I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter

Carter, Ally.  I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You.

Hyperion Paperbacks, 2006.

ISBN 978-1423100041

Reader’s Annotation

Cammie Morgan, daughter of the headmistress of the top-secret Gallagher Academy for Girls, is already trained in the art of espionage, but what will she do now that she has fallen for a boy who has no clue of her secret identity?

Plot Summary

At the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Girls, students learn the fine arts--such as how to speak in 14 languages, or how to kill a man in seven different ways with her bare hands, and these elite girls even get extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class.  Cammie Morgan is the daughter of the top secret boarding school’s head mistress and a spy father who recently died while on a mission.  Now Cammie faces one of her most challenging (and funny) lessons--what to do when she falls for a Josh, a local boy who has no idea about Cammie’s secret life.  The ensuing maneuvers are filled with laugh-out-loud humor, cool gadgets, and interesting characters.

Critical Evaluation

In a time when too many books for teens have female protagonists who are needy and vulnerable, Ally Carter creates female characters who are strong, smart and highly capable.  Her characters don’t push others away though.  In fact, like Cammie Morgan for example, they are leaders.  In I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You, Carter brings 21^st century feeling into her stories with the high-tech gadgetry and technology.  On the more sensitive side, Cammie, who has earned the nickname “the Chameleon”, finds that the local boy, Josh, seems to really see her, the real Cammie, like no one else ever has.  Cammie is unnerved by this, because outside of the Gallagher Academy, no one can know her identity—even while she longs to come clean and tell Josh everything.  This book is part of the Gallagher Girls series.

Information about the Author

Ally Carter doesn’t like to release too much information about herself because as she admits, “Well, I’m paranoid that way!”  However, she was born and raised in Oklahoma, graduated from both Oklahoma State University and Cornell University.  Her first book, Cheating at Solitaire was published in 2005, and was then closely followed by her first book for young adults in 2006, I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You. For more information, go to Ally Carter.

Genre

Adventure

Romance

Chick Lit
Humor

Curriculum Tie-ins

None

Booktalk Ideas

1. The girls in Cammie's friend group are pretty archetypical: There's gutsy Bex, bad girl Macey, and intellectual Liz... Can you think of other books or movies that have these same types?
2. Rumors have been rampant that this book will be made into a movie.  Although that's not true at this time, who would you cast as Cammie and Josh?

Reading level/Interest age

Young Adult  (ages 12+)

Challenge Issues/Challenge Response Ideas

None likely, but always be prepared with:

• The library's selection policy
• Knowledge of other similar works in the in the collection
• ALA's Intellectual Freedom resources 

Why I included this work

This and Carter’s other novel, The Heist Society made me appreciate her characterizations, especially of the female protagonists.

Great Quote from the Book

"Number of empty Ben & Jerry's containers:3-two mint chocolate cookie, one plain vanilla (Who buys plain vanilla ice cream from Ben & Jerry's, anyway? Is there a greater waste?)"