Here we are, four books later, dealing with popularity once again. I really think that Meg Cabot ought to slow down a bit. It seems like she's got a book coming out every other month. I have, historically, read most of these books, and have noticed a downturn in quality of late. They are usually ultimately satisfying in their predictable rom com ways, but the first half of the last several books have been very difficult to get into. They've been kinda whiny, and not terribly original (and the indignity I felt after reading Ready or Not and Princess In Training which were basically the same book with different endings? Yeah, let's not talk about that...). Oh, how I miss The Mediator...
Steph just knows that everything would be better if she were popular. When she finds a manual entitled How to be Popular, she thinks her moment has arrived. She will follow it's instructions to a T, and wonderful things will happen. She'll start a new life of popularity for the new school year and leave her old life of notoriety far behind. All her problems will be solved...
Telling kids to be themselves and not whomever everyone else wants them to be, or whomever society thinks they should be is a good message. I'm not denying it - it probably even merits repeating every now and again. So, I'm not real sure what my problem with this novel is. Other than there was not a single event that I didn't anticipate. There were no surprises, nothing that hasn't already happened a thousand times in a thousand other books. Am I jaded as an adult reader? Probably. Do kids appreciate the predictable? Yep. Does that make up for a lazy story? Not in my eyes. Sorry, Meg. I do still read your blog, though. You're a pretty funny lady. I'm just sick of your books. However, I am still going to read with the Avalon High Graphic Novels. I'm a glutton for punishment, I guess.
And guess what! In another nine books (yes, horribly behind in posting) we're going to talk about how popularity isn't all it's cracked up to be again! Wow!
Cybils tally: 20/80
No comments:
Post a Comment