Gr 7-Up Gigi Lane thinks her life is perfect, and she's sure that she'll be ruling Swan's Lake Country Day School for Young Women next year as Head Hottie of the Hot Spot. Then, at the Founder's Ball at the end of her junior year, everything changes. When a classmate outs Gigi as being unbelievably cruel and mean, her status as Head Hottie in training is revoked, and she is banished to Alaska for the summer. Gigi thinks all will be well when she returns in the fall, only to discover that she has been exiled from the Hot Spot and forced to grovel her way through all the other cliques to find a place for herself. This satirical and unbelievable story of popular-mean-girl-turned-caring-individual is hard to take. Gigi is self-centered, egotistical, and unlikable, but as the story continues, readers can see her growing and changing as she acquaints herself with the lower-caste students. However, the book starts to drag as she tries to gain acceptance by each clique, with rejection always being the final result. Her sudden altruism seems forced, and readers might not be satisfied with her so-called saintly transformation at the end. Also, these teens never seem to come in contact with guys their own age; their lives revolve totally around their school and the hierarchy within. For stories about girls who make real emotional transformations, suggest Sarah Dessen's "Lock and Key" (2008) or "Along for the Ride" (2009, both Viking)."Traci Glass, Eugene Public Library, OR" Copyright 2010 Media Source Inc.
Permanently exiled from the most powerful, top-secret group in school, the Hot Spot, sixteen-year-old former mean girl Gigi takes a vow of unpopularity. Social invisibility enables her to see what the Hot Spot truly is: a fear-inducing, tyrannical group Gigi decides to take down. Readers will be hard-pressed to find sincerity in Gigi's transformation, but the farcelike plot and outlandish characters are entertaining.
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