Sunday, December 6, 2009

Geek Charming

Will popular princess, Dylan, risk it all for the safety of her designer purse?

Dylan, the rich and popular queen at Castle Heights High School, had an A-List lifestyle. A popular jock of a boyfriend, plenty of shopping buddies, and a status so high that she was even in love with herself. That was until Dylan accidently dropped her designer purse into a fountain. Josh, a nerdy film boy at high school, decided to get it for her for only one favor: Dylan had to be agreed to be filmed, documentary style, by Josh to see the in and outs of popularity. Once the in crowd sees this geek following them around, they all begin to shun Dylan. Will Dylan ditch the dweeb to reclaim her thrown? Or will geek finally become the new chic?

I believe that Geek Charming, by Robin Palmer, is filled with many strengths for readers. I feel like this read should be aimed at more middle school audiences. It is dealing with the use of stereotypes and clichés. This is a popular issue for students going through middle and high school. The idea of young and true love is apparent throughout the book. Also, what popularity really means to students and how it could hurt their self esteem. Palmer also touches on the ability a person has to change, whether for good or bad.

I would not use this book to teach my whole English class, but I would not be opposed to having a student read it for an independent study. I do not think it is necessary for teachers or students to read this text. Even though it touched on multiple themes, it lacks a sense of really important issues. It is a really girly book. I would rather my student read something like Looking for Alaska, to learn about teen love, than this book.

4 comments:

Andra said...

Stephanie,

This books sounds cute! As I was reading your review, it made me think of the movie Mean Girls. Lindsay Lohan's character tries so hard to figure out the Plastics that she eventually becomes one. I am curious about the ending so I will need to pick this up and read it over winter break.

Thanks for the review!

Andra

Mallory Umar said...

This might be a good book for a "popular" girl. She can start thinking about her own "status" what that means and what is is willing to risk for it. Popularity is huge for teens, and mantaining the status is very important. This book can help call some of those things to question.

Ms. Edukated said...

This sounds like every girly book about popularity and materialism. Why is it always that the geeky boy wants the most popular girl and vice-versa? I think that this would appear to some teenage girls. I personally do not see myself reading it or issuing it as a grade for a reading assignment.

jan said...

Except the geeky boy actually doesn't want the most popular girl--he hates her, at first. She's not his crush, and he's not her crush at any point in time. The most popular girl doesn't want the geeky boy either, and they don't end up together romantically.