Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Mary Elizabeth, a.k.a. Lola, is accustomed to playing the starring role in the fascinating production that is her life. Her pottery-making single mom and bratty twin sisters are merely bit players in Lola's dramatic existence. But all this changes when she is forced to move from her beloved Manhattan to the boring suburbs of New Jersey. According to Lola, "living in the suburbs is like being dead, only with cable TV and pizza delivery." The worst part is that someone has already snagged the coveted Drama Queen of Suburbia title--and that someone is Carla Santini. Carla, who is "sophisticated, beautiful, and radiates confidence the way a towering inferno radiates heat," isn't about to let anyone take away her hard-earned crown. Undaunted, Lola tries out for and wins the lead in the school play, a role much desired by Carla. In retaliation, Carla makes the entire student body give Lola the silent treatment (and in addition scores tickets to a sold-out concert of Lola's favorite rock band). Can Lola crash the concert, crush Carla, and still have enough energy to wow everyone in the school production of Pygmalion? It's all in a day's work for Lola, Teenage Drama Queen.

With Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, Dyan Sheldon has written a classic good girl vs. bad girl story and a rib-tickling romp through the petty kingdom (or in this case, queen-dom) of small-town high school popularity politics. The wide-open ending will have young drama-queens-in-training eagerly searching the shelves for the next installment of Lola's adventures. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

When native New Yorker Mary Elizabeth Cep and her "astoundingly unimaginative" family move to New Jersey, Mary Elizabeth, who plans to be an actress some day, changes her name to Lola and zealously begins a campaign to enrich the "humdrum" lives of suburbanites. Unfortunately, Lola's new classmates are not quite ready to receive her guidance. They are too busy worshipping their reigning "drama queen," snooty Carla Santini, who is not about to share the spotlight on- or offstage with anyone, especially a loudmouthed city slicker named Lola. Thus begins the war between Carla and Lola to be No. 1. Carla is armed with sophistication, beauty, confidence and an entourage of admirers. Lola, on the other hand, has only a handful of weapons: an overactive imagination, the lead role in the school play and one loyal friend, Ella, "a free spirit waitingAno, beggingAto be released." Energetic, almost breathless first-person narrative relates Lola's bitter defeats and hard-earned triumphs in her rise to stardom at school. Pitting a deliciously despicable villainess against an irresistible heroine glittering with wit and charm, Sheldon (The Boy of My Dreams) pulls off a hilarious comedy of errors. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick (August 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0763618489
• ISBN-13: 978-0763618483
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,411,306 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, February 27, 2004

By A Customer

Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen Candlewick Press, 2002
272 pages,
ISBN: 0763618489

Lights, Camera, Action! Mary Elizabeth Cep (preferably Lola, after the star of Damn Yankees) is moving from glamorous New York City, to Dellwood, "Deadwood", New Jersey. She has to start totally over, which for her, mean proving herself to a whole new group of people.
Lola has based her whole life on a Broadway play, and she's the main star. So when she sets off to make a statement, and become the star of the small, suburban town of Dellwood, she comes across Carla Santini, who thinks she's the star of Dellwood. Their instant enemies, but their feud makes the book a major laugh and enjoyable fight after fight.
Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen is a brilliant story of the challenges of growing up, combined with a twist of unique encounters Lola faces. Dyan Sheldon creates such a story that you can't help but have the book become your new best friend. As the book unfolds before you, you're addicted to it without choice. You soon become part of the book, one of the characters, feeling and seeing all. Sheldon uses dialogue and problems that teenagers can easily relate to, making it the perfect book.
Whenever I think of this book, I think of it as a "chick flick" in the book form. Boys can read it, but girls will fall in love with it. I could keep raving and raving about this book but my final words are this: this story, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, soon becomes your story- every single one of us has an inner drama queen, and this book sure proves it!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun book, March 7, 2004

By	Atalanta (US) - See all my reviews

I thought that this was a relatively fun, fresh book, but there was some... shall I say bad things about it.

Mary Cep, or as she stubbornly likes to be known as Lola, is a major drama queen. She is positive she will be the next big thing in Hollywood. Some time. When Lola's mother moves her and her two totally gross little sisters out of New York City and into the suburbs, Lola is sure she will be the savior to so many poor souls in Dellwood. Or as she calls it, Deadwood. Then she meets Carla Santini, the local bully and snob, and that whole part of the book's (the WHOLE book!) is pretty predictable. It's through Lola's obsessive love for her favorite band, Sidhartha, that Lola gets her and her best friend and "sister of my soul", Ella, alot of... adventure.

I won't give away the rest. Parts of this book was really funny and it was hard not to laugh out loud, whether I was in public or not, but Lola's interpretation of every thing got boring. Finally when you get to the exciting part, it's Lola's friend, Ella, who is being more of the heroine.

I felt that this book ended alot like it began. In "the Big Freeze". The book is worth reading, but still lacking in many ways.

~Atalanta

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, May 17, 2005

A Kid's Review

Julianne Labrecque
Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
by Dyan Sheldon
If you read often, you are aware what a good book consists of. The title of a good book draws you in, and won't let you stop reading until you are done, leaving you begging for a sequel. Compelling, realistic characters with real faults and problems like us, interesting plots that twist and turn in such a way that you can never guess what's coming always add up to a highly acclaimed and appreciated book. One book that I know to contain all these things is Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, by Dyan Sheldon. The basic summary of this book is as follows. Mary Cep (who prefers to be called Lola) is a dramatic teenage girl who is forced by her mother to move to "Deadwood" New Jersey. Lola absolutely hates it, until she meets Ella Gerard. Ella becomes her best friend and "soul sister". The thing about Ella is that she is a great student, very polite, very shy, and keeps to herself. Lola is the exact opposite. This is one reason that this book is so compelling, because of the contrasting characters. In the middle of the book, Sidhartha, Ella and Lola's favorite band, breaks up, but first announces they are having one last concert. Ella and Lola plan everything out so they can sneak to NY to see the concert. They ride on a train, but they lose their money and when they get to the concert, they don't have enough for a ticket! A little ways after, they are back at home, where Ella's parents have no idea they even left. Carla Santini, the most popular girl in the grade, insists she didn't even see them at the after-party, even though Lola and Ella claim they were there...or were they? Everyone believes Carla, so how will Lola and Ella convince everyone that they really went to the Sidhartha concert?
The main characters in this book are hysterical, yet very believable. The main cast consists of Lola, Ella, and Carla Santini. Lola, of course, is highly melodramatic; this makes her adored by her friend Ella. Lola is always thinking the opposite of everyone else, of her acting career, and of herself, a trait which she doesn't realize she has: selfishness. She doesn't often stop to care about what others are feeling and thinking; to Lola the world is hers and hers alone, and everyone cares about even her tiniest worries. She tends to tell some pretty tall tales also. By the end of the book, Lola realizes this and changes her look on things . Ella, a polite, quiet member of the Gerard family (known to be perfect at all times) is very loyal to Lola, and learns to be more outgoing. Ella learns from Lola that not everything has to be perfect. The connection between these two works well for both their personalitlies, and as they become accustomed to the other, they take upon themselves the attitude of the other, except not quite as extreme. Ella learns to speak up. Lola learns to not always be the center of attention. The next character is Carla Santini, the high ruler of the BTW's (Born to Win's) is tall, skinny, pretty, and everyone looks up to her (excluding Ella and Lola.) From the beginning, she detests Lola, and is always looking for ways to make her mad. At first her tricks don't daunt Lola, but near the end, Lola breaks down under all the pressure. Carla uses her popularity to get whatever she wants, and she wants everyone to hate Lola.
When I discovered this book, my friend was very absorbed in it and wouldn't let me begin her copy until she was done. This gave me the correct impression that it was a really good book. As soon as I got my hands on it, I started reading. The beginning of this book draws you in so much, you forget where you really are and assume you are on the steps of Deadwood High. The style of writing in this book is very dramatic, narrated by Lola herself through the whole book. The genre is realistic fiction. It was definitely a page turner; the pace is fast and there is constantly conflict. I myself really personally connected with Lola, because I have lost important money before too, and I know how she felt. If I had to use five adjectives to describe this book, I would use: witty, funny, inspiring, dramatic and romantic. Teens and adults alike will enjoy this wonderful "comedy of errors" by Dyan Sheldon, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen.