Daisy Fay always strives to live up to her parents’ expectations, and Daisy’s parents expect the best. The best school, the best clothes, and the best life. But how do you decide who is the best boyfriend? Ever since she fell hard for Jamie Gatsby on her summer beach vacation, Daisy can’t decide what to do. She wants to be with Jamie, but he’s on the east coast, and she’s back in Chicago at school. Her long-term boyfriend, Tom, is popular and athletic and secures her place in the social hierarchy. Plus, if she dumps Tom, that won’t bring Jamie to her doorstep, it will just leave her alone. She’d rather be anything than alone.
Daisy resigns herself to following everyone’s expectations as usual, but when Jamie shows up at East Eggerton Academy, she realizes that he has expectations, too. She learns quickly that even romantic love can be controlling and betrayed hearts can be violent. In the end, the choice becomes not which guy she’ll choose to love, but what she’ll risk to choose herself.
Just Daisy is the perfect modern novel to pair with Gatsby because it’s not a recycled version of the story. Instead, it rethinks social issues from Gatsby in a modern, teenage world. Daisy’s story draws the reader in, requiring a deeper analytical perspective of the original. It’s an important story of female empowerment in a world still clinging to its masculine identity.
When you sign up to study Just Daisy in the classroom, you get all the Keeping Classics engagement goodness:
- Class set of the novel at the discounted price
- Standards-based lesson plans
- Teacher Tips videos
- Virtual teacher visit
