Confessions of a Not It Girl

by Melissa Kantor

Overview

High school is never easy . . . and when you are suffering from a hubris complex and are convinced that the gods on Olympus have focused their attention on you, things are sure to get even harder. In this smart and sassy debut novel, the spotlight is on Jan Miller-a self-labeled "Not It" girl struggling to find out what and who she wants. From her best friend, who is an It girl, to her parents, who are way too embarrassing to her crushes (who always seem to be in the right place at the wrong time), there is never a dull moment for Jan.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781423140993
Publisher:	Disney Press
Publication date:	07/25/2010
Sold by:	DISNEY PUBLISHING WORLDWIDE -EBKS
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	787,271
Lexile:	840L (what's this?)
File size:	552 KB
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Melissa Kantor (www.melissakantor.com) is the author of the best-selling Confessions of a Not It Girl, a Booklist Best Romance Novel for Youth in 2004; If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince?, a YALSA Teens Top Ten Pick in 2006; The Breakup Bible, a YALSA Best Books for Young Adults nominee in 2007; and Girlfriend Material, a Texas Lone Star Reading List winner and a Junior Library Guild Selection. Melissa is a teacher in Brooklyn, New York, where she lives with her husband, the poet Benjamin Gantcher, and their three children.

Editorial Reviews

Recommended

Jan Miller's senior year isn't quite the climax she'd have hoped: she's worrying about her big butt while her best friend, Rebecca, is named as a New York "It Girl" by Chic magazine; she's struggling through college applications without any real idea of where she wants to go or what she has to offer; her plans to lust after Tom Richmond have been put on hold by the return of old and suddenly adorable acquaintance Josh Gardner. Since Jan babysits for Josh's half-sister, this gives her plenty of chances to encounter Josh in his natural habitat—but also to hear about his girlfriend back in Seattle, to become the object of his weedy cousin's desires, and basically to get her nose rubbed in the fact that he's not interested in her. There are slight shadows of more serious matters (largely due to Rebecca and her interest in a young lawyer, who thinks she's in college), but mostly this is a frothy and witty romance in the classic mode, with misunderstandings and uncertainty keeping the couple apart until the final revelation and embrace (here it's at a New Year's Eve party, where Jan is, of course, looking her most beautiful in a surprise find of a vintage dress). Jan's narration is bubbly yet wry, erupting occasionally into sardonic scripted exchanges of how life might have been, and her rueful observations about her disaster-prone love life ("Whoever said honesty is the best policy obviously didn't have much experience with dating") will elicit eye-rolling agreement as well as laughter from many readers. Despite the Manhattan sophistication of the setting and the girls, this is actually a pretty warm and sweet book, with a deep sense of security underlying Jan's hyperbolically expressed concerns, a solid and silly family behind her, and a generous helping of hope and excitement about the future. Princess Diaries fans looking for glittery Manhattan romance aimed at slightly older readers will consider this the It Book.

The Bulletin

Readers will find Kantor's debut novel about the misadventures of an awkward, self-deprecating high school senior predictable but fun. Jan Miller named after artist Jan van Eyck (pronounced "Yahn") is obsessed with the size of her bottom, can't think of what to write in her college application essays and is unsure if Josh, her crush who recently moved from Seattle to New York City, has a girlfriend back home. In contrast, her confident best friend, Rebecca, was just named one of New York's "It Girls" by Chic magazine, gets accepted to Brown and is secretly dating a law student who worked at her dad's firm (and who thinks she's much older). Readers will easily identify with Jan, who attracts the wrong boys, occasionally gets tongue-tied around Josh, and has an active fantasy life (imaginary romantic scenes, in which Josh admits his love, dot the narrative). It's easy to guess how Jan and Josh's will-they/won't-they relationship will ultimately turn out and what will happen to Rebecca and her older man. But Jan's sense of humor, and her rapport with both Josh (at one point Jan and Josh get into a comical conversation about words they hate, including "moist" and "slacks") and Rebecca ("I knew [Rebecca] would be really supportive... but how embarrassing is the recap of a daylong he said/she said when the person you're talking to is shopping for virginity-losing lingerie?") will keep the pages turning. Plus, the novel offers a motivating message to girls about feeling free to make the first move. Ages 12-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 6-10-Jan Miller is a fresh, funny, and real teen seeking her first romance during her senior year in high school. Her parents are New York intellectuals who seem only vaguely aware of what is going on with their children. Jan obsesses about the college applications she has not yet begun; the size of her butt; and Josh, who has returned after many years in Seattle with his father to live with his mother. Most of this melodrama is shared with her friend Rebecca, who is gorgeous, rich, and sophisticated; has recently been named an "It Girl" in a teen magazine; and has considerably more sexual experience than Jan, who has absolutely none. The teen's daydreams about her romantic life are theatrical scenarios with dialogue, stage directions, and curtain closings, an entertaining gimmick that harks back to the first real interaction she and Josh have, during a Romeo and Juliet reading in English class. Clumsy and self-deprecating, witty and smart, Jan struggles with her feelings and her nerves, and comes through a winner on the very last page. Lots of fun, lots of truth, very satisfying.-Susan Oliver, Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library System, FL Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

In this light read, high-school senior Jan spends much of her narrative obsessing about Josh, her new "crush," and about the largeness of her butt (which looks relatively small in the cover photo) and clothes that will minimize it. Although funny at first, the numerous awkward scenes with Josh and other boys soon start to pall. Meanwhile, Jan, who attends a private school, deals with college applications to prestigious schools and admissions visits. In an unconvincing subplot, Jan's best friend, Rebecca, who was named one of New York's "It Girls" by a girls' magazine, is planning to lose her virginity with a law student who thinks Rebecca's a college senior. With its lack of character development or compelling plot, this will only find an audience among undemanding fans of "chick lit." (Fiction. YA)

Kirkus Reviews