Module 3: 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. New York: Hyperion for Children, 2006. Print. ISBN: 9781423100034

Review
“I guess a lot of teenage girls feel invisible sometimes, like they just disappear.” This sentence alone describes how so many middle school girls feel. I’d Tell You I Love You, but Then I Would Have to Kill You follows Cammie Morgan through the first semester of her sophomore year at Gallagher Academy. Although the nearby town thinks Gallagher Academy is a prep school for rich, dysfunctional girls, it turns out to be spy-in-training school for girls. Both of Cammie’s parents were spies, and Cammie feels that she is just expected to follow in those footsteps. What Cammie does not expect to have open is to fall for a town boy who CANNOT know her secret. With the help of her friends, Bex, Liz, and Macey, Cammie will try and have a “normal” relationship with Josh while having to lie to everyone around her.

In I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I Would Have to Kill You, Ally Carter has created a setting that is very isolated which suits the book. This place is set close enough to a town to be known by them, but far enough to safe guard their secrets. Cammie Morgan seems like such an ordinary girl, but as the book progresses you realize there is much more to her. Although at times Ally Carter seems to be trying too hard to write from a teen’s point of view, she seems to hit her stride by the end of the book. As Cammie and her friends spy on Josh, go through his garbage, and just go through their daily lives, you realize that no matter the setting, teenage girls are all the same. School Library Journal’s review states that, “It will likely attract readers who enjoy lighthearted, frothy tales and squeaky-clean romances.”

Activities
Throughout this book are some very interesting inventions. Students could invent a couple of new ones that maybe Cammie would need. They would draw up the invention, describe it’s functions, and then write about how Cammie would use it in the story.

The students could also do a four person “T-Chart” to compare Cammie, Bex, Liz, and Macey. They are four very unique characters with many great qualities.


Doyle, Miranda. "I'd Tell You I Love You, but Then I Would Have to Kill You." School Library Journal (2006). Title Wave. Follett Library Resources, Inc., 1 July 2006. Web. 24 Oct. 2010. .