The Female of the Species

By Mindy McGinnis

Book Overview

Edgar Award-winning author Mindy McGinnis delivers a riveting contemporary YA novel that examines rape culture through alternating perspectives. A stunning, unforgettable page-turner.

Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn't feel bad about it.

Three years ago, when her older sister, Anna, was murdered and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best--the language of violence.

While her own crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can't be trusted among other people. Not with Jack, the star athlete who wants to really know her but still feels guilty over the role he played the night Anna's body was discovered. And not with Peekay, the preacher's kid with a defiant streak who befriends Alex while they volunteer at an animal shelter. Not anyone.

As their senior year unfolds, Alex's darker nature breaks out, setting these three teens on a collision course that will change their lives forever.

2017 Tayshas List Selection * YALSA Top 10 Best YA Fiction of 2017 * School Libray Journal Best of 2016 * Junior Library Guild Selection * The Globe and Mail Best Books of 2016 * Bustle's Best Young Adult Books of 2016 * Mashable's 8 Best YA Books of 2016 * Seventeen's 10 Best YA Books of 2016 * CCBC Choices 2017 * 2018-2019 Louisiana Readers' Choice Award Nominee * 2019 & 2020 Choose to Read Ohio Booklist

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0062320890
• ISBN13: 9780062320896
• Release Date: September 2016
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.6" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

Dark, but Important Message

This may be a hard read for many, as it involves rape/molestation and other acts of cruelty, but I think it's an important read because it does an excellent job of portraying some aspects of rape culture and sociopathy. The ending broke my heart, but I'm kind of glad I had an emotional response to it because that means the characters were so well written that you were rooting for them. Overall it has dark themes, but themes that are all too present in society and should not be ignored.