YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Winner 2015.
Maya is perfectly happy being invisible. She and her friend Kenzie have been flying under the radar at her junior high in Brownsville for the last two years with no complaints. This, her eighth grade year, will however be very different. Upon cleaning out her father's office Maya stumbles across Betty Cornell's teenage popularity guide from 1951. As an experiment and possible writing prompt Maya decides to follow all of Betty's guidelines for the next school year, 2013-2014. Yes, ALL the guidelines- down to the panty hose, white gloves, and girdle. Can 60 year old advice still make Maya popular today? Maya begins a mission to find out. What she discovers may not be popularity so much as herself. By the end of junior high Maya not only has more friends and people to dance with she also has more confidence and a better appreciation of who she is.
Popular is a great way to get teenagers familiar with memoirs, a genre I find they often struggle with. This amazing young author speaks the language of the 21st century teenager. Thanks to this book there has been a resurgence in popularity for the original guide Betty Cornell's teenage popularity guide. More teen girls are beginning to follow in Maya's footsteps. Below is a link to a Tumblr account I found that is for such young ladies to share experiences and offer support while following Betty's guide.
https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/betty-cornell
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