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16th out of 67 books
—
120 voters
Derby Girl
by
Shauna Cross
Meet Bliss Cavendar, a blue haired, indie-rock loving misfit stuck in the tiny town of Bodeen, Texas.
Her pageant-addicted mother expects her to compete for the coveted Miss Blue Bonnet crown, but Bliss would rather feast on roaches than be subjected to such rhinestone tyranny.
Bliss' escape? Take up Roller Derby.
When she discovers a league in nearby Austin, Bliss embarks on...more
Her pageant-addicted mother expects her to compete for the coveted Miss Blue Bonnet crown, but Bliss would rather feast on roaches than be subjected to such rhinestone tyranny.
Bliss' escape? Take up Roller Derby.
When she discovers a league in nearby Austin, Bliss embarks on...more
Hardcover, 240 pages
Published
September 4th 2007
by Henry Holt and Co.
(first published September 1st 2007)
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This book inspired me to be a Roller Derby girl. Strike that, it inspired me to attempt long boarding, which was great fun, but not something I think I have any business doing. Anywho, onto the good stuff.
Bliss hates her life. She is an emo punk rocker, minus the rocker skills, stuck in small town U.S.A. No one except for her nerdy best friend Pash understands her and her mother seems hell-bent on tormenting her with her intense desire to turn her Goth obsessed daughter into a superficial beotch...more
Bliss hates her life. She is an emo punk rocker, minus the rocker skills, stuck in small town U.S.A. No one except for her nerdy best friend Pash understands her and her mother seems hell-bent on tormenting her with her intense desire to turn her Goth obsessed daughter into a superficial beotch...more
Oct 25, 2011
El Templo de las Mil Puertas
added it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
17-eltemplo,
reseñas
"Rebelde hasta la médula, así es Bliss Cavendar, una adolescente de dieciséis primaveras con mucho genio en el cuerpo, sin novio a la vista, bastante antisocial y pocas ganas de convertirse en la chica florero que le gustaría a su madre. Pongámonos en la piel de Bliss y su vena roquera: en el pequeño pueblo de la América Profunda en el que suspira y resopla sus días, ella y su camiseta de los Strikers son lo más raro que hay. Ah, y su mejor amiga, Pash Amini, hija de emigrantes indios, buena est...more
Leí la traducción al español de este libro, publicada por Planeta en su sello "Destino". Me gustó que hicieron el intento de adaptar la traducción española al mexicano, y que diga "chafa", "güey", "fajar". Pero el esfuerzo no fue suficiente y dejaron muchos españolismos, por lo que quedó en un idioma medio extraño. Lástima, habría sido lindo que lo hicieran bien ya que habían empezado.
En fin, eso resulta tolerable (ojalá las editoriales, de todos modos, se pusieran las pilas en ese asunto) y pod...more
En fin, eso resulta tolerable (ojalá las editoriales, de todos modos, se pusieran las pilas en ese asunto) y pod...more
I have never been to a bout but after watching Whip It, the movie directed by Drew Barrymore and screenplay written by Shauna Cross, I wanted to try roller derby. The movie was really good and I liked it a lot but never knew that it was based of a book called Derby Girl or Whip It by Shauna Cross. Now that I have read the book I really like them both. There are some differences in the plot line but essentially, the spirit of the story is kept in tact. Derby Girl or Whip It is the story of Bliss...more
In old-fashioned, small-town Bodeen lives Bliss Cavendar. Along with her best friend Pash, Bliss doesn't fit in with the crowd of this tiny town. So she escapes to the world of roller derby as Babe Ruthless in Austin, Texas, where she finds her first love and her life goes on a roller coaster.
First of all, I will admit that this book is a little to perfect to be realistic, with the only bad thing occurring being that her boyfriend cheated on her, but even that she got over quickly. Though Bliss...more
First of all, I will admit that this book is a little to perfect to be realistic, with the only bad thing occurring being that her boyfriend cheated on her, but even that she got over quickly. Though Bliss...more
I could not sleep at all last night so what to do? Grab the nearest book!
It turned out to be Derby Girl by Shauna Cross. Some might know it as Whip It, it was made into a movie of that name and they consequently changed the name of the book to fit.
It is a sweet little book that takes about a night to read and though the plot is not riveting it is nice and warm and fuzzy and I cannot help having a little tear in my eye near the ending.
All in all a good go-to book when all else fails, sort of like...more
It turned out to be Derby Girl by Shauna Cross. Some might know it as Whip It, it was made into a movie of that name and they consequently changed the name of the book to fit.
It is a sweet little book that takes about a night to read and though the plot is not riveting it is nice and warm and fuzzy and I cannot help having a little tear in my eye near the ending.
All in all a good go-to book when all else fails, sort of like...more
Sixteen-year-old Bliss hates her smalltown life, especially the part where her mom is trying to live out her dreams of becoming a beauty queen through Bliss. Then one day she sees a poster for a roller derby match and the next thing she knows she's trying out for the team.[return][return]I really enjoyed this book. It's written in that first-person chatty style that is all the rage with YA and chicklit these days, but despite being a bit exposition-heavy in the early chapters (having read more i...more
Wow. Blew my mind away. I knew that this book was going to be good. But...wow. Seriously I tried to escape reality as often as possible just to get a chance to read this book. I loved this book. Shauna Cross truly delivered in this book all about roller derby. Bliss a girl who believes her true parents are probably some indie rocking actors is stuck in the small Texas town known as Bodeen. And frankly she knows she and Bodeen are not meant to be. On a trip with her mother the pageant obsessed qu...more
High school misfit Bliss Cavendar, aka Babe Ruthless, dyes her hair blue, loves indie music and wants OUT of the tiny Texas town that makes her feel like she must have been misplaced by her real family who are surely living in some cool urban setting like San Fransisco or NY City. Instead, Bliss has a beauty pageant obsessed mother who hopes Bliss will be able to win the big name crowns she never did. Bliss is going through the motions to please her mom, mostly keeping her sarcastic thoughts to...more
Whip It, by Shauna Cross, is about a gil named Bliss who lives in a small town in Texas. She constantly goes by her mothers dreams for her, and not her own. Since her mother was in a pagent, her mother enrolled her into a pagnet and Bliss agreed just to make her mom happy. But finally Bliss is done with it. She joins a roller derby team and becomes a rebel. She meets a guy, her life is great, but all of that soon turns around. Bliss's internal conflict is dealing with trying to please her mother...more
May 27, 2010
Christian Montalvo
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
ir-reading-books
Whip it or also known as Derby Girl is just a wonderful story that made me laugh. Whip it is a story about a girl named Bliss. Her mother's dream is to have Bliss win the Texas, Bluebonnet pageant just like she did when she was young; But Bliss’s dream is to be a roller derby girl. Bliss main goal is to get out of her little town in Texas and move to Austin to beat the Holy Rollers in Derby competition. The main conflict in this book is that Bliss and her mom want two different things and they d...more
Apr 16, 2010
Kris
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
girls & women
Shelves:
own-it
Picked this up for fun because Randy and I love the movie. I hadn't realized it was a book until I watched the credits all the way thru. so I decided I'd get the book and see if it was as good as the movie – and it is! It's a great story of a misfit girl (Bliss aka “Babe Ruthless” Cavendish”, in a small Texas town. She's totally indie/punk/emo and her mom is totally into beauty pageants – she wants bliss to be the local beauty queen, just as she was. Bliss just wants out of town.
By accident, Bl...more
By accident, Bl...more
Full disclosure: I'm a derby girl who saw Whip It twice before it was officially released. I'm also a devout fan of Drew Barrymore, and Ellen Page. This book had to really hustle to come anywhere near a movie that I really enjoyed and believed.
Since I just recently saw the movie, of course, I'm left comparing the book. In a rare occurrence, I actually preferred the movie. Unfortunately, this means my review is a lot more about how well the movie managed things that the book didn't.
Ultimately, th...more
Since I just recently saw the movie, of course, I'm left comparing the book. In a rare occurrence, I actually preferred the movie. Unfortunately, this means my review is a lot more about how well the movie managed things that the book didn't.
Ultimately, th...more
Oct 11, 2009
El
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommended to El by:
Drew Barrymore
Shelves:
21st-centurylit,
i-hate-ya
Yeah, that's right. I read a young adult book. Let's all gasp in unison and move on. I should also state immediately that I would not have found out about this book if Drew Barrymore hadn't just made the movie Whip It which is based on this book. While I also don't normally read books just because of the movie that's come out, I actually want to see the movie and can't bring myself to do it seriously without at least trying to read the book. And I love roller derby.
Bliss Cavendar is a 16-year-ol...more
Bliss Cavendar is a 16-year-ol...more
Bliss Cavendar is dying in the cultural desert that is Bodeen, Tx. Bliss does not look like your average Bodeen resident, with her blue hair and 80's bands t-shirts. Her life is changed when she discovers a roller derby league in nearby Austin, and decides to try out. After a few falls on her old barbie skates, Bliss is reborn as Babe Ruthless, jammer for the Hurl Scouts. She hides her participation from her parents, and her age from the other girls on the team (must be 18 to try out). While jug...more
3 likes
·
like
· see review
This book is about a girl named Bliss Cavendar, a blue haired, indie-rock-loving girl. Bliss lives in the tiny town of Bodeen, Texas, which is nothing but a tourist attraction for losers to Bliss. And one thing Bliss has to keep up with is Brooke, her pageant addicted mother who always puts Bliss into pageant after pageant. And when Bliss gets sick and tiered of putting up with it she decides to go behind her parents back and go to where she belongs, to skate in a roller derby where she goes by...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
*sigh*
I hope that Shauna Cross is a better screenwriter than an author. The book reads from the perspective of a sixteen year old girl, but the writing style is as developed as that of a nine year old girl. Somehow this book managed to make feminist rebel girl culture look lame and immature. "How could my best friend shoplift without me? That was OUR thing!"
The characters: square-peg blue-haired rebel girl, stern overbearing mother who wants daughter to be a "lady", apathetic dad, picture perfec...more
I hope that Shauna Cross is a better screenwriter than an author. The book reads from the perspective of a sixteen year old girl, but the writing style is as developed as that of a nine year old girl. Somehow this book managed to make feminist rebel girl culture look lame and immature. "How could my best friend shoplift without me? That was OUR thing!"
The characters: square-peg blue-haired rebel girl, stern overbearing mother who wants daughter to be a "lady", apathetic dad, picture perfec...more
6 likes
·
like
· see review
So here's my issue-- I enjoyed reading this book, but I don't really think it was really very good or anything. How do you rate a book like that? Bliss is a 16-year old self-proclaimed misfit growing up in small town Bodeen, Texas. She is looking for her niche in the world, but is forced by her evil mother to take part in beauty pageants, which is a total indie-rock no-no. Then Bliss finds roller derby, and her life is never the same. The story was fun, and the language was very realistic, but t...more
“Derby Girl” is about a girl who falls in love with roller derby. Bliss Cavendar is stuck in the small town of Bodeen, Texas. She feels out of place in her family and school. She calls herself an indie-rock-loving misfit and does not fit in with her mother’s conservative beauty pageant approach to life. On a shopping trip to Austin, she picks up a flier that changes her life. It is for a roller derby league. She convinces her best friend Pash to go with her to the bout. There she is told the lea...more
Bliss Cavendar, seize ans, vit dans la petite ville de Bodeen dans le Texas. Le trou du c** du monde, selon elle. Lycée minable, camarades analphabètes, misère culturelle, ennui abyssal... bref Bliss traîne son spleen, avec sa meilleure amie Pash, en attendant des jours meilleurs.
Et un jour, à Austin, Bliss rencontre des filles canons sur des rollers. Elles font le show, elles assurent et Bliss y voit là son issue de secours. Elle se lance dans cette aventure avec une énergie folle, devient le...more
Et un jour, à Austin, Bliss rencontre des filles canons sur des rollers. Elles font le show, elles assurent et Bliss y voit là son issue de secours. Elle se lance dans cette aventure avec une énergie folle, devient le...more
I honestly have to say I was hoping for way more than this book was willing to grant me. I have seen the movie and enjoyed it which is half the reason I picked up the book in the first place. The other half was because I live roller derby, on both counts the book was almost unbearable. The character development was minimal at best, none of them seemed to grow at all and the main character was a spoiler brat who simply whined about every thing. Roller derby is sport mostly played by girls and run...more
Apr 05, 2012
Jessica-Robyn
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
fans of misfit driven YA
After picking up the ill fated Roll with It I felt the need for some more YA derby action. And of course, Derby Girl-Whip It was just sitting so precariously on the library shelf that I couldn't help myself.
This book manages to be a combination of a lot of things that I love dearly:
1. Roller Derby
2. Austin, Texas
3. Quippy Misfit Girls
4. YA Shenanigans
It also has however, a couple things I don't love so much:
1. Bad YA Parenting
2. Bitchy Popular Girl
3. Music Hipsters (and I don't even like the w...more
This book manages to be a combination of a lot of things that I love dearly:
1. Roller Derby
2. Austin, Texas
3. Quippy Misfit Girls
4. YA Shenanigans
It also has however, a couple things I don't love so much:
1. Bad YA Parenting
2. Bitchy Popular Girl
3. Music Hipsters (and I don't even like the w...more
The book opens up in the most mild manner way - Bliss Cavendar talking about how she assumes that she is really adopted - there is no way she is the daughter of pageant mom, Brooke, or the non-confrontational father, Earl. Born and being raised in Bodeen, Texas - and hour's drive from Austin, yet vastly left behind in the modern age - Bliss thinks of nothing but escape. Her best friend Pash, a straight-A honor student, also dreams of escape in different ways. Together they wreck havoc - as much...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I saw the movie version of Whip It, and am a big fan of flat-track roller derby, so I had to give this book a go! I ended up being surprised at how different it was from the movie...not in big ways, but in subtler ways. The main plot is the same: indie-rock loving girl saddled with a beauty-patient-loving mom and a boring small town discovers roller derby, has a whirl-wind romance with a bassist, and comes out of it all strong and badass. However, while the movie has a lot of action, and is part...more
Just so we're clear, Whip It is the exact same book as Derby Girl. I guess after the book was made into a movie, they decided to republish the book with the movie title to sell more copies?
Whip It was a fast, light, entertaining read that I zipped right through. While it was definitely a brain candy book, it had plenty of romance, action, and music references to hold my attention. The writing style was extremely easy to read, the main character was loveable, and the plot was realistic.
The only p...more
Whip It was a fast, light, entertaining read that I zipped right through. While it was definitely a brain candy book, it had plenty of romance, action, and music references to hold my attention. The writing style was extremely easy to read, the main character was loveable, and the plot was realistic.
The only p...more
Sep 19, 2009
Sophie
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anyone who wants to see the Movie
Shelves:
young-adult
Good Story, Poorly written.
The narrator was far too obsessed with being cool by avoiding all things mainstream. Although I understand her desire to skip shopping at malls in favor of thrift stores and to swoon over boys in bands, that's pretty much all she's about. Her family is exaggerated. Her mom is a stereotype pageant mom, who has a completely out-of-character reversal at the end. Her father is a passive - your mom runs the show around here - kind of guy. Her best friend is a fellow hipster with great intelligence an...more
Sixteen-year-old Bliss Cavendar feels like a total outcast in her tiny small town of Bodeen, Texas. Her peers seem like mindless automatons, she works at the heinous Oink Joint, and even her parents are too obsessed with beauty pageants and football to take the time to understand her. If it weren't for her best friend Pash, life would be unbearable. But then she discovers a roller derby league in Austin, and before she knows it, she's a roller derby girl. Her life changes, and she's forced hide...more
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Shauna Cross is a roller derby athlete, author of Derby Girl, and screenwriter of Whip It!. Her roller derby pseudonym is "Maggie Mayhem," skating for the Los Angeles Derby Dolls.
The book, and film, are fictionalized accounts of an experience skating with the Texas Rollergirls.
She is presently working on a film adaptation of Live Nude Girls Unite.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/shauna...
More about Shauna Cross...
The book, and film, are fictionalized accounts of an experience skating with the Texas Rollergirls.
She is presently working on a film adaptation of Live Nude Girls Unite.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/shauna...
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“And I know I'm sarcastic and defensive and I make a joke out of everything and am highly resistant to anything that reeks of sentimental corniness, but I'm giving you my heart anyway because being with you feels like home, and I know you won't break it.”
—
11 people liked it
“What's coming out of the stereo is like a genre unto itself, a charming, fucked-up fairy tale that immediately breaks my heart in all the best ways.
I stretch out on the floor with my ear parked next to the speaker, in a trance. I place the album cover over my face to block out any interruption as "I'll Be Your Mirror" seduces me. I immediately add the song to my mental list of top ten songs ever.
And as I'm bobbing my head with dreamy abandon, I hear a voice. "Nice choice, DJ," it says.
I slowly slide the album cover down past my eyes and look up. My eyes spy his shoes first--paint-splattered brogues. My heart stops when I look at his face. Pale skin, messy black hair, emerald eyes...Senor Smolder! He's eighteen, maybe nineteen. And no, my imagination didn't lie, he is just as devastating now as he was the first time I saw him. Only even more, because he just complimented my taste in music.”
—
6 people liked it
More quotes…
I stretch out on the floor with my ear parked next to the speaker, in a trance. I place the album cover over my face to block out any interruption as "I'll Be Your Mirror" seduces me. I immediately add the song to my mental list of top ten songs ever.
And as I'm bobbing my head with dreamy abandon, I hear a voice. "Nice choice, DJ," it says.
I slowly slide the album cover down past my eyes and look up. My eyes spy his shoes first--paint-splattered brogues. My heart stops when I look at his face. Pale skin, messy black hair, emerald eyes...Senor Smolder! He's eighteen, maybe nineteen. And no, my imagination didn't lie, he is just as devastating now as he was the first time I saw him. Only even more, because he just complimented my taste in music.”
Feb 27, 2010 07:06pm