Valdes-Rodriguez, Alisa. Haters.

VALDES-RODRIGUEZ, Alisa. Haters. Little, Brown. 352p. c2006.0-316-01307-2. $16.99. S*

This is chick-lit for high school girls, or more accurately, chica-lit. The names may be Hispanic, but the themes are familiar. Outsider girl Pasquala, age 16, a sleeping beauty, tries to make a place for herself in a new high school in affluent southern California. She doesn't want to be there, but her father, who is apparently experiencing a second childhood, has dragged her there. She is attracted to a god-like rich boy already claimed by the evil queen of the school social elite. "Paski" is interesting and different because she rides her bicycle like a trick pony, making it jump and buck, bouncing over hills and vales, and doing wheelies while shutting out the world by blasting music on her iPod. And, oh yes, she's psychic, like her grandmother, and has inconvenient visions, which she tries to disregard. Throw in that the evil social queen is a Vietnamese supermodel motocross champion, a few psychopathic flunkies, references to Japanese internment camps during WW II, stir the pot, and this entertaining story emerges. Paski's voice is breezy, adolescent, and somewhat Holden Caulfieldesque (she's attuned to what's phony and what's real, and she's also interested in losing her virginity to the right guy).

The theme of being true to yourself and your own interests and going for the gold are always relevant to teens. However, like any romantic novel with a plucky heroine, credibility gets stretched to the limit in order to create a completely satisfying ending. But, hey, who says all literature has to be deep? Myrna Marler, Assoc. Prof. of English, BYU, Provo, UT

S--Recommended for senior high school students.

*--The asterisk highlights exceptional books.