Would probably make a good film - Rated 
And maybe that's why in places this just doesn't quite gell but it's entertaining.
Five years ago Steph Landry spilt a Big Red Gulp on Lauren Moffat's white skirt, irreparably staining it. Lauren coined a phrase, "to do a Steph Landry" or "to do a Steph" about this for anything that people do wrong. It's stuck and it's the bane of Steph's existence. About that time Lauren dropped Steph as a friend and is the most popular girl in the school.
Steph has found a old book on becoming popular and decides to enact some if the ideas in it (updated some of the ideas of course, kid gloves and control pants for example being things to drop). She wants to be noticed by the cool people instead of being relegated to being friends with Jason and Becca who are definitely not part of the in crowd!
While she does this she finds out who her real friends are and finds love. While also finding out what popularity can really mean. The lessons she learns from the book are not only what it has that's right but what's wrong with some of it's ideas. Maybe it is okay not to be part of the popular crowd.
It's not a deep read, nor is is incredibly realistic on some levels as the timescale is a bit shortened for realism but it's a fun read and I found myself laughing out loud at bits of it.
not gonna win any awards but still enjoyable - Rated 
not the best book that i have read and its obviously not gonna win any awards but for what it is still enjoyable to pass and afternoon so i felt some of the reviews are a bit harsh but thats my opinion. story about trying to change your experience of high school for the better, and most of us have wished that our experiences had been better.
typicalhigh school with all the popular kids depicted in the story, although did feel that steph was a bit blind to the whole being in love with her best friend.
Okish Book By Meg - Rated 
I am a rather large fan of Meg's and have many of her books. I brought this book a couple of months back for a good read and was rather annoyed in the end. It's ending is like quite a few of Meg's other books and I feel that she should just carry on with Princess Diaries, one of my favourite books. The ending is pridictable and rushed. Seph falls for her best friend Jaosn and SHOCK he likes her too. Seph and ''It Girl'' Lauren becoem slight friends in the end. Big yawn and a big waste of a tree.
Has promise but doesn't quite live up to standards - Rated
There's nothing really wrong with "How to be Popular", but at the same time, there is little to make it stand out from Cabot's other writing. Combine a pop-culture-savvy teenage girl with an attractive male friend and an unusual mission (in this case, Steph Landry plans to become popular by following the advice of an outdated book), and multiply by high school, and this all becomes fairly run-of-the-mill fare.
Steph lacks the quirkiness of Cabot's previous heroines, and I never felt that her motivation to become popular felt consistent. The book Steph takes her advice from doesn't ring true either (the ideas it gives are too unrealistic to be believable), and the "excerpts" from it dispersed throughout the novel weren't amusing enough to warrant their inclusion. Even worse, all of the plots were predictable and flimsy - a particularly imbecilic monkey would be able to tell from the outset that Steph would eventually realise that she was in love with her best friend. Cabot has been covering the same old ground for her past few books and it has been getting tiring - she is talented enough to branch out beyond conventional romantic comedies, and I really wish that she would show more variety in her writing.
In spite of these criticisms, it is a fairly steady book with, as I said in the first paragraph of this review, nothing mind-bogglingly awful about it. Cabot's heroines are by and large excellent role-models for teenage girls, with Steph being no exception. The prose, too, is as delightful as always (although I am looking forward to coming back to her books in ten years time and seeing how dated the contemporary references make them!). The book certainly had its moments - I especially enjoyed the character of Darlene, the pretty, friendly girl who pretends to be stupid to get her own way. The relationship between Steph and her grandfather was also a highlight.
Bottom line? I wouldn't give this book to encourage someone to read Cabot for the first time, but established fans should be able to find something in it to enjoy.
okay-ish - Rated
I was really excited when I picked up this book, as Meg Cabot is a brilliant author for teenage girls, who like a bit of romance, adventure, and social appeal in their novels. However, I think people who have read it will agree, that it was lacking in the excitement, and fast pace of her other popular books such as, The Mediator series, Teen Idol, All American girl etc. I think the plot in this book was'nt particularly imaginative, and Meg's writing didn't show much enjoyment. Disagree if you like, but read it first. It's not a bad read, but it for me it failed to reach my high expectations of an author with so much potential. Lets hope her writing picks up for Avalon High Coronation, and Jinx (both out in summer)
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