Rules of Attraction

Elkeles, S. (2010). Rules of attraction. United States: Walker Publishing Company, Inc. 326 pp.    

     ISBN: 978-0-8027-2290-4

     This book is not one that I would normal pick up from the library. I was interested in this book though because it is a Nomination for the Gateway Readers Award for 2012-13. The book also fits multicultural standards because of one of the main characters, Carlos Fuentes is a Latino and is apart of a gang. The story shows aspects of Carlos Latino life that differ from American cultural standards. The story is about Carlos trying to fit into society, not just to becoming popular, but to make himself better. He does not want to become better by following American cultural standards at first, but then he falls in love with this girl, Kiara, and then the story turns into Romeo and Juliet (without them dying at the end). 
     This story has a lot of "adult" topics on sex, drugs, and alcohol. There is also a good about of cussing by Carlos, and others in the book. I honestly would not recommend this book to anyone. I think that only older students (like high school) age should read it, and even then it is not the most well-written book. There are plenty of other multicultural romance books that would be a lot more substantial read for students. If a student was older, and they were looking for a book to read over the summer, it may be a good read for that. I would not suggest it as a teacher though. Lastly, I was surprised that it was nominated for an Award, which was the reasoning behind me picking out this book. I did not see anything substantial that I could take from the book that would help my students grow intellectually or emotionally.