Saturday, 25 September 2010

Review: Aristobrats - Jennifer Solow

Genre: Middle Grade/YA, fiction
Pages: 224
Published: September 2010 Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

It’s all about the Attitude

Parker Bell knows the secret to beauty is pretty simple–wearing the right clothes isn’t as important as how you feel in them. Popularity is like that too. It’s all about attitude. You have to picture who you want to be and then just imagine that’s who you already are.

This year Parker and her three best friends have made their way to the top of the populadder at Wallingford Academy. And they’re ready to use their Aristobrat status to help spread positive vibes throughout the school. But when the girls are assigned to produce the seriously lame school webcast, their popularity plummets! Will this tragedy destroy the girls' status? Or their friendship? Or both?

Not what I usually read, but I wanted to try a younger book once too, and I did. What can I say, it was a cute one.

I never like books that try too much to be young, or show the worst side of kids, since they are nice kids too that never did stuff like that. I was one of those and I rather read about those too.  This book has hip kids, prepsters, and slang, but it felt real.

Parker goes to a fancy private school, she had her 3 best friends and she year she will rule the school. But not in  mean girl way, no there are codes and the code is be nice to everyone, even if they have totally horrid clothes on. Cos mean girls are two-thousand-and-late. But then they have to do the school news show that everyone hates and their social status plunges, and their friendship is suddenly rocky. And of course there are the cute guy she wants, oh and the not so nice girls.

Parker and her friends were nice and different. One loved fashion, one was the brain, and together they were the best of friends. The message that shines through is that friends are important, and to be nice to each other. They also learn that perhaps everything doesn't have to be perfect, like do you really need the perfect guy that everyone thinks you should end up with. They have a lot to learn.

At the back of the book was also a cute glossary that explained some words that were used. Still I did feel a bit out of it at times with some short text messages that were there. But that didn't really stop the flow of the story.

This is a book that I would recommend to young girls, and to the YA audience too, and adults too. Because it was a sweet book, and when it ended, well I was curious about what happens next, and about this boy she started to like. And there will be more books to that will be nice.

Blodeuedd's Cover Corner: Cute, yes I have used that word a lot today ;)
Reason for reading: From the publisher
Final thoughts:  A nice, sweet book about friendship, and that attitude counts. Act like you enjoy being you and other will see you like that.

3,75

The Author has a quiz on her page to see which girl you are, and I do love quizzes.



And last a question answered by the author:

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
Mostly I wanted a book that I would be proud to have my own daughter read. There are lots of messages layered into the book about not being afraid to make mistakes, about living life to the fullest because our time here is short. But I think the most important message is that is doesn’t matter how many Facebook Friends you have – it’s the real friends who count. These are lessons for me more than anyone – the important things I need to remember.

16 comments:

  1. Hmm. I suspect this would annoy me, just based on the title!!

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  2. Great review! I actually like the sound of this one...it sounds adorable :)

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  3. Carrie
    It was, I love cute :)

    Chris
    Oh no, don't let that scare you, no brats here.

    Melissa
    Thanks :D It was really adorable. I liked it

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  4. That sounds like a cute book. I don't think I would have picked it up because of the title, but now I just might! thanks for the review.

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  5. I'm glad it turned out to be cute, but I think I might be a little too old for this one.

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  6. Melissa
    Cute all the way around :) Yes the titel does sound very..preppy

    Bermuda
    You never too old for books ;) But lol, perhaps something you could recommend instead for someone

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  7. 224 pages? Sounds like a quick read...

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  8. Cherry
    Yup, only that few,so a really quick read. But then it will take longer perhaps for the younger audience

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  9. I have a few young teens that I'm sure would so get into this series!

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  10. This one sounds good, and i'm sure the glossary helps clear up some of the terms used.
    http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

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  11. Staci
    I do think they would enjoy this one :)

    Naida
    It did, lol, I am so not hip anymore ;)

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  12. Hey everyone!

    Thanks for commenting.

    Yes, despite its "bratty" title, The Aristobrats is my anti-Clique book! I wanted to write a book I would be proud for my daughter to read and that my adult friends would enjoy (Top Secret/hush hush: each of the main characters was inspired by one of the Sex and the City characters!)

    You're always welcome to say hello: jennifer@jennifersolow.com
    xx

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  13. Jennifer
    I had forgotten that I had read that, very cool :)
    Thanks for stopping by

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  14. Thanks for the review! It doesn't really sound like my cup of tea, but I'm glad there are some decent books for younger readers out there.

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  15. La C
    The young readers sure needs good books too :)

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