How to Rock Braces and Glasses

by Meg Haston

Genre: Realistic fiction
Age: 10-11+

Kacey Simon is the most popular girl in the whole of Marquette Middle School. She's scored the lead in the school play and gets to kiss Quinn Wilder, has her own program, Simon Says, on the Marquette Middle TV Program, and always makes sure to tell people the cold, hard truth. Whether they like it or not. Truthfully, Kacey's pretty harsh. But nobody's going to challenge the coolest girl at school.
One day, though, she gets an infection from her brand-new contacts - and gets stuck with huge, clunky glasses. Then she trips and needs - GASP! - braces!! And to top it all off, she's suddenly developed a hideous lithp. She goes from top of the pyramid to the very, very bottom in a few days. And that does not bode well for her social life. She soon overhears her best friend planning to ditch her, and loses her spot in the school play. But then she becomes friends again with Paige - one of the least popular girls in the school - and they start a plan to get Kacey right back where she belongs - at the top. But when she meets a new boy called Zander who has his own band, and becomes their lead singer, she starts to wonder if she really, truly wants to be super-popular again.
This book is not only funny, it's new. There are so many books out there that have a tyrannical mean girl who rules the school, but this one takes that idea and changes it up - because how many books out there have a tyrannical mean girl who drops to the pitiful, somewhat-nice girl? The point is, it's a new idea that's really very appealing. There are spots of humor, and Kacey's sarcastic voice makes for a great narration. Also, Kacey has to make lots of choices and decisions throughout the course of the book, and you sometimes find yourself urging her mentally to go with that choice! Overall, this was a great read, especially for middle-schoolers. :)