Meg Cabot: Teen Idol

Fans of the popular Princess Diaries series are guaranteed to enjoy this new stand-alone novel by author Meg Cabot. As in her Princess Diaries books, Cabot again explores the wish-fulfilment fantasy of many teenage girls. However this time the wish is t

hat the coolest young male actor in Hollywood should attend your school and become your date for the prom, rather than that you should turn out to be a princess.

The quirky heroine of this novel is an almost 16-year-old, Jenny Greenly, who prides herself on being ordinary. In her own eyes she is a typical girl-next-door in terms of appearance, intelligence and sporting abilities.

What makes Jen so extraordinary is that everyone at Clayton High likes her (apart from the director of the school choir). Both the in-crowd and the out-crowd, the bullies and the victims, the teachers and the students, consider her to be a "nice" person.

Jen is constantly being asked to smooth things over whenever there is a crisis, and even the teachers come to her for the occasional advice.

As Trina, her dramatic best friend, tells her, "You're the mayonnaise! You get along with everyone ... without mayonnaise, everything just falls apart".

This ability to see both sides of the story and to relate to anyone and everyone makes Jen the perfect person to hold the super secret position of "Ask Annie", the agony columnist in the school newspaper. The only ones who know that Jen is Annie are the school counsellor, a few school administrators and Scott Bennett, editor of the paper.

Scott goes out with the very glamorous Geri Lynn, a year his senior, but he shares Jen's love of science fiction and is supportive of her secret role.

When the principal calls Jen to his office, she assumes that it is in some way connected with "Ask Annie". Instead she discovers that Luke Striker, 19-year-old movie and soap star, will be coming to Clayton High to research a part for his next movie.

Apparently Luke has never attended high school and is keen to discover what it is really like to be a student.

Furthermore the powers that be have decided that Jen would be the perfect person to help him settle in as she knows how to keep a secret.

While Jen grudgingly agrees to be Luke's student guide during his two-week stay, she is convinced that neither his disguise nor his fake name will fool anyone for long, particularly when most of her friends idolise the actor. Sure enough, one day Luke takes his shirt off to reveal his distinctive tattoo, and he is instantly recognised, but not before he and Jen have developed a genuine friendship.

Luke persuades Jen that the label "a nice person" can be a millstone around your neck. He shows her that in order to be true to yourself and your principles, you sometimes have to say and do things that could bring you into conflict with other people.

As in all Meg Cabot's novels for teenagers, romance is also an integral part of the story.

While Jen gets to go to the prom with Luke, she leaves him in the arms of another girl. But will she be brave enough to declare her true feelings to the boy who matters most to her?

This is essentially a lighthearted novel, fast-paced and entertaining. While aimed at teenage girls, it is sure to also appeal to their older sisters.

Publisher: Macmillan Publishers

Price: $16.99

Age: 12-plus yrs

Recommended by: Dorothy Vinicombe