Popular, Maya Van Wagenen
Popular, Maya Van Wagenen
List: $18.00 | Sale: $12.60
Club: $9.00

Popular
Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek

Author: Maya Van Wagenen

Narrator: Amber Faith, Lee Adams

Unabridged: 6 hr 43 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/15/2014

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

A touchingly honest, candidly hysterical memoir from breakout teen author Maya Van WagenenStuck at the bottom of the social ladder at “pretty much the lowest level of people at school who aren’t paid to be here,” Maya Van Wagenen decided to begin a unique social experiment: spend the school year following a 1950s popularity guide, written by former teen model Betty Cornell. Can curlers, girdles, Vaseline, and a strand of pearls help Maya on her quest to be popular? The real-life results are painful, funny, and include a wonderful and unexpected surprise—meeting and befriending Betty Cornell herself. Told with humor and grace, Maya’s journey offers readers of all ages a thoroughly contemporary example of kindness and self-confidence.
 **Includes a PDF of Maya's digital photo album

About The Author

Maya Van Wagenen is fifteen years old.  When she was eleven, her family moved to Brownsville, Texas, the setting of Popular. When not hunched over a desktop writing, Maya enjoys reading, British Television, and chocolate.  She now lives with her parents and two siblings in a rural Georgia.  She is a sophomore in high school but still shares a room with her sixth grade brother.  Remarkably they have not yet killed each other.


Reviews

<3 so much love for this book here's the video i made: [URL not allowed]......more

This book was so delightful, and so much better than I expected it to be! Maya's writing is a treat, and the message in this book - while absolutely perfect for younger readers - still rang true for me as well in my late twenties. I am so impressed this was written by a 15 year old. It's hard to bel......more

Goodreads review by emma

i (in case you weren't clued in by the fact that i am spending my friday night writing reviews of books i read 5 years ago) am not what anyone would describe as "popular." while i have hated every kind of social interaction for too long to want to change that, and therefore would never want to use th......more

Goodreads review by Sophia

3.5 stars it's hard to review this book because i want to review it like i review novels (works of fiction), but that wouldn't be very fair. overall, this book, in the end, shares a good message, despite having some issues with telling it in the most effective way.......more


Quotes

A New York Times bestseller!

Maya Van Wagenen is a Time magazine Top 16 Most Influential Teen of 2013and a Huffington Post Most Fearless Teen of 2013
 “I was inspired by her journey and made a point of saving a copy of ‘Popular’ for my sister,who starts middle school this fall. Maybe if I had read it when I was her age, it could havesaved me from a world of hurt, or at least put that world in perspective.”—Maude Apatow for the New York Times Book Review
 “Popular taps into a feeling shared by Bradbury and Bieber enthusiasts alike—the need tofit in during middle school.” —USA Today
 “Everyone’s happiness project looks different, and I was utterly charmed by Maya VanWagenen’s honest, funny, and thought-provoking account of her efforts to become ‘popular.’”—Gretchen Rubin, #1 bestselling author of The Happiness Project

“Geeky and dorky, but never wimpy, Maya Van Wagenen is as powerful and honest as sheis quirky and funny—and startlingly gifted. She’s the real deal, folks, a teenage John Greenfor the next generation. Stunning.” —Margaret Stohl, bestselling co-author of the Beautiful Creatures series
 “Maya Van Wagenen’s memoir, Popular, would have been wonderful to read as a kid, andso reassuring to Nerdy Teenage Me. Her year-long experiment in popularity is timeless; theintelligent and humane way she gets to the heart of the matter is uniquely her.Funny, determined, and wry, Van Wagenen has written a wise, heartfelt guide forother kids eager to keep up.” —Rachel Hartman, bestselling author of Seraphina
 “An interesting and earnest memoir.” —Kirkus Reviews“While completely appropriate for middle school readers, Popular is even more entertainingfor adults. Van Wagenen is a uniquely gifted talent with a gem of a first novel” —VOYA