Dress Coded

The entirety of the Fisher Middle School eighth grade hates Olivia Bonaventura. Olivia broke the school’s strict dress code, and now the eighth-grade camping trip is canceled. But Molly Frost witnessed the incident and knows the real story. So Molly starts a podcast to give Olivia and other girls a voice as well as to call out the unfair practice of getting dress coded. Other students begin coming forward who were also unfairly targeted by the dress code, including high schoolers, and Molly soon becomes the school’s rabble-rouser. This costs her some friends and puts a target on her back. What’s more, Molly is already dealing with some major problems at home. Her older brother, Danny, is addicted to vaping and has been selling vaping pods to eighth graders. Her parents are fed up and keep threatening to move away.

Carrie Firestone’s latest novel, Dress Coded, gives readers a modern tool—the podcast—for challenging old issues: the objectification of female bodies and gendered policies that unfairly target girls for growing up. The story is timely and empowering, with a diverse cast of characters, including a student with disabilities. Firestone also digs into the complexities of female friendships—the good and bad. This is a book with a powerful and positive message for young women.