The Good, the Bad, and the Suicidal

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Dariel Bosma is a Grade 11 student living in Hazy Meadows, Alberta. She
studies hard and works three shifts a week at the Double Scoop Ice Cream
Parlour. Her cousin and best friend, Lorna, is a bit of a rebel but
Dariel finds enough challenge in her life just being what she calls a
SWFF (Single White Fat Female).

When her high school’s autocratic principal and the sleazy town mayor
decide to combat youth crime by imposing a nine o’clock curfew on all
citizens under 18, Dariel leads the student body in revolt against this
outrage. Expecting to end up in the principal and mayor’s bad books,
Dariel is surprised and terrified to find she is also the prime target
of two warring teen gangs.

Warning: this novel contains mature themes, rude language, and much to
think about. Beth Goobie has found a niche for herself by exploring the
darker side of teen life. She does it with humor and intelligence,
although her prose occasionally strains a little too hard with such
lines as “She looked like Scarlett O’Hara after Freddy Krueger had
given her a haircut with a chainsaw.” The story deals with such
important themes as peer pressure, self-image, human rights, substance
abuse, and discrimination. What makes this gritty book even more
interesting and original is that it is set in a small town instead of
the standard big-city urban jungle. Recommended.