Salem Witch Trials happen again and again in our society, just disguised as something else.