Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek by Maya Van Wagenen
Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a
Modern Geek by Maya Van Wagenen. Dutton Juvenile, New York City, 2014. ISBN: 978-0525426813
Summary
In this nonfiction title/memoir, eight
grader Maya Van Wagenen considers herself to be a social outcast at her Texas school. She only has one close friend and goes about her
school life as quiet as possible. Her life is average, and she still wonders what life would be like if she was popular.
Enter “Betty Cornell’s Teen-Age Popularity
Guide.” Published in 1951, it was one of the first advice guides for teenagers
on how to be popular and have a social life. Bought by Maya’s father years ago,
it’s been sitting on his office bookshelf for years before Maya finds it. The
guide inspires her to create her own popularity experiment: over the course of
a school year, Maya will focus one of Betty’s tips throughout a month. Betty’s
tips are featured in many teen magazines today: hair, makeup, and what clothes
to wear. Maya details her experiences and observations through hilarious,
personal journal entries throughout her memoir, along with discussing how her experiment
changed her life.
Critical Evaluation
Popular is a fun nonfiction read
with a lot of heart. It’s easy to relate to Maya and her struggles with fitting
in. The book is an easy read, and Maya has a very
mature writing style. While the title is nonfiction, Popular reads more like an
average teen’s journal: which makes the book very appealing. The excerpts from Cornell’s guide are fun to
read, and Maya includes her own hilarious “Popularity Tips,” throughout the
books. Maya’s Hispanic heritage and her family and
classmates reactions to her experiment are also interesting to read.
While Maya does change her
lifestyle throughout the book, she still remains a sweet teenager that makes
the effort to talk to other ‘outcasts.’ While not all teens will want to create
their own popularity experiment after reading Popular, they will come away with
a better understanding of what it really means to be popular and to be happy.
Reader’s Annotation
Using the guidelines from a 50’s
teen advice book, eight grader Maya creates her own popularity experiment.
About the Author
“Maya Van
Wagenen is fifteen 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 sophomore in high
school but still shares a room with her sixth-grade brother. Remarkably, they
have not yet killed each other.”
(About the Author. Retrieved September 17th, 2014 from
http://www.amazon.com/Maya-Van-Wagenen/e/B00GDGJU7Y/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0)
Genres
Nonfiction
Memoir
Curriculum Ties
Health
Booktalking Ideas
1: How has the idea of popularity changed from the 50’s to
now?
2: Would you be willing to do your own popularity experiment?
Why or why not?
Reading Level/Interest Age
Ages 14+
Grades 9+
Challenge Issues
N/A
Why included?
I included Popular for its fun, relevant themes, and
the journal-like style it was written in.
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