Reviewer: Connie Payne
Title: Class Favorite
Author: Taylor Morris
Publisher: Mix
ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-3598-8
Release Date: November 2007
Genre/Sub-genre: YA Fiction
Publisher’s Age/Grade Recommendation: 9-13
OUAR’s Age/Grade Recommendation: 9-14
Year/Setting: Present day, Label Texas
Overall Rating: 4.5
Sexual Content Rating: None
Language (Profanity/Slang) Content Rating: None
Violent Content Rating: None
Taylor's Website/Blog: www.taylormorris.com
Being a teenager is hard. Being a teenager in middle school is even harder, for some, which Sara Thurman was learning the hard way.
Mothers aren’t supposed to send gifts to their daughters at school! Nor are they supposed to include a totally humiliating note!! She could just die!
That’s not the worst of it, kids; the entire school learns what her mother wrote before they day is over. Her best friend, only friend, promised not to tell anyone (she was the only one who knew, who saw the note)…How could she?!?
Disaster doesn’t stop there, either. A horrific prank is pulled on Sara. She never thought Arlene could do such a thing to her. Wasn’t blabbing enough? What had Sara ever done to deserve such humiliation? In front of the whole school and Jason Andersen, who was only the cutest, most popular boy in school and Sara’s secret crush.
She was devastated. To lose her best friend truly hurt. Luckily she had the new girl, Kirsten, to turn to, to confide in, to help her with her new-found goal to be Class Favorite, AKA CF. Should be easy, just follow the ‘guide’ and it will all fall into place; she’ll be popular and Jason will notice her. Unfortunately disaster is Sara’s middle name. Or humiliated. Take your pick.
But maybe all this trouble and heartache will be worth it in the end. Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration, but really, Sara slowly begins to grow and see things in a different light.
I don’t know how a young lady could read Class Favorite and not relate to Sara in one way or another. Some may realize they’re not alone in similar situations. Others may realize they need to be nicer and more tolerant of the shy and unsure kids.
CF is all at once touching and engaging; it captures the attention and empathy of the reader from the first word to the last. Sara and her friends/classmates exude true-to-life actions, reactions, and emotions that teens experience on a daily basis.
Taylor Morris writes with compassion, understanding, humor, and an obvious desire to reach and touch the lives of those who read her books. You really can’t go wrong with that.
Happy reading,
Connie
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