[.ca] How to Be Popular (ISBN 0060880120)

The epitome of a 'mindless reading' book:
Well basically that sums it up. The plot- well that's just it. There really wasn't anything, and the thing about this book is, it seemed like you were reading a whole lot of nothing and badda bang: here is the climax. Meg Cabot was never really one of my favorite authors, but I found this at a side-walk sale and decided to pick it up. Okay, the story was far-fetched. And there is WAY to many teen novels about a girl who wants to be popular. It is sorely lacking originality. So Steph finds this book, and it tells her the steps to valid popularity. But to keep the reader interested, Meg decides she's going to throw in some little sub-plots. Really, they were unnecessary... well they would be if she had worked the plot a little more. So that's about it. If I were you, I wouldn't pay more then it would cost if you found it at a side-walk sale.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too:
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. Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"