Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

If Adora Benet had her way, the first day of junior year at the Brownstone Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn Heights, New York, could be summed up like this: "I am hot. My heat could melt the belly of an airplane. I am only slightly less on fire than the surface of the sun." Unfortunately, as soon as Adora utters this mantra, she knows it's not true. More matchstick than burning ember, more generally pretty than outstandingly beautiful, Adora knows that she'll never be A-list quality. Sure, she has friends, and yes, she's pretty well ensconced in middle class, but she'll never be the girl who sits comfortably atop the popularity pyramid.

It doesn't help that her well-known parents, Gloria and Ed Benet, are authors of the tomes of wisdom like His-And-Her Seduction and His-And-Her Dating. Those kinds of books, and she can't even get gorgeous, track athlete Vin Transom to notice her. Not even attempting to jog across the Brooklyn Bridge had garnered her a passing glance, even though she did, admittedly, quit three blocks from home for an iced coffee. Nevertheless, Adora wants junior year to be different. Others, though, like Sondra Fortune, queen of the A-listers, most popular of populars, insists on calling Adora Fringe Girl. Sure, it started out when she had a haircut with bangs, or fringe, but it's continued because, Adora suspects, Sondra knows just how accurate the nickname is.

But now Adora has a plan. Mr. Sagebrush, her social studies teacher, has presented an interesting idea to the class. Their term project will be based on the three tenets of bloodless revolution: undermine authority, present an alternative government, and enlist the masses. Adora needs to come up with a proposal, and suddenly the idea is brought to life--why couldn't she, along with her best friends Eli and Liza, stage her own school revolution? Who said Sondra Fortune had to be the undisputed queen of the school's halls? Where was it written, anyway, that a girl on the fringe couldn't rise to queendom?

And so begins Adora's ascent--or descent--into the ups and downs of becoming an A-lister, the queen of cool, the undisputed champion of popularity. Except, as these things have a way of happening, Adora's life as an anti-fringe girl seems to have some really disappointing consequences. Will Adora ever find her place in life, somewhere in the middle of the top and bottom of the social pyramid?

What makes FRINGE GIRL such a fun, fascinating read is the true-to-life characters, the great dialogue, and the interaction between everyone involved. You won't be able to help yourself from rooting for Adora during her bloodless revolution, just as you won't be able to stop yourself from feeling her heartbreak along the way. This is definitely a read that's well worth your time! ( )

Adora Benet and her friends Eli and Liza have always been on the fringe of their high school’s social order: not one of the common people, but certainly not special enough to be treated honestly by the Ruling Class, led by Sondra and Noel. Dora is tired of Sondra always setting trends, including hairstyles, clothing, and even how to think. She wants revenge.

A perfect opportunity to inflict change occurs when Dora must complete a project on revolution for her social studies class. Why not try to usurp the Ruling Class in the very own school through an actual revolution of her own? The more Dora thinks about this idea, the more she is determined to act upon it. She gets her own “Me Style” haircut, riles up the school through satirical editorials in the now-hot school newspaper, and enlists the support of the masses—all following the footsteps of previous bloodless revolutions.

Before long, Dora has succeeded in overthrowing the Ruling Class! No longer do they dictate what everyone else says or does. Dora is seen by nearly everyone as some sort of hero, a leader for their purpose. Life couldn’t be any better.

Or could it? It doesn’t take too long for Dora to realize that the old saying is true: revolutionaries do NOT make good leaders. In the process of her revolution, Dora has managed to anger her two best friends, fall for the wrong boy—twice, and misjudge the people around her. What can she do in order to right her upside-down life?

FRINGE GIRL is imaginative and easy to read. Personally I get sick of books that mention the Ruling Class/Upper Crust/Royalty of high school as the main conflict, but Valerie Frankel works with this too-much-used conflict very nicely, creating for us a unique protagonist in a convincing world. ( )

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