Sixth grade is hard, especially for a person who has a strong sense of justice and believes the yearbook should be a snapshot of the school, not just a scrapbook of the popular students in the upper grades. This tension forms the core conflict in Kristen Tracy’s latest book, Project [Un]Popular.
Excited for middle school, Perry and her best friend—the bold and sensible Venice Garcia—join the yearbook staff at Rocky Mountain Middle School in Idaho Falls, Idaho, hoping to share their photography talent and to make a difference. Perry sees herself as a serious artist and wants her photos to matter. But the Photography Editor, eighth grader Anya O’Shea, has her own idea about what the yearbook should be. To ensure her vision becomes reality, Anya pretends to like Perry and gives her photographic assignments that stage Anya’s friends. Ego-centric and bossy, Anya insinuates that until Perry starts taking flattering pictures of popular kids, none of her photos will get chosen for the yearbook.
As Perry allies herself with Anya, she alienates herself from Venice, who has begun to take an interest in boys. While Leo Banks occupies Venice’s time, Perry gets squeezed out and begins to feel a toxic triangle form. Fearing that Leo is stealing away her bestie, Perry consults her older sister, Piper, who has taken Advanced Placement Psychology and is now in college. But Piper makes life feel like a big mystery to Perry, who enjoys not only the attention Anya showers on her but the popularity she gains. So, when Leo starts trash-talking Anya, who has already told Perry to keep an eye on Leo, Perry is convinced that Leo is a deception artist seeking to undermine the super-alpha Anya. Perry is also worried that Venice is being manipulated by Leo when the two make it their mission to build a hot sixth grader for the new What’s Hot yearbook section.
Although she has a loyal heart deep down, Perry begins to question her focus and her motivations. Does she accept that she doesn’t have the power to initiate change? Does she betray her friendship? Or, does she just buy another power outfit—camouflage leggings—to take on the battle? After all, why should Anya’s ideas always win and hers lose? Feeling tricked and bullied, Perry eventually tries to politely tell the mean people in her life to leave her alone, but she realizes that she may have already ruined everything: her friendship, her future, the yearbook, and any chance at popularity.
- Posted by Donna