Populazzi

by Elise Allen

Overview

Cara has never been one of those girls: confident, self-possessed, and always ready with the perfect thing to say. A girl at the very top of the popularity tower. One of the Populazzi.

Now, junior year could change everything. Cara’s moving to a new school, and her best friend urges her to seize the moment—with the help of the Ladder. Its rungs are relationships, and if Cara transforms into the perfect girlfriend for guys ever-higher on the tower, she’ll reach the ultimate goal: Supreme Populazzi.

The Ladder seems like a lighthearted social experiment, a straight climb up, but it quickly becomes gnarled and twisted. And when everything goes wrong, only the most audacious act Cara can think of has a chance of setting things even a little bit right.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547721965
Publisher:	HMH Books
Publication date:	08/07/2012
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	12.90(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Elise Allen has written for children's television and film and co-authored Hilary Duff's novel for teens, Elixir.
 

Editorial Reviews

"Fresh, funny, and sometimes wrenching, Populazzi nails what it's like to try to find yourself while navigating the crazy world of high school. I loved it." —Hilary Duff

"Populazzi is a fresh, fun peek behind the popularity curtain. Elise Allen is a welcome new voice in YA fiction." —Eileen Cook, Author of The Education of Hailey Kendrick

"Populazzi is a smart, fun, and energetic ride through the twisting hallways of high school popularity." —Deb Caletti, author of The Secret Life of Prince Charming

"Hilarious, physiologically chewy, downright Machiavellian, and heartfelt in all the most satisfying ways." —Matthew Quick, author of Sorta Like a Rock Star

"In her first solo novel, Allen (coauthor of Elixir with Hilary Duff) offers a smart mix of hilarity and tragedy in this Macbeth—meets—Mean Girls tale."—Publishers Weekly

"The story unflinchingly depicts the dark and dangerous side of high-school popularity, making it a captivating read."—Kirkus Reviews

"Satisfying chick-lit...This brilliantly titled novel delivers exactly the right escapist fluff while remaining clean and innocent enough to appear on both junior high and high school shelves...and it should." —School Library Journal

From the Publisher

Even at age 16, Cara Leonard can't live down her "pants-wetter" reputation, one she earned in kindergarten. When her family moves to a new town at the onset of her junior year, she finally has an opportunity to "rewrite" her life story if she follows the scheme invented by her best friend (and fellow former pants-wetter) Claudia. The idea is to climb up to the top of the "Popularity Tower" at her new school by dating boys a rung higher. Methodically capturing and then breaking the hearts of unsuspecting victims, Cara nearly reaches her goal of becoming the "Supreme Populazzi." In her first solo novel, Allen (coauthor of Elixir with Hilary Duff) offers a smart mix of hilarity and tragedy in this Macbeth–meets–Mean Girls tale, though readers may lose sympathy for narrowly focused Cara, who seems to lose all reason and compassion as her greed for power takes over. Hearts are more likely to go out to a less prominent but nobler figure, "socially out of it" Robert Schwarner, the only one able to save Cara from herself. Ages 14–up. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 7 Up—Starting a new school for her junior year, suburban Philadelphia teenager Cara embarks on a project to date her way "up the Ladder" with the ultimate goal of becoming one of the "populazzi." This predictable and satisfying chick-lit novel is easy to read and easier to describe: just imagine that Jeanette Rallison and E. Lockhart cowrote Mark Waters's 2004 film Mean Girls after they'd both been reading Laura Ruby's Good Girls (HarperCollins, 2006). The elements: a funny and smart virginal narrator; a perfect boy (here he's a cute, clever Indian-Filipino-American actor); a large suburban high school culture; witty, unintended double-entendre tongue-trips ("you'll be begging to dip your fries in my shake"); contextualized references to current pop culture and clothing; relatively supportive parents; some teen issues (drug/alcohol use, sex, bulimia) modeled primarily by supporting characters; several token gay characters; and, of course, the ultimate realization to be true to oneself. Several elements are rather unrealistic (e.g., the cyberbullying that doesn't phase our plucky heroine, a teacher who makes penis jokes in class sans consequences, some glaringly fast changes in Cara's behavior to fit the narrative). It's almost twice as long as most books of its genre, but this brilliantly titled novel delivers exactly the right escapist fluff while remaining clean and innocent enough to appear on both junior high and high school shelves... and it should.—Rhona Campbell, formerly at Washington, DC Public Library

School Library Journal

One teen invents a system to achieve popularity.

At first, 16-year-old Cara is not thrilled with her family's decision to relocate midway through high school, especially since it means leaving her best and pretty much exclusive friend, Claudia, behind. However, when Claudia points out that this is Cara's chance to totally reinvent herself, she begins to warm to the idea. Determined to reach the top of the high-school food chain and shake off her less-than-exciting lifelong reputation, Cara invents The Ladder with Claudia. They believe this is Cara's chance to claim her rightful place among her new school's popular crowd—or, as the friends have dubbed them, the Populazzi. The Ladder posits that every rung is a boyfriend who will help Cara date her way to popularity. However, Cara's ascent is not without peril, as she quickly discovers that climbing The Ladder means drastically changing her personality, stepping on some toes, breaking hearts and risking everything, including her dream of attending Northwestern. Although it is somewhat predictable, the story unflinchingly depicts the dark and dangerous side of high-school popularity, making it a captivating read. However, this attention to details makes it all the more noticeable when certain story elements are unexpectedly dropped or situations seem unrealistically twisted to conveniently fit The Ladder.

Teens willing to forgive the flaws will find this a fascinating exploration.(Fiction. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews

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