Six Angry Girls by Adrienne Kisner

Description from Goodreads:

A story of mock trial, feminism, and the inherent power found in a pair of knitting needles.

Raina Petree is crushing her senior year, until her boyfriend dumps her, the drama club (basically) dumps her, the college of her dreams slips away, and her arch-nemesis triumphs.

Things aren’t much better for Millie Goodwin. Her father treats her like a servant, and the all-boy Mock Trial team votes her out, even after she spent the last three years helping to build its success.

But then, an advice columnist unexpectedly helps Raina find new purpose in a pair of knitting needles and a politically active local yarn store. This leads to an unlikely meeting in the girls’ bathroom, where Raina inspires Millie to start a rival team. The two join together and recruit four other angry girls to not only take on Mock Trial, but to smash the patriarchy in the process.

---

My Review:

I ironically bought this book a few days before the incident with the documents about Roe v Wade possibly being overturned. This is not the first time I feel that the universe sends me a book right before an event happens that has or will potentially change my life. Don't get me wrong, this is a book of fiction, but it shows the struggle of marking change when you don't have the power to do so yourself, or so you think.

I am a crocheter. Not a very good one, but that didn't stop me from loving how this book showed that crafts could be a part of activism. It makes me want to try making some anatomical body parts ;). Also, now I absolutely need some enamel pins or a shirt that says "rows before bros" and "knit that clit!" I literally put sticky notes on the pages because I just loved those sayings from the book so much.

The story rotates between the points of view of Raina and Millie. I enjoyed both of their characters a lot. I relate to Raina's struggle of figuring out her future as well as what she really likes. I understand throwing myself into one identity and not allowing myself the freedom to explore more. Millie also hit close to home as her dad reminded me of mine a little bit. The only thing I wish was that we got points of view from all of the girls. Yes, this would have made this book significantly longer, but I feel the lack of the other girls' point of view makes the value of the book a bit one-toned. Take Izzy for example. She's trans but it's only mentioned maybe twice throughout the entire book. While this shouldn't be her whole identity, it feels like it was kind of thrown in there. We also don't know really anything about Nikita besides that she is a cheerleader forced to be on the mock trial team until the book is almost over. Veronica seems to be pretty cool as well. It would have been nice to hear their voices, their motivations, and their struggles. Just a lot of missed potential to me.

On the activism side, this book tries to tackle a lot of topics like speaking to representatives, changing the system from the inside, protesting, and the argument of whether some things in a candidate are worth forgiving to achieve end results. While all noble causes, again with the book being as short as it was, it felt a little all over the place and left the ending message to be desired. Raina and Millie each had an ending message for each of their struggles but the book lacked a clear message on what their efforts could be accomplished.

Do not get me wrong. I loved this book. It was a good start. It just could have been so much more. I recommend this book because, despite its faults, it's still inspiring in a way. I have recently requested books from the library about the politicals we're struggling with as female-identifying people and LGBTQIA+. I need and want to do more. Maybe this could inspire you to do the same, or at the very least be an entertaining read.