Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek

by Maya Van Wagenen

Overview

New York Times Bestseller

A breakout teen author explores the true meaning of popularity and how to survive middle school in this hysterically funny, touchingly honest contemporary memoir. 

“I was inspired by [Maya's] journey and made a point of saving a copy of ‘Popular’ for my sister, who starts middle school this fall. Maybe if I had read it when I was her age, it could have saved me from a world of hurt, or at least put that world in perspective.” —Maude Apatow, New York Times Book Review

Can curlers, girdles, Vaseline, and a strand of pearls help a shy girl become popular?
Maya Van Wagenen is about to find out. 

Stuck near the bottom of the social ladder at “pretty much the lowest level of people at school who aren’t paid to be here,” Maya has never been popular. But before starting eighth grade, she decides to begin a unique social experiment: spend the school year following a 1950s popularity guide, written by former teen model Betty Cornell.

The real-life results are hilarious, painful, and filled with unexpected surprises. Told with humor and grace, Maya’s journey offers readers of all ages a thoroughly contemporary example of kindness and self-confidence, along with a better understanding of what it means to be popular.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780698153417
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	04/15/2014
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
Lexile:	730L (what's this?)
File size:	8 MB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Maya Van Wagenen is sixteen years old.  When she was eleven, her family moved to Brownsville, Texas, the setting of Popular. When not hunched over a desktop writing, Maya enjoys reading, British television, and chocolate. She now lives with her parents and two siblings in rural Georgia. She is a junior in high school .

Read an Excerpt

And so, I embark on my grand experiment. Every month of this school year I will follow Betty Cornell’s advice on the topics in her book: dieting, hair, makeup, posture, and attitude, among others – no matter how embarrassing or difficult.

I definitely have my work cut out for me. That is if I’m not already beyond help. I am 5’2” with light brown skin that breaks out in acne on a regular basis. I am gawky, slouchy, and just a little bit lumpy. I have non-existent hips and a chest almost as flat as the cover of Betty Cornell’s book. I wear glasses and braces. I do all my clothes shopping at Walmart and second-hand stores. I spend more time on algebra than I do on my hair.

Maybe things will change. Can popularity advice from more than half a century ago still be relevant? I’ll find out. Crazier things have happened, right? Men have walked on the moon and society has found a way to grow square watermelons.

Betty Cornell has become my new soul mate, and I am married to her every word. For better or worse.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Praise for Popular:

“Everyone’s happiness project looks different, and I was utterly charmed by Maya Van Wagenen’s honest, funny, and thought-provoking account of her efforts to become ‘popular.’” —Gretchen Rubin, #1 bestselling author of The Happiness Project

“Maya Van Wagenen’s memoir, Popular, would have been wonderful to read as a kid, and so reassuring to Nerdy Teenage Me. Her year-long experiment in popularity is timeless; the intelligent and humane way she gets to the heart of the matter is uniquely her. Funny, determined, and wry, Van Wagenen has written a wise, heartfelt guide for other kids eager to keep up.” —Rachel Hartman, bestselling author of Seraphina

"Geeky and dorky, but never wimpy, Maya Van Wagenen is as powerful and honest as she is quirky and funny—and startlingly gifted. She’s the real deal, folks, a teenage John Green for the next generation. Stunning.” —Margaret Stohl, bestselling co-author of the Beautiful Creatures series

"An interesting and earnest memoir." —Kirkus Reviews

"While completely appropriate for middle school readers, Popular is even more entertaining for adults.  Van Wagenen is a uniquely gifted talent with a gem of a first novel" —VOYA

Editorial Reviews

What makes Van Wagenen's book more affecting than other middle-school survival guides is that not all her problems can be fixed with the right lipstick and better posture. She lives in Brownsville, Tex., a troubled border town. From his office window, her father can see fires from the drug war in Mexico, and that conflict sometimes comes as close as her school parking lot. One of Van Wagenen's sisters died during infancy; another struggles with autism. You can't help admiring her positive attitude in the face of these real-world challenges, just as you can't help rooting for her when she talks to her crush while wearing a 1950s-style straw hat and gloves or when she decides to sit, uninvited, with a different social group at lunch every day and learns how similar everyone is.

The New York Times Book Review - Maude Apatow

"Maya’s voice is fresh and frank, and her experiences at a middle school near the Mexican border provide an often overlooked perspective." —Booklist

“Everyone’s happiness project looks different, and I was utterly charmed by Maya Van Wagenen’s honest, funny, and thought-provoking account of her efforts to become ‘popular.’” —Gretchen Rubin, #1 bestselling author of The Happiness Project

“Maya Van Wagenen’s memoir, Popular, would have been wonderful to read as a kid, and so reassuring to Nerdy Teenage Me. Her year-long experiment in popularity is timeless; the intelligent and humane way she gets to the heart of the matter is uniquely her. Funny, determined, and wry, Van Wagenen has written a wise, heartfelt guide for other kids eager to keep up.” —Rachel Hartman, bestselling author of Seraphina

"Geeky and dorky, but never wimpy, Maya Van Wagenen is as powerful and honest as she is quirky and funny—and startlingly gifted. She’s the real deal, folks, a teenage John Green for the next generation. Stunning.” —Margaret Stohl, bestselling co-author of the Beautiful Creatures series

"An interesting and earnest memoir." —Kirkus Reviews

"While completely appropriate for middle school readers, Popular is even more entertaining for adults.  Van Wagenen is a uniquely gifted talent with a gem of a first novel." —VOYA

From the Publisher

The year is 2012. Thirteen-year-old eighth grader Maya has some problems: a round middle with no distinct curves, acne breakouts, greasy hair, poor posture, and unkempt clothes. Worst of all, Maya is painfully shy; her only friend is crazy Kenzie, an outcast like herself. Life changes when Maya discovers torn and faded Betty Cornell’s Teen-Age Popularity Guide, published in 1951, hidden in a box in her father’s office. Her mom suggests following the book’s advice during Maya’s eighth grade year and keeping a diary of what happens. Since Maya likes to write and has nothing to lose, she undertakes the challenge. What follows is a hilarious, heart-rending, teenage transformation as Maya carefully tackles one chapter a month. Beginning with figure problems and dieting, she moves on to grooming, hair, makeup, posture, money, and—hardest of all—conquering shyness and becoming a personality. Vaseline eye enhancement, girdles, one-strand pearls, white gloves, and a little hat invoke stares and insults from classmates and compliments from older women. Maya forces herself to sit with higher social levels in the lunchroom and treat everyone with equal friendliness, ignoring cruel (but funny) middle-school remarks. Along the way, the reader becomes acquainted with Maya’s loveable family, as well as her teachers and fellow students in an impoverished Texas border town. Interspersed with Maya’s writing are excerpts from Betty Cornell’s book, highlighting the differences sixty years can make. Best of all, Maya, who is now fifteen and living in Georgia, finds Betty and persuades her to write a wonderful introduction. While completely appropriate for middle school readers, Popular is even more entertaining for adults. Van Wagenen is a uniquely gifted talent with a gem of a first novel. Reviewer: Laura Woodruff; Ages 11 to 18.

VOYA, June 2014 (Vol. 37, No. 2) - Laura Woodruff

06/01/2014
Gr 7 Up—The bright and perceptive Van Wagenen wanted to boost her popularity in middle school. As a self-defined "Social Outcast, the lowest level of people at school who weren't paid to be there," the eighth-grader had quite a climb ahead of her. Her modus operandi was intriguing: she used a 1950s teen etiquette book that her father found at a thrift store as a guide to climb the social ladder. The clash of eras and cultures is funny—the author wears a girdle, hat, and pearls to class; learns how to apply makeup; improves her posture and poise; and tries a diet. But the best lessons she learns from Fifties teen model Betty Cornell's Teen-Age Popularity Guide are about how to talk to and understand the people around her. Bravely visiting all the various cliques in the lunchroom and making conversation with her secret Sunday school crush, she becomes even more sensitive and aware—and yes, more popular. Van Wagenen's tone is personable and polished. Even though she has many typical tween obsessions and concerns, her writing is surprisingly mature. While overall this light memoir provides plenty of fun, it has a grittier backdrop than the cover and description might suggest. Van Wagenen's school, in Brownsville, TX, near the Mexican border, commonly experiences lockdown drills and warnings against gangs, and she casually mentions that smoke from a drug war in Matamoros, Mexico, is visible from her house. The part-Hispanic teen also occasionally sprinkles in Spanish words. With a DreamWorks movie option in the works, this entertaining title should be in demand.—Liz French, Library Journal

School Library Journal

2014-03-31
An interesting and earnest memoir of a social experiment conducted by a contemporary eighth-grader who follows the advice in a popularity guide written for 1950s-era teens and blogged the experience for one school year. Van Wagenen is the oldest child in her loving, quirky family. A talented writer, she's funny, thoughtful and self-effacing. She is also, as she describes it, part of the "Social Outcast group, the lowest level of people at school who aren't paid to be there." Over the year, she discovers a great deal, most notably that despite its sounding a bit pat, popularity is "about who you are, and how you treat others." Teens will readily identify with her candid descriptions of social dynamics at her middle school. Many of the scenarios that arise from her adherence to the suggestions in Betty Cornell's Teen-Age Popularity Guide are effectively played to comic effect, such as wearing a girdle or pearls and white gloves. Vignettes about her life, including her grief over the death of a beloved teacher, her horror at hearing the news of a boy killed at a nearby school after he brings in a pellet gun and her excitement over speaking to Betty Cornell by telephone, provide balance. A fascinating and unusual slice-of-life work whose humor will best be appreciated by younger teens. (Memoir. 12-16)

Kirkus Reviews