Taylor Morris

Reviewed by Cana Rensberger for TeensReadToo.com

Lucia Latham has to win the election. She just has to! She was class president in sixth and seventh grade. Never has the same student been voted president of Angus Junior High three years in a row, and Lucia will do whatever it takes to make history, including talking her friend, Melanie, into running for president alongside her. There's no way Melanie will beat her, and when she comes in second, then Melanie would become her vice-president. And with her best friend, Cooper, running unopposed for secretary, shell have no problems getting the council to go along with her big idea!

But, in asking Melanie to run, she doesn't figure in the possibility that Melanie might actually be more popular that she is. And when the principal puts Lucia's big plan into motion, Lucia doesn't expect the students, including those on her own council, to hate it. And since nobody else really cares about student council the way she does, Lucia certainly never expected Nicole Jeffries, the school's top reporter, to discover that she had broken one of the student council by-laws, resulting in a scathing article that called for Lucia to resign or be impeached!

As Lucia's presidency crumbles she finds she has no one to talk to. Her father has been little more than useless since losing his job. Her mother, already stressed from having to carry the full financial load, is all out of sympathy. And Melanie seems to actually enjoy being the new president. Lucia heads over to Cooper's to vent and ends up confused and angry when she finds him boxing with Melanie!

What will Lucia decide to do when she finds out about Melanie's plan for the big yearly 8th-grade fundraiser? Will she be able to help her dad find his way back into the game? And what about Cooper? Will she ever be able to look at him like she used to? Her best friend ever?

Once again, Ms. Morris has created a delightful cast of characters. The reader will relate to Melanie's frustration after doing something she knew was wrong, and now having to cope with the natural consequences. They'll recognize her confused emotions as Cooper stirs strange feelings, and her resulting jealousy of Melanie. Sprinkle in a few upper cuts and jabs, and the result is a total knockout! Although this second book is more serious than Taylor Morris' debut novel, if you loved CLASS FAVORITE, you will be equally thrilled with TOTAL KNOCKOUT!… (mais)

Reviewed by Cana Rensberger for TeensReadToo.com

You think Junior High is tough? Ha! It's nothing compared to Sara Thurman's eighth grade year! It all starts when Sara finally “becomes a woman” and - get this - her mother sends her - PERIOD flowers! On Valentine's Day! Yeah. You heard right. Ever try to keep a secret in Junior High? Only one person knows who sent those flowers besides Sara, and that's her best friend, Arlene. You can imagine Sara's hurt and confusion when she realizes everyone knows why she got the flowers. And it's only lunchtime!

You've heard of Murphy's Law? You know: If something can go wrong, it probably will. And it does for Sara. Things go from bad to worse. To top it off, she and Arlene have their first ever fight in front of everyone. How can she trust her best friend when Arlene's the only one who could have betrayed her?

Luckily for Sara, she's made a new friend. She met her that same fateful day that she received her red-tipped, white roses. Together, they vow to turn Sara's embarrassment into a nomination for class favorite. They watch the popular girls. They read magazines and clip out pictures and articles. Soon, they have a list of things Sara must do to become popular, which Sara follows faithfully. Will the popular kids notice her? Talk to her? Will her crush, Jason, like her new look? And will she and Arlene ever be friends again?

Taylor Morris has captured the heart of an eighth grader in CLASS FAVORITE. The characters were believable, although, at times, I felt they just as easily could have been sixth or seventh graders. I feel certain that any girl who has ever wished to be part of the popular crowd will totally relate to this book. And because it made me laugh out loud more than once, I give it five stars!… (mais)

All that Sara Thurman wants is to be popular. Unfortunately for her, disaster after disaster (or as disastrous as middle school can get) comes her way. Sara keeps on getting publicly humiliated, which doesn’t help her goal at all, or so she thinks.

It all starts when she “becomes a woman.” Sara’s mom finds this out and sends Sara flowers. Unfortunately, the flowers reach the wrong destination, Sara’s middle school to be exact, and everyone finds out about Sara’s secret. Sara puts all the blame on her best friend Arlene because Arlene was the only person she told the secret to. Soon, another friendship develops with the new girl Kirstie, who helps Sara create a list of everything that will help Sara become popular.

When I first read the cover of this book, I thought oh no, not another one of these. But I was glad when it turned out that the main character was not one of those popular girls with all their problems, but someone from the opposite end of the spectrum, the girl with few friends who wishes she was more popular. I also did not expect the ending of this novel, but it was better than the ending I expected.

Sara’s character is very believable, and so are her issues dealing with her friends, family, school, and boys. There’s a much drama as there can be in a middle school, but I found that some of Sara’s issues were overdramatized. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from this novel, including that popularity is overrated and that people aren’t always who you expect them to be. I liked watching Sara grow and mature, and overall, this book was a good read. I recommend this for middle schoolers, and even if you are older, I think you can still enjoy this.

reposted from http://thebookmuncher.blogspot.com… (mais)