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How To Be Popular (Hardcover)
by Meg Cabot
| Category:
Popularity, Health Mind & Body, Ages 9-12, Children's book |
| Market price: ¥ 198.00
MSL price:
¥ 168.00
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Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
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 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
How To Be Popular is a diamond in the rough, laced with witty commentary, and a lovable character who will win a place in everyone's heart. |
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Author: Meg Cabot
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pub. in: July, 2006
ISBN: 0060880120
Pages: 304 pages
Measurements: 8.4 x 6.7 x 1.0 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BC00002
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- MSL Picks -
How to be Popular is thoroughly charming, wise and funny. Steph Landry is the laughingstock of her small Indiana hometown. Years ago, she accidentally spilled a Big Red Super Big Gulp on a Dolce & Gabbana white skirt worn by Lauren, the class princess. Ever since then, Lauren has gone out of her way to make Steph suffer, going so far as to coin "Way to pull a Steph Landry" as a catchphrase for any stupid action - and the phrase has spread far and fast.
But at the start of her junior year in high school, Steph has a plan to throw off her outcast status and join the "It" crowd. Thanks to a decades-old book entitled "How to be Popular," Steph has cracked the secrets of social success. Soon, she finds herself sitting with the cool kids at lunch and even attracting the attention of Mark Finley, football quarterback (and Lauren's boyfriend). However, her new status has a price. Her best friends, Becca and Jason, appear to be moving on without her - and maybe even moving towards each other. This discomfits Steph, who has noticed that Jason has filled out in a hunk-like manner lately. And her new friends are not above making demands of Steph that are potentially costly, in more ways than one. Soon, Steph must make a decision: remain popular, or pull the biggest "Steph Landry" ever.
Target readers:
Kids aged up 5.
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Meg Cabot was born on February 1, 1967, during the Chinese astrological year of the Fire Horse, a notoriously unlucky sign. Fortunately she grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, where few people were aware of the stigma of being a fire horse-at least until Meg became a teenager, when she flunked freshman Algebra twice, then decided to cut her own bangs. After six years as an undergrad at Indiana University (a college to which she was only accepted because her father taught there), Meg moved to New York City (in the middle of a sanitation worker strike) to pursue a career as an illustrator, at which she failed miserably, forcing her to turn to her favorite hobby - writing novels - for emotional succor. She worked various jobs to pay the rent, including a decade-long stint as the assistant manager of a 700 bed freshmen dormitory at NYU, a position she still occasionally misses.
She is now the author of over forty books for both adults and teens, many of which have been bestsellers, most notably The Princess Diaries series, which is currently being published in over 37 countries, has sold over five million copies worldwide, and was made into two hit movies by Disney. In addition, Meg wrote the Mediator and 1-800-Where-R-You series (on which the Lifetime channel series, Missing, was based), two All-American Girl books, Teen Idol, Avalon High, How to Be Popular, many historical romance novels under a pen name she still hopes her grandma never finds out about, a series of novels written entirely in email format (Boy Next Door, Boy Meets Girl, and Every Boy's Got One), a mystery series (Size 12 Is Not Fat/ Size 14 Is Not Fat Either), and a chick-lit series called Queen of Babble, about a young woman who talks too much, a personality trait with which Meg is completely unfamiliar.
Meg now divides her time between New York City and Key West with a primary cat (one-eyed Henrietta),various back-up cats, and her husband, who doesn't know he married a fire horse. Please don't tell him.
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Do you want to be popular?
Everyone wants to be popular - or at least, Stephanie Landry does. Steph's been the least popular girl in her class since a certain cherry Super Big Gulp catastrophe five years earlier.
Does being popular matter?
It matters very much - to Steph. That's why this year, she has a plan to get in with the It Crowd in no time flat. She's got a secret weapon: an old book called - what else? - ow to Be Popular.
What does it take to be popular?
All Steph has to do is follow the instructions in The Book, and soon she'll be partying with the It Crowd (including school quarterback Mark Finley) instead of sitting on The Hill Saturday nights, stargazing with her nerdy best pal Becca, and even nerdier Jason (now kind of hot, but still), whose passion for astronomy Steph once shared.
Who needs red dwarves when you're invited to the hottest parties in town?
But don't forget the most important thing about popularity!
It's easy to become popular. What isn't so easy? Staying that way.
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| View all 5 comments |
J. S. Wildsmith, USA
<2006-12-19 00:00>
Meg Cabot is one of the great things about teen literature. No, she's not deeply literary and she doesn't break a lot of new ground in her sweetly chick-lit books, but her characters are real girls dealing with real problems (yes, even princesses have problems). Steph Landry is an every-girl, caught between the desire to be true to herself and and the urge to not be miserable for her last two years of high school. When she finds an (old) book on popularity, she decides to remake herself, using the beginning of her junior year as a kick-off point. But there is where the similarity to an after-school special ends (though I will say that this book would make an excellent teen movie). Cabot deftly sidesteps most clichés and fleshes out all her characters, from the boy-next-door best friend, to the nerdy, scrap booking farm girl, to the busty (real or not?) school airhead. Sure Steph learns lessons, but she also teaches a few things to those around her and finds out a lot about herself and her classmates in the process. This, Cabot's latest teen offering, is a strong book and pairs nicely with her book Teen Idol, which is, in my opinion, her best book for teens. |
Erika Sorocco, Southern California, USA
<2006-12-19 00:00>
Stephanie "Steph" Landry has strived to be popular ever since the cherry Super Big Gulp catastrophe that happened when she was a lowly sixth grader. The incident that rendered her untouchable by the In Crowd, and anyone vying for a spot therein. The incident that launched the catchphrase "Way To Pull A Steph Landry," which has since been picked up by everyone in Bloomfield, Indiana. But now, as Steph begins her Junior year, she knows that it is time to finally make a name for herself. One that doesn't make her want to hide her face under a paper bag for the next two years of high school. A name that makes her stand tall, and remember her high school years with fondness, not hatred. However, the only way to accomplish a feat as humongous as this is to make herself...popular. Sure, it seems like a tough task, but Steph is prepared. Mainly because she has discovered a tiny treasure - a book from years ago titled How To Be Popular. Yes, it's a little dated, but the secrets it contains are enough to give Steph the boost in popularity she needs, and to snag the guy of her dreams - quarterback Mark Finley. However, within a short time, Steph realizes that being popular isn't all it's cracked up to be. Sitting with the young and beautiful is fun, but there are demands being made. Demands that could send Steph up the river without a paddle. Not to mention the fact that her two best friends, Jason and Becca, have begun moving on - away from her, and towards each other. Now Steph must make the ultimate decision, run back to her old friends, or risk humiliation and trouble as the new, improved, more popular Steph Landry.
I have said it before, and I will say it again - Meg Cabot is incapable of writing anything less than perfection. How To Be Popular is no exception. Steph Landry is a character very different from Cabot's Mia Thermopolis (of PRINCESS DIARIES fame). Sure, they share the same insecurities, and both strive to be in with the In Crowd, but there is one very big difference between the two - Mia is big-city chic, while Steph is small-town sweetie. Steph is a humble, down-to-earth character, whose love of books, chocolate, and driving up and down Main Street on Saturday nights is relatable for anyone who has ever lived in "small town" territory. Her intentions are good, and while she does manage to get into quite a few scrapes, she always comes out smiling...eventually. The contrasting personalities between her and her very well described pals - Becca and Jason - play off one another, and really bring a unique spin to the whole "Three Musketeers"-esque vibe; while her interactions with the popular group paint a very clear picture of manipulation, and the struggle to be accepted.
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Jennifer Wardrip, Central Illinois
<2006-12-19 00:00>
If you've ever heard the phrase "Way to pull a Steph Landry!," you wouldn't be alone. Pretty much everyone who attends Bloomville High in the heart of Greene County, Indiana, knows who Steph Landry is. Or, they at least know better than to ever, ever, ever do something that would have someone uttering the aforementioned phrase. Even kids under the age of five know what it means to "pull a Steph Landry." In that they know it means instant social doom.
So what did this girl do, you ask? Shoot someone? Rob a store? Dump the Homecoming Queen into a lake, lock the quarterback in a dungeon, lob a hand grenade into the general store? No, what Steph Landy did was much, much worse. She accidentally spilled a Big Red Super Big Gulp on Lauren Moffat's white D&G skirt. And even though they had been kind of friends up until that incident in sixth grade, and even though her father tried to remove the stain from Lauren's skirt, and even though her mother ended up buying her a new one, and even though Steph herself apologized for the incident like ten zillion times, Lauren Moffat has been making Steph pay for her mistake ever since.
They're all juniors in high school now-Steph and her best friends Jason and Becca, Lauren and her posse of popular girls and guys, most noticeably her football quarterback boyfriend, Mark Finley. Nearly five years after that accidental dousing in the middle school cafeteria and Steph is still living down the horror of being a social outcast.
That's all about to change, though. At least if she has anything to say about it. Now that Jason's grandmother is marrying her own widowed grandfather, they've been spending a lot of time at Jason's house. It's during one of those times that Steph finds the book; the one that will shoot her to the top of the popularity totem pole, the one that will exile the social pariah Steph once and for all, and turn her into mega-popular, wonderful, everyone loves her Steph.
Kind of. Maybe. If she plays her cards right. Or she just might end up getting what she wants (popularity), and losing everything she's ever held dear (most noticeably, Jason).
With HOW TO BE POPULAR, Meg Cabot has taken the typical high school teen angst and mixed it up with an all-too-believable situation to create a wonderful, fast-paced read. I'd recommend this book to all fans of Ms. Cabot, all fans of contemporary stories, all fans of young adult literature, period. This is another winner from the queen of teen fiction. Trust me. Pick up a copy of HOW TO BE POPULAR, and you won't be disappointed. |
Jennifer Robinson , San Jose, CA
<2006-12-19 00:00>
Meg Cabot's How to Be Popular is the story of Steph Landry. Steph is about to start 11th grade. She has been something of an outcast in her small town ever since the legendary red Super Big Gulp incident five years earlier, in which she spilled a big gulp onto the white skirt of popular, and unforgiving, Lauren Moffat. This incident led to the phrase "way to pull a Steph Landry", now ubiquitous in Bloomfield, Indiana as a way of accusing someone of doing something really, really stupid.
Fortunately, Steph has two loyal, if quirky, friends. Becca is a somewhat ditsy former farm-girl who enjoys scrap-booking, and has a history of falling asleep in class. Jason is Steph's long-time best friend and neighbor, who she has recently, and disturbingly, discovered to be attractive. But Steph's unrequited heart belongs to school quarterback and dreamboat Mark Finley. Mark, sadly, is dating Lauren, and apparently doesn't even know that Steph exists.
As the school year begins, Steph has a bold plan for becoming popular. She's discovered an old book on the subject, which she takes as her bible. She changes her hair and makeup, buys new clothes, and even (gasp!) participates in school activities. And she discovers that it is possible to edge her way into the "A Crowd". But will it last? Will her efforts capture Mark's attention? Will she alienate her existing friends? Will she be able to overcome Lauren's enmity?
All of this is set against a backdrop of Steph's family chaos, her four (soon-to-be-five) siblings, her mother's feud with her beloved grandfather, her grandfather's upcoming wedding, and the fear caused by declining revenues at the family bookstore. You have to love a book in which the family owns a bookstore, don't you?
I did find this book predictable, for the most part, but I enjoyed it anyway. I listened to it on MP3, and found myself sneaking listens even when I didn't really have time for it. Steph is a realistically flawed, likable character, as are her friends and family members. Even when you know that Steph is making a mistake, and setting herself up for trouble, you still like her, and can relate to where she's coming from.
I think that the real power of How to Be Popular, as with most of Cabot's other books, is that it's pure fantasy fulfillment. I would guess that most kids who aren't in the in crowd fantasize at least occasionally that if they could just fix their hair, and get better clothes, and get a break somehow, they could crack the code of popularity. I know that I did.
Here's what I think is interesting about this book - it actually comes down on both sides of the popularity question. Steph's popularity plan requires a certain amount of hypocrisy, shallow behavior, and letting down of her friends and family. There are some negative quotations late in the book from famous people about the ephemeral nature of popularity. However, some of the advice from Steph's popularity manual is actually quite useful and lasting. For instance, don't make catty remarks about other people. Be dependable so that your friends can rely on you. Have your own interests, and don't be a afraid to let people see that you enjoy them.
Ultimately, How to Be Popular is about being true to yourself, and what you stand to gain from that in terms of friendship and popularity. No, the details of the story aren't particularly plausible. Would a whole town really continue to torment a girl for a single, minor mistake that happened five years earlier? No. Can one really achieve popularity instantly, by following the right instructions? No. But it's fun anyway. And Steph speaks to that unappreciated teen who lives inside many of us. I think that it will make an excellent teen movie, and will be a sure hit with current and former teenage girls.
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