BABE IN BOYLAND

Natalie (aka Dr. Aphrodite) pens the love column for her school’s newspaper. Criticized for her lack of understanding of how guys think, she decides to go undercover at Underwood, an all-boys boarding school. Drawing upon her experience as an actress and her friends’ knowledge of make-up and wardrobe, Natalie transforms herself into Nat and infiltrates the school. She soon finds out that guys are as varied as girls and that they are equally clueless in their dealings with the opposite gender. In a breathless, first-person narration, Natalie manages to tiptoe through the minefield of urinals, gym class and neckties only to find herself facing her biggest challenge: her attraction to her yummy roommate, Emilio. Brash and clueless as a girl and unconvincing as a boy, Natalie is barely likable and infrequently real. Hobbled by the overfamiliar girl-in-boy-drag premise, one-dimensional characters and predictable plot twists, this story never makes it out of the starting gate. (Fiction. 12 & up)