Accidentally Fabulous (Accidentally, #1) by Lisa Papademetriou
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Just by looking at the cover of this book, you might expect a total fluff book about girls and fashion, which it was to some extent. Yes, it is a typical middle school girl book, complete with a new preppy school, mean girls, first boyfriends, etc., etc. But the author did something with this book that not only caught my interest, but elevated it in my eyes above the total fluff concept. In this case, the protagonist doesn't jump immediately to condemning the head mean girl. She gives her and her posse every chance to show that they are really nice girls. Only when she is absolutely convinced that the head mean girl is really intending to think only of herself and act as if the feelings of no one else matter, does the MC retaliate - and she does so in a way that everyone else viewed as humorous, just not the mean girl herself.
This is the kind of book that middle school girls might look to to explore relationship dynamics - girl to girl to group and girl to boy. When my daughters were young, the Sweet Valley series served this purpose - lifelike situations and possible ways to react to them. While these types of books are no literary classics, I do think that they help girls work through situations that come up in their lives and perhaps gain a greater perspective about them.
And, I like the jobs that they were given for their detentions - better than just sitting doing nothing for the time.
I don't think this book would appeal to many boys, though.
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