Module 10: TTYL

Summary:
Best friends Angela, Zoe and Maddie talk via Instant Message about everything going on in their lives. Angela has constant crushes and short relationships, Maddie gets sucked in by a popular girl and is consequentially humiliated at a fraternity party (even though she is in high school), and Zoe starts an innocent church related relationship with a male teacher and all is well until he starts hitting on her. At the end, everything works out and they are still friends, but readers see the everyday gossip that goes on between three friends in high school.


Citation:
Myracle, Lauren. Ttyl. New York: Amulet, 2004. Print.

Impressions:
First, I did not enjoy the way the book was formatted in Instant Messages. I found it difficult to read and it took way from the plot. While the book is controversial, I honestly think it is the most realistic book about teenage girls that I have ever read. Like it or not, the conversations that occur in this book happen every day at most American high schools. Because of the normality of these types of conversations, (which don’t always include events like teacher flirtation and alcohol abuse), I am confused by its popularity- girls could just read back through their own instant messages and get similar dramaticized stories!


Reviews:


Gr. 6-10. The story of three friends' tenth-grade lives is told entirely in IMs, replete with g2gs and CAPS LOCKED SCREAMING. At the start of their sophomore year, Zoe, Maddie, and Angela promise to remain best friends for life. But soon Zoe is spending way too much time with her vaguely creepy teacher; Maddie abandons her real friends in favor of uberpopular Jana; and both Maddie and Zoe tire of Angela's never-ending Boy Drama. The plot is familiar and often pedestrian, but the girls' distinctly compelling IM voices are the hook here. Myracle cleverly manages to build rich characters and narrative tension without ever taking the story outside of an IM box. Although some backstory is awkwardly inserted and a few of the pop-culture references are already dated, Chat-savvy readers will identify with these teens and their problems, and Myracle neatly demonstrates how IM can bolster real-life friendships. John Green Copyright © American Library Association., via Booklist


A perfect book for morons destined to drop out of school at 15 stoned and pregnant. If that's your aspiration for your kids, by all means buy this book for them. This book has no redeeming value what-so-ever; I tossed our copy (I'm ashamed that I didn't look more closely when my daughter bought it) in the recycling bin after my daughter came to me suggesting that, perhaps, it wasn't appropriate for her. She was right. It's not appropriate for anyone. It is trash.-Kevin W. Plaxco, via Amazon.com

I want to know if I read the same book as the people who gave this thing 5 stars. Reading TTYL made me want to break down in tears. Is that how society truly views teenage girls? As a sophomore in high school, trust me on this, no middle/jr/high school female acts like that. The whole book basically made it seem as if all we're interested in is boys, sex, and boys. I was deeply disappointed in the fact that the author was promoting this. Although, I have more issues with the publisher who thought this one was a winner. And I don't believe anyone on this planet, or the next, types like that.
 Do yourself a favor, and don't even bother reading TTYL. You've much better things to do with your time, like watching the grass grow.—C. George, via Amazon.com

 Use in Library Setting:
This book could be used to demonstrate the new textual formats being used in contemporary YA literature. In addition, several of the issues in the book such as an overly flirtatious teacher and peer pressure could be used to teach teens about these real life situations.