The Boy Trap

by Nancy Matson, Michael Chesworth (Illustrations)

Emma's known all along that girls are better than boys, and the fifth-grade science fair gives her the opportunity to prove it. With the help of her best friend, Louise, she begins work on the most talked-about science project since Louise's brother created a solar eclipse in the school gym. But Emma soon discovers that knowing the truth is one thing and proving it scientifically is something else. Her project divides the school, girls against boys, and Emma and Louise find themselves at the center of the controversy. Worst of all, the facts don't appear to be as clear-cut as she thought. Emma has to decide whether to forge an alliance with the boys to ease the tension at school. Then she realizes that despite her talk about the superiority of girls, she's been underestimating her best friend's intelligence. Only by overcoming her own narrow-mindedness can Emma win the science fair and make it through fifth grade.
Reminiscent of Jane Austen's Emma, The Boy Trap recounts the humorous adventures of a witty, charming, and likable girl who is forced to confront the folly of her own arrogance.

Genres: Middle Grade, Chapter Books, Childrens

128 pages, Hardcover

First published September 22, 1999

Reviews

[Jennifer Sommer]

When the science fair is announced to the fifth grade at Kennedy Elementary, Emma decides to prove scientifically that girls are superior to boys. Her aunt Marion advises her on scientific method and being objective, but after conducting experiments on things like politeness and good grades she is having a hard time proving her hypothesis. To make matters worse two boys team up to prove that boys are superior to girls, and Kennedy Elementary becomes a divided population of kids not speaking to each other and generally leads to a gender war. Working with her best friend Louise and joining efforts with the boys, the four still have inconclusive results and agree that the gender of the Young Inventors Contest winner will determine the superior gender for their project. An unusual number of participants enter the Young Inventors Contest attempting to win and get their gender deemed the superior. Humorous story with real-life situations including some fifth-grade crushes. This would be a good story to read prior to a science fair since research methods and ethics and consequences of inaccurate reporting are discussed. How the science fair project dilemma will be resolved remains a mystery until the last pages. Accompanying illustrations are pretty comical and add to the story. Middle school readers will enjoy this one.

[Rosemary]

The boy trap is a good book. 7 out of 25 now

[Belle Meade School]

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