The Hot List

March 1, 2011

Gr 5-8-Sophie and Maddie have been best friends for years, but recently Maddie has been hanging out with Nia, the most popular girl in seventh grade. Desperate for Maddie to remain solely her friend, Sophie comes up with the idea to create a Hot List of the cutest boys and girls at school and to post it on a bathroom stall so they will have a major secret to share that cements their friendship. Predictably, the Hot List takes on a life of its own as a new one appears each month, although Sophie and Maddie have nothing to do with them. Unfortunately for Sophie, Maddie still wants to be friends with Nia and even lets it slip that she and Sophie were responsible for the original Hot List. Feeling betrayed, Sophie stops speaking to Maddie and makes a bet with Nia that she can get the biggest loser in school onto the list in a month's time. Readers may relate to Sophie's desire to keep the status quo, but the book lacks sufficient exploration of her reasons, including the possible connection to her father dating Nia's mother. Additionally, further examination of the negative consequences of the Hot List is needed.-Amanda Raklovits, Champaign Public Library, IL

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2011
Grades 5-8 When Sophie sees her best friend, Maddie, being pulled off into queen-bee Nias cooler crowd without her, she devises a desperate power play to lure her back: putting a list of the hottest boys and girls in the girls bathroom. Mysteriously, someone else takes over and updates the list at regular intervals, and the all-powerful Hot List begins to rule the day for the kids at Travis Middle School. Although teachers and administrators appear amazingly clueless about the social cyclone engulfing the school, the romp captures the angst of young teen friendships and fragile identities.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)