Pop Princess [Hardcover]

Rachel Cohn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 24, 2004

"THIS IS NOT A SCHOOL MUSICAL, THIS IS MILLIONS OF PEOPLE SEEING YOU, RECOGNIZING YOU, CRITICIZING YOU. THIS IS IT. PUBLIC PERSON -- THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY. ARE YOU READY?"

When fifteen-year-old Wonder Blake is plucked from her job at the Dairy Queen and given the chance to become a teen idol, it seems like a dream come true -- even if it wasn't her dream, but her older sister Lucky's. Lucky was on her way to becoming a pop star when she died, and Wonder and her family are still trying to recover from their loss. Offered a recording contract, Wonder jumps at the chance to escape from a dead-end town, her fractured family, and worst of all, high school. Suddenly she has it all: a hot new look, a chart-busting hit single, a tour opening up for superstar Kayla. But stardom isn't all glamour -- it's also lots of work. And maybe what Wonder really wants is as simple as a guy who likes her for herself.

With spark and humor Rachel Cohn captures the struggles and glories of an ordinary teenage girl's climb to celebrity. As Wonder rises through the pop-princess star-making machine, she also learns the price -- and that maybe being an ordinary teenage girl isn't so bad after all.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Pop Princess, Rachel Cohn's third novel, will no doubt please some American Idol fans, but it is bound to leave fans of her cutting edge debut, Gingerbread, cold.

Wonder Blake is a fifteen year old frustrated chanteuse, stuck dreaming her pop star dreams in a small sleepy Cape Cod town while mopping the floor of the local Dairy Queen. Enter Gerald Tiggs, or "Tig", as he is known in the biz, the former manager of Wonder’s older sister Lucky, who died tragically in a car accident two years earlier. Tig overhears Wonder wailing away on her Walkman at the DQ, and offers her a record deal on the spot. And the rest, as they say, is pure pop fantasy. Wonder vaults to insta-fame on the strength of her single, the appropriately titled "Bubble Gum Pop." In typical Britney/Christina fashion, she is tempted by drugs and alcohol, dissed by a famous diva, and caught between the boy next door and a mysterious stranger she meets on tour. All the while, Wonder longs for a return to the quiet life she used to have and the wise counsel of her beloved deceased sister.

Sound familiar? It should: Wonder’s story could have been lifted wholesale from just about any episode of VH1’s Behind the Music. What happened to the sly, sarcastic, hipper-than-thou-voice Rachel Cohn penned in her breakout hit Gingerbread? With Pop Princess, Cohn is in danger of losing her individual voice as much as her bubblegum snapping protagonist. Rather than breathing new life into a tired genre, Cohn’s conventional, lighter-than-air read will surprise no teen, and provide about as much escapism as a night in front of the tube with Randy, Paula and Simon.--Jennifer Hubert

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up--Light, frothy, and delicious, this novel documents 15-year-old Wonder Blake's rise to fame and fortune. When the story begins, she's a not-very-popular high school student slaving away at Dairy Queen. She is "discovered" by an old friend of the family--the same man who managed her older sister Lucky's music career until Lucky was killed in a tragic accident. Wonder releases a single and catapults to fame, but predictably discovers that the life of a pop princess is not a bed of roses. She must still deal with family problems, romantic dilemmas, and the shallow world of the music industry, where she is viewed as a product to package and sell. She is tempted by parties, drugs, and drinking but quickly learns that they don't mix with her new career. Her love life is more difficult to navigate. Wonder falls for a college student and loses her virginity to him, but the boy next door proves attractive as well. Nothing about the novel's conclusion will surprise readers, but the twists and turns on the way are so much fun that no one will care. It's pure fantasy fulfillment, a pleasurable read with enough substance to make readers care about the main character and cheer her on. With a gorgeous cover and major teen girl appeal, this is sure to be a winner.--Miranda Doyle, San Francisco Public Library
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing; 1St Edition edition (February 24, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689852053
• ISBN-13: 978-0689852053
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #753,100 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The great wish of my adolescence was to be diagnosed with scoliosis. Then I would be like Deenie. I LOVED the book "Deenie" by Judy Blume. I wanted to look like Deenie; I wanted her disease; I even wanted to live in Deenie's town, Elizabeth, New Jersey, a short hop from my dream destination, New York City. Although now that I live in Manhattan as an adult (with a fairly normal spine, I'm told), Elizabeth, New Jersey is more known to me as the place with the long lines at IKEA instead of as the hometown of Deenie. Like Deenie, my priorities eventually shifted.
I never did get that scoliosis diagnosis, but from my favorite childhood authors such as Judy Blume, E.L. Konigsburg and Ellen Conford, I did get inspiration for another goal: to write. I can't remember a time when I wasn't trying to create stories. When I started seriously writing fiction, I didn't set out to write specifically for young adults, but as my writing matured, it became clear that when I got stuck writing in teen voices, it was a good place to be stuck. The author question I get asked most often now is how I am able to write from the perspective of a teenager, as if I were in that character's head. The honest answer is, I don't know. I try not to think about it too much, for fear of ruining it. But I do feel like I can readily channel my own teenage self and tap into those feelings, and that's something I try to convey through the written word.
When teen readers write to me now telling me how much they relate to characters I've created -- Cyd Charisse in "Gingerbread" and "Shrimp," Annabel and Lucy in "The Steps" and "Two Steps Forward," or Wonder in "Pop Princess" -- I think, I relate, too: I wanted to be Deenie!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Inside Story On How Pop Star's Live and Feel, February 29, 2004

By 

Erika Sorocco (Southern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pop Princess (Hardcover)

Fifteen-year-old Wonder Blake had no intention of ever becoming a pop star. But that night when she was singing with her headphones to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," a new customer showed up at Dairy Queen. Suddenly Wonder has the chance of becoming a pop star, and even though it may not be exactly what her dream, the way it was her dead sister, Lucky's dream, anything that will help her out of Devonport, Massachusetts will work for her. Wonder jumps at the chance of a recording contract, and is suddenly swept away from her boring life back home. No more dead-end job, crazy family, boring high school, none of it. Now Wonder has it all, a recording contract, a spot opening up for pop superstar Kayla on her new tour, and a chart-climbing hit single. But Wonder soon finds out that being a superstar isn't all glitz and glamour. It's also a lot of work. Especially when you fall in love with a simple guy who likes you for you, and not for your title of Pop Princess.

With so many teen pop superstars out there these days, Rachel Cohn has created a novel that will attract girls young and old to the excitement of it all. What they will get is the story of a young girl, with tons of talent, who is struggling to rise to the status of celebrity. Readers will experience Wonder's ups and downs as she mingles with other celebrities, goes to parties until the early morning, buys whatever she wants, and sees what being a superstar really costs. POP PRINCESS also portrays a fantastic message that will get through to teens who are fans of such pop acts such as Britney Spears, and Jessica Simpson, and who wish that they were in their place: being an ordinary teenager isn't that bad. A must-have new book by a fantastic YA author.

Erika Sorocco

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover, April 6, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Pop Princess (Hardcover)

Ok, lemme tell you that when I picked this book up, I had NEVER read a Rachel Cohn book. I picked it up in the first place because....Well, the cover was colorful, really. I saw the cover(and title)and was a bit taken aback. What a WIERD cover! But, I took it, nonetheless, just because I couldn't find any other book. Well, lemme tell you, when I started this book, I didn't like it too much, but then got to know the main character, Wonder, a bit better, and loved it! This book is the story of Wonder Blake who one day while singing in a dairy queen is seen by a talent agent named Tig who wants her to sing professionally. Well, Wonder's now deseaced sister, Lucky, had wanted this job of singing pro badly, so Wonder went along with it to follow in her sis' footsteps. Little does she know that almost overnight, she is a pop princess. She becomes and instant hit with her one song and music video. But the road to stardom ain't too glamorous. She stumbles upon first love, rejection, heartbreak, and everything else a normal teen goes through. After reading this book, I HAD to read Rachel's other books(The Steps and Gingerbread)and they were AMAZING! I'm now a huge fan of Rachel's, and SO RELIEVED that I didn't make the stupid mistake of putting this book down after i first picked it up in the library. So, the point is, DO NOT judge this book by its cover, because this is the most amazing book I've ever read! Rachel is one of the few authors who can write about a teen girl, and not make her out to be some idiotic, annoying case, but a TRUE teen girl.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Awesome ! Three Cheers for Rachel Cohn!, June 28, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Pop Princess (Hardcover)

I first saw 'Pop Princess' in a magazine giveaway. I loved the cover of the book and it intrigued my interest. When I went to the bookstore to purchase the book, I read the book cover and it sounded pretty good. I had tried to read 'Gingerbread' previously and I didnt like it..but I gave Cohn another try.
'Pop Princess' tells the story of Wonder Blake, a teen who moved after the death of her sister, Lucky, who was on her way to becoming a pop princess in a girl group called Trinity. Things haven't been great for Wonder; she is outcasted at school and gets teased for being on the TV Show 'Beantown-Kidz(aka B-Kidz)' when she was younger. One day will working her shift at Dairy Queen, a music manager, Tig, overhears Wonder singing along to the old jukebox. Wonder's mom is over-excited over the fact that Tig wants to record a demo tape to send to companies, while Wonder's dad wishes she would keep up her grades. Months pass by, and finally Wonder hears from Tig. The label 'Pop Life', who also signed Kayla, one of Trinity's members, wants to sign Wonder. Eventually, Wonder gets a number single 'Bubble Gum Pop', tours with Kayla, and falls for a guy. After this, Wonder struggles to be what the record company wants her to be...or be herself.
The ending to this book was shocking, and yet, I was pleased. This book is different because, if you ask me, it doesnt end 'happily ever after' type thing where the guy she falls for feels the same, and everything else works out.
This book is different simply because...its real.