Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.comIf you've ever heard the phrase "Way to pull a Steph Landry!," you wouldn't be alone. Pretty much everyone who attends Bloomville High in the heart of Greene County, Indiana, knows who Steph Landry is. Or, they at least know better than to ever, ever, ever do something that would have someone uttering the aforementioned phrase. Even kids under the age of five know what it means to "pull a Steph Landry." In that they know it means instant social doom. So what did this girl do, you ask? Shoot someone? Rob a store? Dump the Homecoming Queen into a lake, lock the quarterback in a dungeon, lob a hand grenade into the general store? No, what Steph Landy did was much, much worse. She accidentally spilled a Big Red Super Big Gulp on Lauren Moffat's white D&G skirt. And even though they had been kind of friends up until that incident in sixth grade, and even though her father tried to remove the stain from Lauren's skirt, and even though her mother ended up buying her a new one, and even though Steph herself apologized for the incident like ten zillion times, Lauren Moffat has been making Steph pay for her mistake ever since. They're all juniors in high school now--Steph and her best friends Jason and Becca, Lauren and her posse of popular girls and guys, most noticeably her football quarterback boyfriend, Mark Finley. Nearly five years after that accidental dousing in the middle school cafeteria, and Steph is still living down the horror of being a social outcast. That's all about to change, though. At least if she has anything to say about it. Now that Jason's grandmother is marrying her own widowed grandfather, they've been spending a lot of time at Jason's house. It's during one of those times that Steph finds the book; the one that will shoot her to the top of the popularity totem pole, the one that will exile the social pariah Steph once and for all, and turn her into mega-popular, wonderful, everyone loves her Steph. Kind of. Maybe. If she plays her cards right. Or she just might end up getting what she wants (popularity), and losing everything she's ever held dear (most noticeably, Jason). With HOW TO BE POPULAR, Meg Cabot has taken the typical high school teen angst and mixed it up with an all-too-believable situation to create a wonderful, fast-paced read. I'd recommend this book to all fans of Ms. Cabot, all fans of contemporary stories, all fans of young adult literature, period. This is another winner from the queen of teen fiction. Trust me. Pick up a copy of HOW TO BE POPULAR, and you won't be disappointed.
‘Way to pull a Steph Landry’…and that cruel taunt has been burning Steph Landry’s ears since the time that she was a clumsy twelve-year old who accidentally upended a Red Super Big-Gulp on Lauren Moffat’s white denim D & G skirt. And although Steph bought Lauren a brand new skirt…prima-donna hag-extraordinaire Lauren has never let Steph or the rest of Bloomville High School ever let the unfortunate memory fade. Ergo, whenever anyone commits a faux-pas or does something remotely dorky, it’s ‘Don’t pull a Steph’ or ‘That’s so Steph’ or ‘Don’t be such a Steph’ or the ever popular ‘Way to pull a Steph Landry’.But now, after five years of fading into the background and being content with mocking the in-crowd from afar with fellow rejects Jason and Becca…Steph is ready for a change. She has laid her hands on a book titled ‘How-To-Be-Popular’ and is ready to implement all the guidelines that the author has cheerfully spelt out. So, it’s a new hairstyle, a spanking new (yet, tastefully put together) wardrobe and a sociable personality. She’s ready to grab the eyeballs of the popular kids with her new assertiveness. No more wallflower-impersonation. Steph Landry is ready to shine and dazzle and poke-one-in-the-eye of uber-witch - Lauren Moffat and attract the attention of handsome quarterback - Mike Finley.But in the quest for fitting-in, she’s in danger of alienating her best friends; Jason (who interestingly enough has gotten taller and noticeably hotter) and Becca (who has never really left behind her scared-witless, farmgirl-in-a-new-setting persona). Does getting a shoe-in into the elite pack mean compromising on things that Steph strongly believes in? Does it mean hurting the people who have always stood by her through the rough patches? Meg Cabot is the literary equivalent of comfort-food. Her books are frothy, funny and wholly enjoyable. Her heroines are gutsy teenagers. While they are generally practical individuals, all of them have occasional spasms of self-doubt and flashes of insecurity to keep them real. Cabot also manages to deal with teen-issues with her usual brand of sparky dialogue and a down-to-earth approach. How To Be Popular is a fun read. It has a likeable, non-whiney heroine in Steph and a cast of oddball characters who while they might be a tad predictable are still engaging. Don’t let the title put you off. It’s not…I repeat…NOT….a self-help book. What it is, is another of Cabot’s sassy yet serious takes on the quintessential teen girl.
What do You think about How To Be Popular (2006)?
OMG!!!! I just really have to say that this book is completely amazing. Meg Cabot sums up every girl's (or maybe...um, boys?) dreams of being popular-and the real reality. It is pretty hard to make normal school life sound interesting unless you're writing something paranormal, like angels, vampires or the like (trust me, I've seen almost all of the variations you can possibly get.). "Crazytop" (courtesy of Jason, here) aka Steph Landry is known for the saying, "way to pull a Steph Landry,". That's Lauren's way of payback-by the way, she's the most popular girl in school. Steph spilled Super Big RedGulp (it stains-and when I say stains, I mean really stains!) all over her five years from the present, and to that day, Lauren still holds a grudge. Just to make it more complicated, Steph is almost obsessed with Mark Finley, Lauren's somewhat phony and clueless but nice boyfriend.Meg Cabot has really outdone herself this time. I think that this was even better than the Princess Diaries-wait, I know so. And I think the rest of the nation agrees with me- the Princess Diaries is a New York Times bestseller, but this book is National. Steph, that's really a way to pull a Steph Landry! :)
—Bethany Huang
Book Review: How to be popularAbout 2 months ago I finished the book How to be popular by Meg Cabot. Meg Cabot is one of my favorite authors, and has many books for young adults. Her books are mostly about a girls faced with problems or find out something and have to cope with it. She writes books from the point of view of girls that are already in their teens / high schoolersThe main character Stephanie / Steph Laundry had an incident with one of the popular girls Lauren Moffatt in the sixth grade. Lauren is still bugging Steph about it. When someone makes a mistake she says “don’t pull a Steph Laundry”. Over the years it sort of caught on and people in their small town say “don’t pull a Steph Laundry” without even knowing the history behind the phrase. This new school year Steph is determined to clear her name. She want’s to start fresh. So during the summer she gets a new haircut and gets brand new clothes. When she starts school she goes with flat ironed hair a mini skirt knee high socks and a nice shirt. She says Hi to everyone even Lauren and her secret crush Mike Finley a.k.a Laurens boyfriend.I would recommend this book to people who want to be popular. I would recommend this book to them to show them that being popular is not all that. There are up’s and down’s to being popular. It also shows that a person who is being bullied for 1 little incident can come and overpower the bully who started it all.
—Noemi C.
During one of my "breaks" in Sydney, I found a nice library down by Circ. Quay and I sat and read this book from Calbot over a few days. It was your same, regular, what you would expect book from the same author of the Princess Diaries. The girl was super selfish and only could think of me-me-me but of course everything works out in the end. The Girl finds a book from her friends grandmother on how to be popular and for some reason, she wants to be, so when the new school year starts, she follows the book to a T. The funny thing at the end was that the book was a joke anyway! HAHA! What a loser. Also, the Girl ditches her friends to hang out with the "popular" crew, which is so lame. The book describes what "popular people" are like and the people that the girl thinks are popular at her school, so do not even fit any of these qualities, so the book is pointless anyway! And I don't know about you, and maybe it was where I grew up or whatever but when something embaressing happened to someone in high school, we may laugh about it for like a day, if even, but everyone forgets the next day. Maybe in smaller towns, peoples memories are better or whatever, because I guess something that the Girl did like when she was 12 is still following her around when she was like 16 and people still talked about it which is why she wants to be "popular". LAME! I think I am getting too old for this crap.Grade: C-
—Rebecca
