Crane, Caprice. Confessions of a Hater.

Crane, Caprice.  Confessions of a Hater.  Macmillan/Feiwel & Friends      2013  358p      $17.99  ISBN 978-1-250-00846-6  ms/hs Realistic fiction  VG-BN

Hailey Harper ranks high on invisibility.  But she has a plan to change that: a journal belonging to her popular older sister full of information Hailey will use to reinvent herself at her new high school.  Caprice Crane addresses high school issues from bullying to divorce, to pregnancy and drug addiction, showing that everyone in attendance is dealing with problems of some sort.  Her humorous approach permits the characters to teach readers without much “preaching.”  Atypically (and early on) Hailey decides that popularity isn’t for her and creates her own clique, the “Invisibles.” Crane’s on-target observations about high school will leave teens thinking and talking!        

Summary: Hailey thinks she’s found the inside track to popularity and she is putting her plan to the test in her new school.

High school-Fiction, Popularity-Fiction                     --Hilary Welliver

Allen, Elise Populazzi

Allen, Elise      Populazzi   

 Harcourt Brace/Houghton Mifflin     2011  394p  16.99 978-0-547-48153-1 

 ms/hs VG-BN Realistic Fiction     

   Cara, who has always been on the bottom rung of the social ladder, plots how to rise to the top and become a “Populazzi,” in her new school.     Cara is moving to a new school.  It is a chance for new beginnings, an opportunity to overcome “invisibility” and become one of the popular crowd.  With her lifelong friend Claudia, the girls plot the ladder to social success. 

   Cara jumps from boyfriend to boyfriend, moving up the social strata and changing her looks, personality, and behavior along the way.  She begins with Archer, a boy from the Theater crowd, ditching him for Nate, a bad boy who puts Cara one step away from the “Populazzis.”  How far will Cara go to be someone of the cool crowd?

In addition to dealing with her social-climbing activities, a new environment, and a more challenging curriculum, Cara’s home life also provides challenges.  Her mother is in a totally dependent relationship with a cruel, emotionally abusive man.  Cara’s mom is not there for her and doesn’t have her back when events come to a head.

Fast-paced and entertaining, the characters, cliques, and experiences will seem authentic to teen readers who will recognize themselves in this entertaining and humorous page-turner.
1. Interpersonal relations - Fiction. 

2. Popularity -- Fiction. 

3. High schools -- Fiction.       Hilary Welliver