In this com­pelling young adult nov­el, 15- year-old Andrea Kaplan is a friend­less lon­er and social out­cast who is mer­ci­less­ly teased at school for her large breasts and ignored at home by her emo­tion­al­ly dis­tant par­ents. When Andi becomes sex­u­al­ly involved with Frank, an abu­sive and con­trol­ling man more than twice her age, she con­vinces her­self that she’s in love. Andi’s encoun­ters with Frank are graph­ic and dis­turb­ing, but Leslea New­man light­ens the dark tone of the nov­el with humor, wit, and typ­i­cal teenage angst. Read­ers are relieved when Andi is final­ly able to walk away from the affair, hope­ful that she will not fall vic­tim again. While Andi’s Jew­ish iden­ti­ty is men­tioned sev­er­al times through­out the book, it does not impact the character’s deci­sions or the plot. How­ev­er, Jail­bait is an impor­tant book for Jew­ish libraries — it is a pow­er­ful reminder to teens, as well as par­ents and teach­ers, that Jew­ish girls are not immune to becom­ing vic­tims of illic­it and abu­sive rela­tion­ships. New­man also uncov­ers Andi’s inner thoughts and feel­ings, help­ing the read­er under­stand how and why teenage girls become trapped in these types of rela­tion­ships. Ages 15 – 17.