![]() ![]() The reputation she earns over the course of her year has her rethinking what it means to be popular from her point of view, the walls she breaks down in the social landscape of her school are worth the strange and sometimes pitying looks she endures. The comments students make on her retro-inspired hair and outfit experiments might be read as mean-spirited, but her delivery is matter-of-fact, as if she herself is determined to treat their responses as data in an ongoing experiment with an uncertain outcome. ![]() The results of her makeover, adorned with photos and related in a style replete with dry humor and deadpan observations, are a complete hoot. ![]() Focusing on one or two topics per month, and ignoring the open-mouthed exasperation of her best friend, Maya changed her diet, grooming, and posture, donned a girdle and pearls, forsook dungarees for smart cardigans, and went out of her way to overcome her shyness in response to Cornell’s crisp admonitions. What can you do when you’re a social outcast in eighth grade, with glasses, braces, and blotchy skin? Real-life teen Maya Van Wagenen gives her answer in this autobiographical title of an experimental year: reinvent yourself according to Betty Cornell’s Teenage Popularity Guide, originally published by a teen model in 1951 and picked up by your geeky dad in a used bookstore. ![]()
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