Alyssa Brugman,
Walking Naked.
Faber and Faber, 2004.
ISBN: 0 571 21926 8

This book was deservedly shortlisted for the CBC Australia Children's Book of the Year Award 2003. Megan is a rather smug, self-satisfied and manipulative member of the in-group at school. Perdita, conversely, does not conform and is mocked and jeered, excluded and ignored. When she is thrown together with Megan in detention, they begin a tentative friendship; this is important to Perdita but Megan is anxious to keep it secret from her group in school. When the secret gets out, Megan is forced to make a choice between the group and Perdita. Brugman vividly depicts the jealousies, power struggles and sheer nastiness of girls in group situations. She also shows how cruel they can be to those who are different and don't fit in. Walking Naked, with its surprising but effective use of poetry, is a moving, somewhat disturbing book, more suitable for the older teenager.

RA 12+/IL 15+
Reviewed by Audrey Baker
Spring 2004