Moxie

July 10, 2017
At Viv’s Texas high school, no one stops the boys from wearing T-shirts that degrade women, while girls get sent home for minor dress code violations. Boys—mainly football jocks—harass girls in classes and corridors without consequence. Viv, a junior, is used to it, but one day she decides that enough is enough. Inspired by her mother’s days as a rebellious Riot Grrrl, Viv creates and circulates issues of Moxie, a girl-power zine, at school. More girls take Moxie-endorsed action with each issue, and because Viv hasn’t owned up to being behind it, other girls get into the act and things snowball. Mathieu (Afterward) isn’t going for nuance: the jocks are total jerks, the all-male administration is unfailingly sexist, and the Moxie spirit crosses cliques and racial boundaries with an intersectional ease that can be elusive in real life. But seeing the girls changing their definitions of what’s acceptable as they become radicalized is satisfying and moving, both for Viv and for readers. If it’s depressing that Viv has to reach back to the ’90s for models, perhaps this unapologetically feminist book will help change that. Ages 12–up. Agent: Kerry Sparks, Levine Greenberg Rostan.