Maya Van Wagenen

Popular, a memoir by Maya Van Wagenen is a funny, refreshing delight!

I'll be honest. I didn't even look at the title, beyond, Popular. When I started the book, I thought, "How clever! She's pretending this really happened. I like it when people pull this off convincingly." Then, the photos began. "Hmmm," I thought, "Well, I wonder where they got the girl to volunteer to have her photo in a book." Slowly, I figured out, "Oh! This is real." That's when I re-read the title. Perhaps my show more observation skills need some honing.

Maya Van Wagenen (seriously, who would have thought it was a real name?) lives in Brownsville, Texas and decides she will follow the 1951 book Betty Cornell's Teenage Popularity Guide by Betty Cornell after her father gives it to her when cleaning out his stuff. Maya's mom contributes by suggesting Maya try the book out as an experiment and write about it. Each month Maya takes on a new part of the book for her eighth grade year. By the end of the year, Maya will be popular. From eating to girdles to talking to everyone, Maya completely changes her outlook on life and learns the truth about being popular, which is an ephemeral concept.

Maya has a great sense of humor that she can capture in writing; bear in mind, she is currently 16 years old! This is a memoir of a CURRENT TEENAGER that is laugh out loud funny. I especially like her family; they are a close family and support her in this strange endeavor. I should reveal that I love etiquette books although I fail to follow their advice. Therefore, this book really resonated with me. Maya captures a border town quite well. I highly recommend this novel. show less

Gr 7-12, Meet Maya, an awkward, intelligent, geeky 8th grader just trying to survive the last bit of middle school on the border of Mexico and Texas in Brownsville, Texas. What better way to get through 8th grade than by consulting a vintage popularity guide! This is Maya’s memoir of her year long experiment of following a 1953 guide to popularity by teen model Betty Cornell. She follows it to the tee, from the pearls, to vaseline on her eyelids, to wearing a girdle (yes, a girdle!). She show more keeps a diary of her experiences from day to day, that has translated seamlessly into telling her story. The reader can relate to all of those feelings that seem so unanimous with middle school. Wanting to feel that you have a place, that you fit in, that you’re liked, the butterflies as you see your crush around the corner, the heartache when you find out they’re not that into you. It’s all here. But what is so profound of this memoir, is the self discovery Maya lets us be apart of. She goes from shy, outsider, to courageous, bubbly social butterfly. What was most beautiful about her insight was the ending wasn’t about how to fit in, but more so of how to feel comfortable with who you are. Maya’s words are a reminder to us all that being good to others, and being good to ourselves is what really counts. Written by a teen for teens, funny, well written, earnest, and genuine, this is a smashing success. show less

I loved everything about this book, it was adorable, heartfelt, inventive, and daring. I can't believe fifteen year old Maya von Wagenen has already achieved more in her life than I have. Kudos to her! I wish I had been as brilliant as her to come up with this awesome social experiment!

When Maya was eleven and starting the eighth grade, her father rediscovered an old thrift shop gem, "Betty Cornell's Teenage Popularity Guide," an awesome guide to amazingness from the fifties. Instead of show more scoffing at the outdated ideas and old trends, Maya's mother challenged her to live the book and live out the ideals, diets, fashions, and manners from that era for an entire year. Painfully shy and at the bottom of the social scale Maya decided to give it a shot. The result of her year long social experiment is this awesome memoir that reads like a personal diary. In it Maya shares, pictures, tips, drawings, musings from life, school, and church and observations about how kids from her school are handling her changes.

It's awesome book and it's amazing how many of the tips and lessons from Betty Cornell's book still hold true. Sixty years later those words help change a shy awkward girl into a confident, outgoing, and happy girl. A definite must read!!!! It's funny, emotional, awkward, and honest. Great for mother daughter book clubs, bookworms, fifties fashionistas, and more. LOVED it!!! show less

teen fiction - 14 y.o. Dolores Mendoza's best friend Shae wants to "take a break" from her thanks to the incurable (but hopefully in time, treatable?) bladder condition "interstitial cystitis" that causes her sudden, painful flare ups and frequently embarrassing incontinence -- loosely based on the author's own experiences with IC. Fortunately Dolores meets a new friend, Terpsichore, who says things that make D. embarrassed (Terpsichore has autism; the author is also on the spectrum but show more didn't realize it until adulthood) but who has the self-confidence that D. sorely lacks these days.

This book is full of super embarrassing scenes that I suppose could be comforting to someone with IC or similar condition, but can also be funny and even relatable to other readers as well. It took me a while to settle into the story as I waited for the plot to get going--Dolores' pact with Terpsichore to become fake besties--but once it did I enjoyed it. Dolores is super hard on herself, so I needed to take breaks from her often, but I liked that everyone was able to work through their separate issues with each others' support, and I liked Dolores' process in coming up with a sincere apology to Terpsichore, which wouldn't be easy for most of us.
The ending was pretty satisfying and I feel glad to have read this. Thank you-- show less