Popular | Maya Van Waganen

A touchingly honest, candidly hysterical memoir from breakout teen author Maya Van Wagenen 

Stuck at the bottom of the social ladder at pretty much the lowest level of people at school who aren’t paid to be here,” Maya Van Wagenen decided to begin a unique social experiment: spend the school year following a 1950s popularity guide, written by former teen model Betty Cornell. Can curlers, girdles, Vaseline, and a strand of pearls help Maya on her quest to be popular? 

The real-life results are painful, funny, and include a wonderful and unexpected surprise—meeting and befriending Betty Cornell herself. Told with humor and grace, Maya’s journey offers readers of all ages a thoroughly contemporary example of kindness and self-confidence.

I thought that the concept of this book was really interesting. I loved the innovative idea and the effort and bravery Maya took to conduct this experiment. As an eighth grader it can't have been easy talking to those at the "top of the food chain". Honestly, it couldn't have been easy taking the initiative to talk to other in general, I know, now, I still have trouble initiating conversation. 

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I'm not typically a nonfiction person. I've lived inside my YA bubble for quite a while and as people have been recommending this book I decided to give it a read and I was honestly blown away by the writing style. The way people, places and events were described was done so well and I just didn't want this book to end. 

This book is heart-warming, inspiring and something everyone should read, it's one of those books that everyone can relate to at some point in their lives.