Awkward

November 15, 2011
A brilliant but socially inept girl finds herself starring in a YouTube video gone viral when she knocks over a football player and tries to give him CPR. Can she survive the humiliation? Mackenzie tries to keep her head down as the entire nation laughs at her for her awkward video moves. The popular "Notables" in her high school sneer. The press swarms her at school. But her notoriety takes a positive turn when the hottest rock group around turns her film into a music video with a new hit song, boosting her fame even further. Suddenly she receives in the mail dozens of boxes filled with free designer clothes. She winds up singing with the hottie lead singer on stage. The film of her performance also goes viral when it turns out that Mackenzie has real talent. All these events lead to her sudden social rise in her high school's hierarchy. But will the fame go to her head? Bates keeps her prose light, always focusing on the comedy as she lampoons high-school popularity, and gives narrator Mackenzie some good one-liners: "My life had officially become stranger than a Tim Burton movie." It all becomes a bit preposterous, but hey, it's a comedy, and a good one. Very funny. Should please lots of readers, awkward or not. (Comedy. 12 & up)

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March 1, 2012

Gr 7-10-Mackenzie Wellesley, 17, is clumsy, nerdy, and completely invisible to most of her classmates until an embarrassing video of her careening into a football player (and then trying to give him CPR) ends up on YouTube. Suddenly, she is an Internet sensation for all the wrong, humiliating reasons. While most teens would be taking an assumed name after such an embarrassment, Mackenzie attempts to lead a normal life. Except that's hard to do when the paparazzi trail her, fashion designers send her trendy new clothes, and the popular kids suddenly invite her to parties. As expected, Mackenzie finds it difficult to stay grounded with all of the attention. Predictably, classmates try to take advantage of her new fame, but an admirable romantic interest encourages her to embrace her true self, awkwardness and all. Mackenzie is a strong character who initially doesn't care what anyone thinks of her. Totally focused on her studies and getting a college scholarship, she can be a bit abrasive, judgmental, and dismissive. But while some authors might turn an awkward teenage girl into a pathetic mess, Bates portrays Mackenzie as an endearing yet fallible protagonist, a girl worth rooting for. Her first-person narrative is light and funny and easily accessible to fans of Meg Cabot, Emily Franklin, and Ann Brashares.-Kimberly Garnick Giarratano, Northampton Community College, Hawley, PA

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