When her father, a cartoonist, gets a job in southern California, Pasquale, "Paski", must move with her father. Her grandmother and best friends are in New Mexico and she really doesn't want to leave. She discovers that the LA lifestyle is worlds apart from Taos and she doesn't fit in very well. Making matters worse is the fact that the "popular" girls don't like her and they makelife miserable for her. Then she meets Chris; tall, handsome and rich who appears to like her a lot and life begins to look up for Pasqi.

Teens concerned about popularity in high school should read this book. The teen "language" is very authentic. The mix of humor, romance, and danger make a good combination. At times, Valdes-Rodriquez is stereotypical about some of the characters and setting, but the story is highly readable.

Johanna Parker reads the book on CD and makes the story come alive. ( )

Reviewed by Jocelyn Pearce for TeensReadToo.com

HATERS is the first young adult book by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, but anyone who reads this book (myself included) is sure to hope it's not her last! In the novel, readers are introduced to Paski (her full name is Pasquala Rumalda Quintana de Archuleta, but that's way too much of a mouthful). She's a New Mexico teenager who, because of her father's new job, moves to Orange County, California. Yeah, the O.C. And it seems a lot like the television show. Paski misses the mountains around her old home of Taos (she's a mountain biker), her psychic grandmother (whose talents she has inherited), her best friends, and tons more, but maybe the O.C. isn't so bad. After all, there's super-hot Chris Cabrera! It's not like Paski is a social leper, either. She quickly makes friends with Tina, a girl who has a slight obsession with anthropology.

Things aren't all fun and games, though. At her new school, Aliso Niguel High, certain things are very important. Looks and money, for the most part. And gorgeous, rich (and evil) Jessica Nguyen has both. She and her friends (some of the Haters the book is named for), confident as they may seem in their place at the top, are a little threatened by Paski, who is just as pretty as they are. At first, they're able to dismiss her as just an "apartment girl," but then they find out her dad is going to be really well paid for the movie (about a superhero named Squeegee Man) that he's animating. Apparently, Paski has what it takes to get to the top. But with the Haters there, is that where she wants to be?

HATERS was an entertaining, fun read that kept be hooked up until the very last word! Maybe it's not a hugely original idea--there are tons of young adult books about rich, popular teenagers in California. Or Florida. But this is more than that. Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez tells the story in Paski's fresh, original voice that will have readers craving more. I hope there's more about Paski in the future, or at least more young adult fiction from Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez in general, and anyone who reads this book will most definitely feel the same! ( )

Paski's dad gets a chance to take his comic book character on to the big screen so the two of them have to move to Southern California. The school is nasty but nothing like as nasty as I remember from my high school days. Paski is an interesting character especially as she has psychic powers, however, the book suffers from a drive to come to an overly happy ending. ( )

351/351 pages;
This book is about a teenage girl, with psychic powers, who moves from New Mexico to SoCal. Her dad is a comic book artist, and he is the reason why they moved. She goes to a new highschool, has big issues with the popular kids, meets a new guy named Chris Cabrara, gets into motorcross, and out of the big messes she gets in, she finds hope and happiness at the end. The main character is Paski, and she has psychic powers. She is very athletic, sometimes afraid to take chances, but a real good person. When she moves, she kind of stays too negative about the idea, and sometimes doesnt really enjoy the life of a Los Angeles citizen. A situation I can relate to is fitting in with a different crowd-getting new clothes (designer names for Paski, American Eagle for my case) and not being able to do that. The only thing i didn't like about this book was how fantasy was somewhat mixed in it (psychic powers). Of corse, I don't believe in that kind of stuff and not really into it, but I think in this case it was okay and kind of made the book more interesting. The kind of readers I think will enjoy this will be the chick flick kind of teens, and also those who enjoy reading about fantasy. I do not know who exactly would play the role of the main character, but I think it would have to be a teenage girl who is athletic, shy but with a wild side, and Hispanic. ( )

When Paski's Dad's comic book character gets picked up by a movie studio to be turned into a movie, she has to move with him to Southern California. Orange County, to be precise. The leader of the popular rich girls at her new school sets out to make her life miserable when Paski catches the eye of the leader's boyfriend. ( )