Paul Zindel Critical Essay | Critical Essay by A. Thatcher

Critical Essay by A. Thatcher

[The Girl Who Wanted a Boy, written] by an author who certainly understands American teenagers, is a brilliantly and sensitively written story of Sibella's search for her ideal of love. She rejects offers of help and advice from her mother and sister, and turns instead to a book called "How to Pick Up Boys."

She "falls in love" with a newspaper photograph of a nineteen year old boy called Dan, and hunts him down. He is as unsure and unstable as she is, but Sibella is unable to accept this. She loves him, so he must be something special, and her love and belief in him must be able to work miracles. The story moves inexorably towards the inevitable rejection and heartache. At least, she does learn a great deal about herself and her emotions from this traumatic experience.

I found the book very disturbing and I cannot believe that...
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