"Sassy Girl" Books

I read two books this week that encompass that fit a remarkably similar mold: Sorta Like a Rock Star and Big Fat Manifesto. I liked them both, a lot actually but the formulas went a little something like this: there is a sassy girl protagonist, she is loud, confronts social expectations but is having a crisis within herself that she does not reveal. Then something bad happens which causes “sassy girl” to question who she is. The rest of the book is devoted to finding and accepting oneself, and the girl returning to her sassy ways with a better sense of herself.
I do not want to devalue what these books actually accomplish. They both have strong female characters that would make good role models for young girls. They both, despite following similar formulas, explore painful and complex issues. Big Fat Manifesto centers around Jamie, an extremely overweight teen who writes a column entitled "Fat Girl". Jamie struggles to find her identity in the world, as do all teens, but she often relies on her image of "Fat Girl" in order to have an identity. This book was so relatable because I think just about every girl and woman has felt defined by the image of her body. Like Big Fat Manifesto I think everyone can identify with losing someone like Amber does, or feeling left out at school. Amber struggles to define herself we she can no longer be the “hope spreader” during her crisis. So what is wrong with fitting into this mold? Sassy girls are real girls trying to find themselves in the world just like everybody in that world.

Meaghan Myers