Know a girl who likes Amelia’s Notebooks or Diary of a Wimpy Kid? Introduce them to The Popularity Papers, a new highly illustrated story (not _quite_ a paneled graphic novel) about the tribulations of best friends Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang as they try to learn how to be popular by infiltrating the various cliques in their 5th grade class. Their secret observations are to be written down (or drawn) and shared in their Learn/Improve notebook, shown to nobody but themselves.
Their first experiments are an unmitigated failure–Lydia almost bleaches herself bald, neither girl can figure out how to knit and their get-a-cellphone plan backfires dramatically. The worm soon turns, however. Musical Lydia rocks at the talent show, bookish Julie finds unexpected success at field hockey. They both make friends with different popular girls, and find themselves on the opposite sides of a campaign for class president–but will a single mistake/betrayal of trust ruin their friendship forever?
Posted by: Sarah