Book 6- How To Be Popular

2038-01-19T03:14:07Z

How to Be Popular by Meg Cabot

I bought this book today and finished it today, so, obviously, it was a quick and easy read. I'm a huge Meg Cabot fan, my favorite book of hers being Avalon High. This one also ranks pretty high.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Lots of spoilers

Steph Landry has been unpopular since sixth grade when she spilled a drink on uber-popular Lauren Moffat's Dolce and Gabbana skirt. Lauren's made her existence one of constant teasing, and even thought up the phrase "Don't pull a Steph Landry" that the whole town has picked up. During the summer before her junior year, she finds a book in her soon-to-be step-grandma's attic called How to Be Popular. She decides to implement the strategies the book gives on gaining social recognition when she goes back to school to stop the teasing, get back at Lauren, and get noticed by Lauren's popular boyfriend Mark, but her two best friends, Jason and Becca, are confused by her sudden change.

Good Stuff

Steph's a really likeable character just because she's so normal.

Whenever you open a Meg Cabot book, hilarity ensues, and this one does not disappoint.

Steph isn't as stupid and high-strung as some of Ms. Cabot's other characters, and, as a result, was much less annoying.

The characters did a little more wrong than in Cabot's earlier writing. Like cussing and thinking about sex every now and then. Avalon High is pretty grown up, too.

I really like how Steph made the right decision before her grandpa's new observatory messed up. I hate when authors make their characters mess up in such a big way, because that just shows a lack of maturity (which is ok because maybe they are not ready to be mature yet) and common sense (which is not ok because I don't want to read about a stupid person).

I also really like how Steph never outright ditched or dissed her friends. That's a tired storyline.

Bad Stuff

Meg Cabot's heroines always feel the need to clarify themselves with the phrase, "I mean," which can get really tedious after a while.

It was a little disconcerting to read about a boy who wasn't born in 1987, and couldn't have lived through a certain football game. I'd been alive for a year in '87. Also, these kids are only like sixteen years old, so they could have been born in 1990. 1990!

I don't really like first person viewpoint because I want to see inside all the character's (or at least the love interest's) heads. I know that would lessen the suspense, but, come on, are we really not supposed to know that Jason likes Steph? Really. But, the first person-hating is just a personal preference, not something that Ms. Cabot does badly.

Despite the fact that there is some cussing in here, it gets a little annoying reading stuff like "'That's just a load of B.S.,' Jason said, except he didn't say the initials" or "'Don't spit where you eat,' he said, except he didn't say spit." (those are paraphrases, not direct quotes). Now that I've gotten older and read non-young adult stuff, I wish they would just go ahead and say the real words. But the publishers prolly won't let them, so whatever.

So, recommend highly. Not as good as Avalon High, but not as shrieky and hysterical as Princess Diaries

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Book 6- How To Be Popular