Imagine Diary of a Wimpy Kid but from a girl's point of view. Nikki J. Maxwell desperately wants to fit in with the CCP (cute, cool and popular) group at her new school. She finds herself a total outsider and learns to hate MacKenzie Hollister, the most popular girl in the 8th grade. MacKenzie is everything that Nikkis is not: pretty, confident, rich, and ruthless.
Nikki finds that in order to be popular, you MUST have a very cool cell phone. Poor Nikki is suffering from a terrible teen-age disease: nocellphoneaphobia--the irrational fear of NOT having a cell phone.
Nikki is a wonderful character. Full of middle school knowledge, like how to make faux puke so your mother will let you stay home sick from school and how to fashion a hearing aid into one of those "cute cell phone thingies," Nikki is a fun protagonist. Blessed with a real talent in art, she soon becomes popular because she can draw the most fabulous "tattoos." Pretty soon, all the football players, cheerleaders, HOT guys, and popular girls become her "friends."
Nikki is at her most fabulous when making observations about life. "After reading Twilight She had learned that forbidden love, obsession, and sacrifice could be very messy things. Just like snot." (p. 186)
Recommended for YA collections grades 7-up. 282 pages
Contributed by: Pamela Thompson, MLIS, Library Media Specialist, Texas
Visit Pamela's YA novel blog at https://booksbypamelathompson.blogspot.com/
With illustrations by Lisa Vega.
