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Populazzi Elise Allen Books

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Populazzi Elise Allen Books

Full disclosure: I'm the author's cousin.

But the truth is, I wasn't particularly enthused about the prospect of reading Populazzi, at least not for its own sake. I knew Elise to be a good writer, but the setting and subject matter held no particular interest for me, and I tend to have little patience for YA material, regardless of the skills of the author.

But I wasn't going to _not_ read my cousin's first solo novel. And to my surprise, I wound up reading the somewhat lengthy book in just two sittings. Could not put it down.

The premise, in and of itself, is a bit old-hat -- awkward girl remakes herself at a new high school, claws her way up to the top of the school social hierarchy, loses herself in the process, finds herself (and the right guy) again, etc. (Spoiler alert?)

But it is in the execution - the entertaining prose; the charming, quirky (but not forced) characters; the structure and pacing, and the attention to detail -- that Populazzi shines.

Above all, Ms. Allen does not write "down" to her readers. While the content is oriented toward her teen/young-adult target audience, the writing never leans lazily on pop-culture references or tries to pass off teen-speak as actual prose. She brings the same level of skill to bear on this story of (self-generated) high school melodrama as one would to a work for a general, adult audience, and it pays off immediately and consistently.

Populazzi is a fun, satisfying read for young adults of all ages (see what I did there? I want that blurb on the back cover of the next printing!). It deals with serious issues like eating disorders and drug use with confidence and a light touch -- I really must ask her if the pot-smoking scene and its aftermath are autobiographical ;) -- and keeps the stakes and tensions high enough that the inevitability of the conclusion doesn't make it any less satisfying.


Tags : Amazon.com: Populazzi (9780547481531): Elise Allen: Books,Elise Allen,Populazzi,HMH Books for Young Readers,0547481535,Humorous - General,Social Themes - Dating & Sex,Social Themes - Peer Pressure,High schools;Fiction.,Interpersonal relations;Fiction.,Popularity;Fiction.,Children's Books - Young Adult Fiction,Children: Young Adult (Gr. 10-12),Fiction,High schools,Interpersonal relations,JUVENILE,Juvenile Fiction,Juvenile Grades 10-12 Ages 15+,Love & Romance,Popularity,Social Issues - Friendship,Social Issues - Peer Pressure,TEEN'S FICTION - GENERAL,United States,YOUNG ADULT FICTION,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Humorous General,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Romance General,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Social Themes Dating & Sex,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Social Themes Friendship,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Social Themes Peer Pressure,teen fiction;debut novel;humor;teen issues;relationships;popularity;love;friendship;peer pressure;high school;ages 14 and up;alchohol;eating disorders;new school

Populazzi Elise Allen Books Reviews

All schools have a social hierarchy of popularity. Cara and Claudia at the bottom of theirs! When Cara’s family moves to a new school district between sophomore and junior year, Claudia sees it as an opportunity for Cara to use her anonymity to reinvent herself and climb The Ladder. The idea…date her way to the top. At first, Cara is skeptical of the plan, but Claudia is enthusiastic and persuasive. When Cara meets Archer (Theater Geek) on the first day of school she decides to make him her first target, but soon finds herself falling for him for real. When his affections are not returned, Cara re-dedicates herself to the plan.

Most of the plan to snag boyfriends and climb the popularity ladder, involves conforming herself to fit in with different groups. Archer sees what Cara is doing and is disgusted by her calculating. As she progresses, it is obvious that her new friends do not like her for herself, rather only for the fake self that she projects.

The story is about being true to who you are and forming real friendships based on honesty. While slightly predictable, this was a fun, entertaining read. My only complaint is that I was reading this in e-book format and the last several pages were cut off, leaving me hanging just as it was getting good. Obviously, this was not the author’s fault, just a technical error, but still very frustrating.

Overall, I give Populazzi…

Plot - 3 ½ bookmarks
Character Development – 4 bookmarks
Moral Lessons – 4 ½ bookmarks

Dream cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) – Molly Quinn (Cara), Jodelle Ferland (Claudia), Dev Patel (Asher), Jackson Rathbone (Nate), Anastacia Baranova (Trista), Seychelle Gabriel (Ree-Ree), Alexander Gould (Robert)
'Populazzi' by Elise Allen was an entertaining and fast read. I loved going through high school with Cara, and watching her navigate the "Ladder," as she and her friend Claudia called the steps of social cliquedom, if you will. I thought that it seemed believable that someone like Cara would want to reinvent herself and see how she could be different at a new school where no one knew her.

She started off getting to know and really like Archer, a theater guy, and he seemed liek a really nice guy. However, when things seemingly went sour with him, Cara decided to move on up the ladder, asking for help from Archer once they were able to patch up some residual issues between them. Her next target was Nate, a DangerZone guy (as the ladder names people like him) whom she changed her whole personality, including her clothing, for in order to seal her hopes of getting him to be her boyfriend. As she continues her move up the ladder, another guy named Eddie comes into play, and he is one of the Penultimates, just a step away from the Supreme Populazzi who is basically the most popular girl on campus - Trista.

Whereas I've read other books where the "Supreme Populazzi" characters seem mean to begin with, Trista didn't come off that way to me. As time went on, though, she became more that way, and when it first happened, it seemed kind of sudden. I guess people don't get to be Supreme Populazzi without being scared of not only their enemies, but their friends. The way she and Cara deal with one another as the story goes on kind of bothered me, but I do think it really is indicative of the way high school hierarchies can be, despite not having dealt with that myself in high school.

The book also dealt with Cara's relationship with her parents, her stepfather, and even her relationship with herself, including how she dealt with sacrifices she made willingly and begrudgingly to cement her social status as the year went on.

I honestly couldn't put this book down, and I found myself thinking about it throughout each day I was reading it and wanting to get back to it. I'm looking forward to seeing if Elise Allen has other books available and checking them out if she does.

Beth Rodgers, Author of 'Freshman Fourteen,' a Young Adult Novel
Populazzi was pretty much one overly dramatic rich kid problem after another. Mean Girls except the plan isn't for pay back and the main character spends the first half of the book whining about how she wants to be popular but doesn't want to work for it.
Full disclosure I'm the author's cousin.

But the truth is, I wasn't particularly enthused about the prospect of reading Populazzi, at least not for its own sake. I knew Elise to be a good writer, but the setting and subject matter held no particular interest for me, and I tend to have little patience for YA material, regardless of the skills of the author.

But I wasn't going to _not_ read my cousin's first solo novel. And to my surprise, I wound up reading the somewhat lengthy book in just two sittings. Could not put it down.

The premise, in and of itself, is a bit old-hat -- awkward girl remakes herself at a new high school, claws her way up to the top of the school social hierarchy, loses herself in the process, finds herself (and the right guy) again, etc. (Spoiler alert?)

But it is in the execution - the entertaining prose; the charming, quirky (but not forced) characters; the structure and pacing, and the attention to detail -- that Populazzi shines.

Above all, Ms. Allen does not write "down" to her readers. While the content is oriented toward her teen/young-adult target audience, the writing never leans lazily on pop-culture references or tries to pass off teen-speak as actual prose. She brings the same level of skill to bear on this story of (self-generated) high school melodrama as one would to a work for a general, adult audience, and it pays off immediately and consistently.

Populazzi is a fun, satisfying read for young adults of all ages (see what I did there? I want that blurb on the back cover of the next printing!). It deals with serious issues like eating disorders and drug use with confidence and a light touch -- I really must ask her if the pot-smoking scene and its aftermath are autobiographical ;) -- and keeps the stakes and tensions high enough that the inevitability of the conclusion doesn't make it any less satisfying.