Customer Reviews

How to Be Popular

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Stephanie "Steph" Landry has strived to be popular ever since the cherry Super Big Gulp catastrophe that happened when she was a lowly sixth grader. The incident that rendered her untouchable by the In Crowd, and anyone vying for a spot therein. The incident that launched the catchphrase "Way To Pull A Steph Landry," which has since been picked up by everyone in Bloomfield, Indiana. But now, as Steph begins her Junior year, she knows that it is time to finally make a name for herself. One that doesn't make her want to hide her face under a paper bag for the next two years of high school. A name that makes her stand tall, and remember her high school years with fondness, not hatred. However, the only way to accomplish a feat as humongous as this is to make herself...popular. Sure, it seems like a tough task, but Steph is prepared. Mainly because she has discovered a tiny treasure - a book from years ago titled "How To Be Popular." Yes, it's a little dated, but the secrets it contains are enough to give Steph the boost in popularity she needs, and to snag the guy of her dreams - quarterback Mark Finley. However, within a short time, Steph realizes that being popular isn't all it's cracked up to be. Sitting with the young and beautiful is fun, but there are demands being made. Demands that could send Steph up the river without a paddle. Not to mention the fact that her two best friends, Jason and Becca, have begun moving on - away from her, and towards each other. Now Steph must make the ultimate decision, run back to her old friends, or risk humiliation and trouble as the new, improved, more popular Steph Landry.

I have said it before, and I will say it again - Meg Cabot is incapable of writing anything less than perfection. HOW TO BE POPULAR is no exception. Steph Landry is a character very different from Cabot's Mia Thermopolis (of PRINCESS DIARIES fame). Sure, they share the same insecurities, and both strive to be in with the In Crowd, but there is one very big difference between the two - Mia is big-city chic, while Steph is small-town sweetie. Steph is a humble, down-to-earth character, whose love of books, chocolate, and driving up and down Main Street on Saturday nights is relatable for anyone who has ever lived in "small town" territory. Her intentions are good, and while she does manage to get into quite a few scrapes, she always comes out smiling...eventually. The contrasting personalities between her and her very well described pals - Becca and Jason - play off one another, and really bring a unique spin to the whole "Three Musketeers"-esque vibe; while her interactions with the popular group paint a very clear picture of manipulation, and the struggle to be accepted. HOW TO BE POPULAR is a diamond in the rough, laced with witty commentary, and a lovable character who will win a place in everyone's heart.

Erika Sorocco
Freelance Reviewer

Meg Cabot's How to Be Popular is the story of Steph Landry. Steph is about to start 11th grade. She has been something of an outcast in her small town ever since the legendary red Super Big Gulp incident five years earlier, in which she spilled a big gulp onto the white skirt of popular, and unforgiving, Lauren Moffat. This incident led to the phrase "way to pull a Steph Landry", now ubiquitous in Bloomfield, Indiana as a way of accusing someone of doing something really, really stupid.

Fortunately, Steph has two loyal, if quirky, friends. Becca is a somewhat ditsy former farm-girl who enjoys scrap-booking, and has a history of falling asleep in class. Jason is Steph's long-time best friend and neighbor, who she has recently, and disturbingly, discovered to be attractive. But Steph's unrequited heart belongs to school quarterback and dreamboat Mark Finley. Mark, sadly, is dating Lauren, and apparently doesn't even know that Steph exists.

As the school year begins, Steph has a bold plan for becoming popular. She's discovered an old book on the subject, which she takes as her bible. She changes her hair and makeup, buys new clothes, and even (gasp!) participates in school activities. And she discovers that it is possible to edge her way into the "A Crowd". But will it last? Will her efforts capture Mark's attention? Will she alienate her existing friends? Will she be able to overcome Lauren's enmity?

All of this is set against a backdrop of Steph's family chaos, her four (soon-to-be-five) siblings, her mother's feud with her beloved grandfather, her grandfather's upcoming wedding, and the fear caused by declining revenues at the family bookstore. You have to love a book in which the family owns a bookstore, don't you?

I did find this book predictable, for the most part, but I enjoyed it anyway. I listened to it on MP3, and found myself sneaking listens even when I didn't really have time for it. Steph is a realistically flawed, likable character, as are her friends and family members. Even when you know that Steph is making a mistake, and setting herself up for trouble, you still like her, and can relate to where she's coming from.

I think that the real power of How to Be Popular, as with most of Cabot's other books, is that it's pure fantasy fulfillment. I would guess that most kids who aren't in the in crowd fantasize at least occasionally that if they could just fix their hair, and get better clothes, and get a break somehow, they could crack the code of popularity. I know that I did.

Here's what I think is interesting about this book - it actually comes down on both sides of the popularity question. Steph's popularity plan requires a certain amount of hypocrisy, shallow behavior, and letting down of her friends and family. There are some negative quotations late in the book from famous people about the ephemeral nature of popularity. However, some of the advice from Steph's popularity manual is actually quite useful and lasting. For instance, don't make catty remarks about other people. Be dependable so that your friends can rely on you. Have your own interests, and don't be a afraid to let people see that you enjoy them.

Ultimately, How to Be Popular is about being true to yourself, and what you stand to gain from that in terms of friendship and popularity. No, the details of the story aren't particularly plausible. Would a whole town really continue to torment a girl for a single, minor mistake that happened five years earlier? No. Can one really achieve popularity instantly, by following the right instructions? No. But it's fun anyway. And Steph speaks to that unappreciated teen who lives inside many of us. I think that it will make an excellent teen movie, and will be a sure hit with current and former teenage girls.

This book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on September 21st, 2006.

HOW TO BE POPULAR is thoroughly charming, wise and funny. Steph Landry is the laughingstock of her small Indiana hometown. Years ago, she accidentally spilled a Big Red Super Big Gulp on a Dolce & Gabbana white skirt worn by Lauren, the class princess. Ever since then, Lauren has gone out of her way to make Steph suffer, going so far as to coin "Way to pull a Steph Landry" as a catchphrase for any stupid action - and the phrase has spread far and fast.

But at the start of her junior year in high school, Steph has a plan to throw off her outcast status and join the "It" crowd. Thanks to a decades-old book entitled "How to be Popular," Steph has cracked the secrets of social success. Soon, she finds herself sitting with the cool kids at lunch and even attracting the attention of Mark Finley, football quarterback (and Lauren's boyfriend). However, her new status has a price. Her best friends, Becca and Jason, appear to be moving on without her - and maybe even moving towards each other. This discomfits Steph, who has noticed that Jason has filled out in a hunk-like manner lately. And her new friends are not above making demands of Steph that are potentially costly, in more ways than one. Soon, Steph must make a decision: remain popular, or pull the biggest "Steph Landry" ever.

While HOW TO BE POPULAR is billed as YA fare, it's sure to appeal to readers of all ages. Cabot skillfully creates a relatable and likeable protagonist in Steph, who is a fully three-dimensional character with heroic - and not so heroic - tendencies. Steph's relationships, especially with her family, are realistic yet feel fresh and original. I love her bonding with her grandfather over interest rates and other financial matters. Her best friends Jason and Becca are also sharply drawn, and while the reader guesses long before Steph the state of her real feelings towards her friends, the journey to those realizations is fun, humorous, and heartfelt.

HOW TO BE POPULAR, in the sections supposedly taken from Steph's how-to manual, also dispenses some commonsense advice about popularity and social skills that I wish I had seen written down when I was sixteen - and the advice is still highly applicable to adults. Overall, the book sparkles with Cabot's trademark wit, and readers who have taken Mia Thermopolis to their hearts will equally love Steph Landry.

Highly recommended.

Meg Cabot is one of the great things about teen literature. No, she's not deeply literary and she doesn't break a lot of new ground in her sweetly chick-lit books, but her characters are real girls dealing with real problems (yes, even princesses have problems). Steph Landry is an every-girl, caught between the desire to be true to herself and and the urge to not be miserable for her last two years of high school. When she finds an (old) book on popularity, she decides to remake herself, using the beginning of her junior year as a kick-off point. But there is where the similarity to an after-school special ends (though I will say that this book would make an excellent teen movie). Cabot deftly sidesteps most cliches and fleshes out all her characters, from the boy-next-door best friend, to the nerdy, scrapbooking farm girl, to the busty (real or not?) school airhead. Sure Steph learns lessons, but she also teaches a few things to those around her and finds out a lot about herself and her classmates in the process. This, Cabot's latest teen offering, is a strong book and pairs nicely with her book Teen Idol, which is, in my opinion, her best book for teens.

Based on a Big Gulp spillage incident five years earlier, it's common for people in Stephanie's small Indiana town to advise others not to "pull a Steph Landry." Well, Stephanie is tired of it --- the jokes, the bullying from popular girl Lauren Moffat and her clique, the being ignored. This school year is going to be different.

Best friends Becca and Jason can't understand why Stephanie is suddenly dressing like teens in Seventeen, volunteering to run a school talent auction, and sitting with the popular kids at lunch. They don't know that she found an old book on "How to Be Popular" and is secretly following its advice. She's smiling, pretending not to notice when people make mean comments and volunteering to show her school spirit.

Becca starts joining her for lunch at beautiful Darlene's table but only after lots of persuasion, though Jason keeps making fun of her and seems genuinely angry. This doesn't stop her from spying into his room with binoculars, as Jason recently got really hot.

Another hottie, Mark Finley, begins noticing Stephanie for the first time as she gets to work on the big auction. Soon he's talking to her and defending her. Everything she wanted seems to be falling into place.

However, Stephanie is still getting hate notes and email, her family's bookstore is being run out of business by a local discount store, Jason starts avoiding her, and the new popular crowd wants to hold their big rager party in her grandfather's new Observatory. He built it for his new bride, and the wedding ceremony is this weekend; it's like a wedding present.

Stephanie doesn't want to go back to being made fun of as "Steph Landry," but maybe the advice in that book wasn't so great after all. Although popular, she is no longer herself. She might be eating at a popular lunch table, but she feels like she's losing her two best friends. When Mark Finley starts showing her a lot of attention, even while he has a girlfriend, Steph wonders if being "popular" is really worth it.

HOW TO BE POPULAR has the humor and great characters for which Princess Diaries author Meg Cabot is known. She's conveying to readers the truth behind the cliche "The grass is always greener on the other side." Even though it isn't good to worry about fitting in with any "popular" clique or set at any school, it is certain that this book will be very Popular for all the right reasons.

--- Reviewed by Amy Alessio

I have read MANY Meg Cabot books. Not just the teen lit ones like Princess Diaries, but most of her books. Mostly they're fantastic- humorous, smart and have good story lines. This one, however, was not.
Now,I understand that by reading this book I wasn't investing my time in the best literature around, but I at least wanted something entertaining.
Part of the intrigue in Cabot's other books was that her characters are totally relatable to me (me being a 15 year old girl), and that's what she tried to do in this book, but she was pushing it.
Stephanie Landry lives in a small time and has spent the last five years attempting to live down spilling a slurpee on one of the most popular girls in school. The incident (which happened FIVE YEARS AGO) ruined her social life. Nobody wanted to be her friend, and everytime somebody did something stupid, it was pegged a "Steph Landry".
The book, however, focuses on her life now, which doesn't involve much. Sadly, the most interesting thing she has to talk about is the fight between her and mother and grandfather over land and her parents book store, where Steph leads a boring job.
As most teen novels go, Steph also focuses a lot of her time on her crush, who happens to be the most popular girl's boyfriend. Steph desperatly wants to date him, but can't because, as the title suggests, she's not popular, so she must become popular. She learns how to do this when she finds an old book titled, of course, How to be Popular. Besides being a stupid thing to write a book on, this book within a book seems completly outdated with its ways of reaching a popular status, but somehow Steph manages to become of somewhat normal status.
Along the road to "happiness" Steph learns many predictable things, like, that being popular isn't that great, her crush isn't that great, and she secretly loves her best friend Jason.
The book ends predictably, with Steph happily dating Jason, her mother and Grandfather talking again, and the popular kids put in their place.
This book is written well and flows smoothly, but is lacking substance. I found it really hard to relate to Steph, because I think it would be impossible to be that unpopular for something so small that happened so long ago. The book is also lacking Cabot's usual wit that makes her writting so special, and is replaced with cookie cutter teen lit cheesy humor. I would only suggest this book if you want something without much substance or probability.

I love this book! How to be Popular is funny, romantic, and intriguing. I had read so many Meg Cabot novels; I knew this would be a great one. I was right! This book is about a girl named Steph Landry. She is entering her junior year in high school, and she wants to be popular. Ever since an incident in sixth grade, she is low on the social status. It was all because she spilled a Super Big Gulp on Lauren Moffat's white skirt. Lauren is the most popular girl in school...Big Mistake! Now no one will let Steph forget this, because she is always hearing the well-known phrase, `Don't pull a Steph!' Or, `Don't be such a Steph Landry!' So now, she is going to erase that from everyone's minds and become Popular. This is all with the help of a book she got from her best friend's grandma, who will actually be marrying her Grandfather on Saturday. Sheph quickly climbs to the top, with her blown straight hair. All the while her best friend, Jason, doesn't understand why she would want to be popular and why she is trying so hard. Meg Cabot makes this so interesting and fun. So what happens when Steph tells her new popular `friends' that they can have their destructive `end of summer Rager party' in her Grandfather's new observatory? They would ruin all of the new technology he got and everything! That wouldn't be a very good wedding present, but when she realizes that, it is party time! What will Steph do? Let it go or stop it? Anyways, this book is amazing! I can not pick any other word for it. I love all of Meg's books, so if you do too, you will love How to be Popular.

I just finished reading "How to be Popular". It came out in the US the week of July 24. Anyways, it was, to me, one of the greatest Meg Cabot novels since the start of "The Princess Diaries". I totally loved it. The !!!*SPOILER*!!! was semi-similar to "Teen Idol", but it was still great. The characters were fabulous. If you're looking for a great, especially for summer, read, pick this up!

How To Be Popular is another good book by Meg Cabot. The characters are easy-to-relate to and you can get involved in their stories. This is a classic example of a good beach read. Although it's a bit predictable; that hasn't stopped me from reading it more than once! I would recommend reading this book. As for parents- this book really does have a good moral for your children.

12 y/o had look at a copy a friend had and wanted her own to read - she enjoys it - thanks!