Jodi
Lynn Anderson
ISBN: 978-1416996460
Simon
& Schuster, 2010
Plot
Summary: Poor
Cammy Hall. She’s starting her junior year of high school and is pretty much
used to being considered a total loser. Instead of trying to attain popularity,
she’s decided she’s going to aim lower—try to remain under the radar and coast
on through. Unfortunately, this plan fails when she accidentally flashes the
cool kids at the school dance and everyone sees her granny panties. She has no
idea how she’ll survive this utter humiliation until she receives an anonymous
text message one night with instructions on how to get over it and rise to the
top of the popularity food chain. First, she is given precise instructions for
the demise of the current “it” girl. When she succeeds in her mission, she is
given more and more instructions to follow to help her rise even further.
However, when she and her best friend, foreign exchange student Gerdi, have a
big fight over Cammy blindly following the whims of an anonymous texter, Gerdi
wants to stop helping her especially since the tasks went from random acts of
kindness to things more vengeful and mean. Will Cammy go through with the plan
or will she stand up for herself and save her friendship with Gerdi even if
that means falling back into obscurity?
Critical
Evaluation:
This is a funny book. Anderson
actually wrote it with fans’ help. She posted the first chapter online and then
had people choose the direction the story would take. Cammy is a loveable girl
who gets mixed up in she doesn’t really understand. She really wants to forget
the embarrassment at the dance and become popular so she blindly follows her
texter’s instructions which bring out the demise of the popular girl. She feels
bad because she really didn’t know what would happen. In fact, most of the
initial things the texter has her do actually are nice things. The plot keeps
readers guessing as to who the mysterious benefactor is until the end. The
friendship with Gerdi—who talks in broken English and misunderstands things
(presented in a loving and realistic and not culturally cruel or stereotyped
way)—is at the heart of the book and it is truly heartbreaking when Gerdi dumps
Cammy when she won’t give up her quest for ultimate popularity. Some elements
of the book are a little far-fetched (a secret labyrinth of hallways inside the
school walls, the fact that Cammy changes one students’ grades and no one seems
to notice, etc.) however, one can easily overlook these minor things and enjoy
the story as a good tale of a girl’s attempted rise up the popularity totem
pole.
Reader's
Annotation:
Cammie follows the anonymous advice of a texter who tells her what to do to
reach the top of the popularity chain.
Author
Information:
Jodi Lynn Anderson is the New York Times
bestselling author of Peaches, The Secrets of Peaches, Love and Peaches,
the popular May Bird trilogy, and Tiger
Lily. She lives in Washington,
D.C. with her husband and an
endless parade of stray pets (Harper Collins, 2012).
Genre: Realistic, Humor
Curriculum
Ties: N/A
Booktalking
Ideas: Read
about Cammie’s embarrassment in front of the whole school. Read about Cammie
and how she brought down the reigning popular girl.
Reading
Level/Interest Age:
13+
Challenge
Issues: N/A
Challenge
Defense: N/A
Reason
for Inclusion:
This is a hilarious book that was actually made with the help of the author’s
fans.
References:
No comments:
Post a Comment