Castellucci, Cecil. The Queen of Cool.

CASTELLUCCI, Cecil. The queen of cool. Candlewick. 173p, c2006.0-7636-2720-8. $15.99. S

What if the pinnacle of social success in high school was actually boring? This is Libby's dilemma. She's bored with the drinking, the interchangeable boyfriends, the easy sex, the gossip, the parties, the self-absorption of the social elite. All her best friend, the beautiful Perla, can talk about is how she's going to be famous when her father produces a reality television show just for her. All the boys want is commitment-free pleasure. Not that Libby wants to be listed among the dorks, dweebs and geeks. Yet, on a spur-of-the-moment whim, she agrees to intern at the zoo, putting her firmly in the geek category, along with a dwarf named Tina and Sheldon, who has acne and wears flannel shirts and old man sweaters. In spite of her friends' disbelief, Libby sticks with the program and gradually becomes involved in something larger than herself. She finds that dorks and dweebs can be three-dimensional and more interesting than the fashion plates she normally associates with. When her father shocks her with the announcement that he's going to quit his high-paid job in advertising and try to be a writer, she realizes that the Queen of Cool must die and she must come alive to all the varieties and dimensions of life.

Libby's voice sounds authentic. The action is fast-paced with quick cuts from scene to scene a la MTV. The sexual situations and the swearing may make this book best suited for older teens, but certainly teach a lesson younger adolescents might need to know. Myrna Marler, Assoc. Prof. of English, BYU, Provo, UT