Meg Cabot's Books for Young Adults


Meg Cabot Image from MegCabot.com	About Meg Cabot \| Quotes from Meg \| Meg's Books for Young Adults Meg's Books for Adults \| Home	The Princess Diaries Image from MovieGoods.com

Meg's Books for Young Adults

Links direct to the book's catalog entry at the Champaign Public Libary. There you can see if any copies of the book are on the shelf, and request a copy if it is not.

Airhead Series Overachieving high school student Emerson Watts has absolutely nothing in common with teen model Nikki Howard. At least, not until a freak accident brings them together and forces both girls to reevaluate themselves. Airhead Being Nikki Runaway Review Publishers Weekly Cabot (the Princess Diaries series) dishes up all the story ingredients her fans have come to know and love—romance, humor, believable teen dialogue and even a fantastical twist. This last bit requires a major suspension of disbelief, but willing readers will love it. Emerson Watts, 16, likes living in New York City's SoHo neighborhood, but she can't tolerate most of the students at her private high school. She and her best friend (and secret crush), Christopher, escape their outcast status by immersing themselves in online video games. But Emerson's bland world shatters when she attends the opening of a new Stark Megastore and suffers a terrible accident. She wakes up in the hospital one month later in someone else's body—and not just anyone else's, but that of superhot teen model Nikki Howard. Cabot's portrayal of Emerson is brilliant. She's a too-cool-for-school independent chick, but she doesn't grow annoying, because the author makes it clear her sarcasm stems from not fitting in. Once she's Nikki Howard, however, she has to rethink her positions on the social order. Pure fun, this first series installment will leave readers clamoring for the next. Ages 12–up.
All American Girl Series Samantha Madison is just another teenager in Washington, D. C. until the day she saves the President of the United States--and attracts the eye of the President's teenage son. All-American Girl Ready or Not Review Publishers Weekly Cabot (The Princess Diaries) presents another teen-pleasing novel—and another likable heroine—in this story set in Washington, D.C. Feisty, red-haired Samantha, a self-described "urban rebel" who has dyed all of her clothes black, is a 15-year-old middle child, uncomfortably wedged between her popular, cheerleader older sister, Lucy, and her brainy 11-year-old sister, Rebecca. And she has a major crush on Jack, Lucy's nonconformist/artist boyfriend, whom she feels is far better suited to her than to her rather vacuous sister. The entertainingly opinionated narrator's wry top-10 lists add considerably to the tale's charm and speedy pacing, among them, the "top ten reasons why I can't stand my sister Lucy" and the "top ten signs that Jack loves me and not my sister Lucy and just hasn't realized it yet." Sam's life suddenly changes dramatically when, while standing on the sidewalk one afternoon, she foils an attempt to assassinate the President. She becomes a national hero overnight, is named teen ambassador to the United Nations and eventually lands the president's son as her beau. Despite these rather unlikely plot twists (in a comic coincidence, the president's son also happens to be a fellow student in her art class whom she finds attractive), Sam's spunky and intermittently affecting narrative, as well as the true-to-life voices of the supporting cast of characters, make this a convincing and diverting tale. As Sam learns important truths about herself, Cabot interjects a worthy message into her comedic caper. Ages 12-up.
Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls series In Meg's first series aimed at pre-teens, fourth grader Allie Finkle gets a new kitten and starts a new school. She deals with both situations with humor. Moving Day The New Girl Best Friends and Drama Queens Stage Fright Glitter Girls and the Great Fake Out Blast from the Past Review Publishers Weekly In Cabot's (the Princess Diaries) first foray into novels for kids who are still in single digits, her trademark frank humor makes for compulsive reading—as always. The first installment of a new series presents a nine-year-old girl attempting to impose rules for living on her increasingly complex world. Allie is funny, believable and plucky (of course; all girls are plucky, at least in books), but most of all, and most interestingly, Allie is ambivalent. As the book starts, Allie learns that her family is moving across town. It is a mark of Cabot's insight to understand that, to a nine-year-old, a car ride's separation from the world she has known makes that distance as vast as the universe. Allie will be enrolled in a different elementary school, and will therefore be that most hideous thing: the new kid. To make matters worse, the Finkle family will be moving to a dark, old, creaky Victorian, which, Allie becomes convinced, has a zombie hand in the attic. Moving will mean leaving behind not only her geode collection but also her best friend. And here is where the story deepens. Allie's best friend is difficult. She cries easily and always insists on getting her own way. To keep the peace, Allie makes rules for herself, often after the fact, to teach herself such important friendship truisms as Don't Shove a Spatula Down Your Best Friend's Throat. [...] Early elementary school is all about primary colors, where rules, imposed by adults, are clear guidelines to good behavior and getting along. The more complex hues of the second half of elementary school, when complicated friendship dynamics begin to outpace the adult-imposed rules of home and school, leave many kids floundering and confused. In the character Allie Finkle, Cabot captures this moment of transition and makes it feel not just real, but also fun, and funny.
Avalon High and Avalon High Coronation series The novel Avalon High, which was loosely adapted into a Disney Channel original movie in 2010, updates Arthurian legend and sets it in a modern-day high school, where new student Ellie must figure out the role she has to play in the story that's unfolding. It's followed by the Avalon High Coronation series, which continues the story in Japanese manga style, illustrated by Jinky Coronado. Avalon High Avalon High Coronation: The Merlin Prophesy Avalon High Coronation: Homecoming Avalon High Coronation: Hunter's Moon Review Publishers Weekly Cabot (the Princess Diaries) brings the Arthurian legend to modern times in this clever novel. Ellie's parents are medieval studies professors on sabbatical in Annapolis, where Avalon High's senior class president tells her he feels a strange connection to her. Will seems like a golden boy, but Ellie soon hears strange rumors: Will's father had his best friend killed and married the man's wife, leaving Will with a troubled stepbrother. Plus, Ellie discovers Will's girlfriend cheating on him with his best friend. Readers will enjoy making the connections to the real Arthurian legend, puzzling out—as Ellie does—that girlfriend Jennifer is sort of like Guinevere, and Will's best friend, Lance, Lancelot. It will likely come as no surprise to readers when Ellie learns that Will's first name is really Arthur. But could it be true, as one teacher (and the Order of the Bear to which he belongs) believes, that Will is King Arthur reborn, destined to "lead the modern-day world out of the Dark Ages and into a new age of enlightenment"—unless his brother kills him? Ellie cannot deny the similarities in their stories, but she refuses to believe she is Elaine of Astolat (aka the Lady of Shalott), who killed herself over Lancelot. If that's the case, she thinks, why is she crushing on Will? Readers will be swept up in the fantasy framework (and likely be willing to accept some delectably outrageous plotting, such as when Will learns that his stepmother is actually his true mom). There is plenty of suspense here to hold their attention, as they, like Ellie, try to fit together all the pieces. Ages 12-up.
How to be Popular Steph Landry has been the least popular girl in school since sixth grade. But junior year is starting, and she finds a book called How to be Popular. She follows all of its advice, with surprising results. How to be Popular Review Publishers Weekly Steph Landry is tired of being unpopular ("If anyone in school does anything remotely crack-headed or dorky, people are all, 'Don't pull a Steph!' "). After she discovers an old guide to popularity, she resolves to improve her status. She buys a new wardrobe, organizes a school fundraiser and smiles a lot. The plot is entertaining, if predictable: Steph quickly rises to the top, even forming a friendship with her cute crush. But along the way she strains her relationship with her best friend and neighbor, Jason—and slowly sees that life at the pinnacle is not all it seems. Readers may have trouble believing that the heroine's sixth-grade faux pas would warrant the long-term wrath of the school's queen bee (Steph accidentally spilled her Big Red Super Big Gulp on Lauren's designer skirt in front of the whole cafeteria). But the characters and dialogue come across as genuine and funny. Readers will likely find the antiquated advice from the popularity book hilarious ("People are drawn to those who have the ability to make them feel excited whether about a car wash, a weenie roast, or a sock hop!"). Steph realizes there is some truth to it, though, even if what the book really helped her do was figure out how she feels about Jason. Ages 12-up.
Jinx Jean "Jinx" Honeychurch has always thought of herself as unlucky, but it turns out she's actually a witch. She's forced to leave her home in Iowa to study witchcraft with relatives in New York City, where her powers will be put to the test. Jinx Review Publishers Weekly Jean, aka Jinx, has been a “bad luck magnet” since the moment she was born, when a freak thunderstorm caused a hospital blackout. Now, due to a vaguely described incident involving a stalker, she has moved from Iowa to stay with her aunt’s family in a ritzy New York City townhouse. Jean’s regular bad luck gets worse thanks to Tory, the snotty cousin who is now her classmate at an exclusive private school. After Jean mysteriously prevents a cute neighbor from a terrible accident, Tory is convinced that Jean is a witch—just like herself, and as proof she dredges up a story their grandmother used to tell about magic in their bloodline. Jean refuses to join Tory’s coven, saying, “I don’t think messing around with magic is such a good thing, you know” (though she soon performs a binding spell to prevent her cousin from hurting the family’s au pair). Tension between the girls rises, causing Tory to ominously declare, “I have a very special thank-you I’ve been saving up, just for Jinx.” With its assurance of a satisfying outcome despite the odds, predictability is a virtue in a Cabot (Princess Diaries ) novel, and readers will guess most plot points, including the truth behind the stalking story. Readers will enjoy the premise and the naiveté of the heroine, and they’ll wonder, as Jean does, how much magic is actually at play. The final supernatural showdown proves that Cabot can do harrowing just as well as she does pop romance. Ages 12-up.
Mediator series Suze Simon sees dead people, and it's really getting in the way of her social life. She'd be thrilled about having a hot guy in her bedroom, if he weren't a ghost. Like the TV show Ghost Whisperer (although it was written before the show first aired), sixteen-year-old Suze helps spirits make their peace with the world. Shadowland Ninth Key Reunion Darkest Hour Haunted Twilight Review Publishers Weekly The inaugural installment of The Mediator series introduces high school sophomore Suze, who, in her words, has "this unfortunate ability to communicate with the dead." As a "mediator," the girl helps ghosts put unresolved issues to rest so they can move on to the next world. When her mother remarries, Suze moves from New York City to California, where she and her three stepbrothers attend a Catholic academy headed by a priest. Conveniently, the priest is also a mediator (the first of her kind that Suze has ever met). During the course of this rather repetitious and intermittently sluggish caper, Suze encounters two ghosts: a handsome young man from the 19th century who haunts her bedroom and a girl who was a student at the academy until she killed herself when Bryce, her boyfriend, broke up with her. As Suze attempts to protect Bryce from the angry apparition's wrath, the ghostly girl grows determined to get revenge on both her former beau and Suze. Suze finally resorts to an exorcism to get rid of her. As a narrator this teen is a bit too tough-talking and cocky to be credible. Still, the intriguing premise of a 16-year-old with a sixth sense may stand more than a ghost of a chance at snaring teen readers. Ages 14-up.
Nicola and the Viscount In this historical romance set in the early 1800s, sixteen-year-old oprhan Nicola has her eyes set on the viscount Lord Sebastian Bartholomew, but the infuriating Nathaniel Sheridan may cause trouble for her. Nicola and the Viscount Review Carousel From the author of the immensely popular Princess Diaries comes this tale for young ladies - a sort of Jane Austen for twelve-year-olds! It's 1808 and the setting is a high-class finishing school. Nicola's heart has been given to the beautiful and fabulously rich Lord Sebastian, but she has a handicap. She is a penniless orphan whose parents inconveniently but romantically died when she was a baby, leaving her in the care of the caretaker and his wife at the family seat of Beckwell Abbey. Things turn nasty when her distant cousin and guardian turn up to tell her they are selling the property.
Pants on Fire Katie Ellison is hoping to win enough prize money from the Quahog Princess pagaent to buy a new camera. She's also juggling three different boys and telling more and more lies to cover her tracks. Pants on Fire Review Publishers Weekly The summer before senior year, life looks good for Katie Ellison, girlfriend of football player Seth Turner (who has “the most sought-after tongue in all of Eastport”). She's waitressing at the Gull 'n Gulp and making out on the sly with Eric Flutely, star of the school musical. With the cash she's sure to earn by placing in the Quahog Princess pageant—one of the four contestants is an anarchist whose platform involves allowing Eastport's famed quahogs (clams) “to live free, without fear of being dug up and eaten”—she can pay off the balance on the professional camera she wants. Then Tommy Sullivan returns to town. Katie and Tommy were close friends until he became a pariah after penning an exposé about SAT cheating by football players, a scandal that cost Seth's brother a scholarship. Katie betrayed Tommy rather than be ostracized by association, but Tommy is no longer the skinny brainiac who left Eastport: he's tan, buff and ultra-confident. Boy-crazy Katie, who admits to a kissing addiction, is more than smitten: she may be in love with her boyfriend's archenemy. The lies Katie tells to keep her romantic indiscretions under wraps build until she realizes the truth is her only recourse. It may be a bit tough to conjure sympathy for a pageant contestant with a straight-A average and three hot guys in her orbit—but tweens and teens will likely find this amusing fare as easy to swallow as iced tea on a hot afternoon. Ages 12-up.
The Princess Diaries series The series that launched Meg Cabot's career as a YA author and spawned two hit movies, this series follows Mia Thermopolis's diary as she transforms herself from awkward high school student to polished Royal Princess of Genovia, a small (and fictional) European nation. Mia, along with her overbearing Grandmere, the Dowager Princess Clarisse; her politically active best friend Lilly; her computer genius on-again, off-again boyfriend Michael; and her other friends, navigates normal high school dramas like prom along with not-so-normal international incidents. The Princess Diaries Princess in the Spotlight Princess in Love Princess in Waiting Project Princess Princess in Pink Princess in Training The Princess Present Party Princess Sweet Sixteen Princess Valentine Princess Princess on the Brink Princess Mia Forever Princess Princess Advice Princess Lessons Perfect Princess Holiday Princess By Princess Mia Thermopolis Ransom My Heart Review (Princess Diaries) Amazon.com Mia Thermopolis is your average urban ninth grader. Even though she lives in Greenwich Village with a single mom who is a semifamous painter, Mia still puts on her Doc Martens one at a time, and the most exciting things she ever dreams about are smacking lips with sexy senior Josh Richter, "six feet of unadulterated hotness," and passing Algebra I. Then Mia's dad comes to town, and drops a major bomb. Turns out he's not just a European politician as he's always lead her to believe, but actually the prince of a small country! And Mia, his only heir, is now considered the crown princess of Genovia! She doesn't even know how to begin to cope: "I am so NOT a princess.... You never saw anyone who looked less like a princess than I do. I mean, I have really bad hair... and... a really big mouth and no breasts and feet that look like skis." And if this news wasn't bad enough, Mia's mom has started dating her algebra teacher, the paparazzi is showing up at school, and she's in a huge fight with her best friend, Lilly. How much more can this reluctant Cinderella handle? Offbeat Mia will automatically win the heart of every teenage girl who's ever just wanted to fit in with as little fuss as possible. Debut author Meg Cabot's writing is silly and entertaining, with tons of pop culture references that will make teens feel right at home within her pages. This is a wonderfully wacky read. Ages 12-up. Review (Forever Princess) Publishers Weekly The Princess Diaries wraps up in a series finale certain to please the legions of Princess Mia fans. Cabot shows off her singular ability to retread her story lines while leaving audiences breathless to get to the last page: Mia will be certain that this time she’s sunk, for real, and oblivious to what is writ large to everyone around her. Here she copes with the pressures of prom (J.P. hasn’t asked her), graduation and college acceptances (she’s lied through her teeth about them), not to mention her 18th birthday and a party orchestrated by the imposing Grandmère. And why doesn’t anyone want to publish her pseudonymous romance novel, Ransom My Heart ? (Brief excerpts are tossed in, and absolute devotees can polish off the entire work.) When former boyfriend Michael returns from Japan with his revolutionary medical technology a complete success, Mia is where readers love her: insecure and self-deprecating. By now, however, she understands that being royal means “always being the bigger person, and being kind to others”—and she can act accordingly. A character like this deserves the happy ending Cabot virtually guarantees. Ages 12–up.
Teen Idol Jenny Greenley writes a popular advice column in her school newspaper. But when a teen movie star comes to stay with her to research a movie role, he persuades her to change her column to speak out against injustices in her school. Will Jenny be able to change her school for the better--and find true love? Teen Idol Review Publishers Weekly Cabot (Princess Diaries ) revisits her Hoosier roots, taking something of a break from the glitzy world of Genovia's royalty. But not too much of a break, since this brisk and bubbly tale explores what happens when teen heartthrob Luke Striker attempts to spend a week posing as an ordinary high school student in a small Indiana town, in order to research his next movie role. Luke's host (and the novel's peppy narrator) is Jenny, a well-liked junior at Clayton High who has her own secrets: she anonymously pens "Ask Annie," the school paper's advice column, excerpts of which appear before each of the novel's chapters. And she nurses a half-acknowledged crush on the paper's editor, Scott, who is dating someone else. Shocked by the cruelty of real-life high school, Luke convinces Jenny to become a force for good—to no longer simply be everybody's pal but to champion the downtrodden (such as the school's least popular girl, Cara "Cow") and fight for what's right (the return of a favorite teacher's kidnapped Cabbage Patch doll). As a reward, of sorts, Luke promises to come back to town to take Jenny to the high school's Spring Fling. The down-to-earth high school setting, peopled with recognizable, fully realized characters and ably described by Jenny, provides a sturdy springboard for the over-the-top Hollywood plotline, which Cabot delivers with a wink. A snappy and fun read that is—no doubt—soon to be ready for its own close-up. Ages 12-up.
Vanished series (originally published as the 1-800-WHERE-R-YOU series) When high school sophomore Jess Matriani gets struck by lightning, not only does she survive, but she acquires the psychic power to find missing children. (Note: this series was originally published as the 1-800-WHERE-R-YOU series under the name Jenny Carroll. It has recently been republished in Meg Cabot's name as the Vanished series, which collects the five volumes of the 1-800 series into two books, although the content is the same.) When Lightning Strikes Code Name Cassandra Safe House Sanctuary Missing You Review Kliatt A page-turning read that will have fans lining up for the next Jess story.
Victoria and the Rogue Lady Victoria Arbuthnot grew up in India, but when she turns sixteen her parents send her to London to find a husband. She quickly becomes engaged to Hugo Rothschild, the ninth earl of Malfrey, but young ship captain Jacob Carstairs won't stop meddling in her affairs. What's Victoria to do? Victoria and the Rogue Review Amazon.com Customer Review Victoria Arbuthnot was just four years old when her parents died while the family was visiting India. Since then, she has been raised in India by her uncles, but now that she is sixteen, she has been sent back to England to find a husband. On the long sea journey from India to London, Victoria meets Hugo Rothschild, the ninth early of Malfrey, who proposes to her shortly before the journey's end. Victoria is thrilled with the proposal. But why is Jacob Carstairs, who was also a passenger on the ship, trying to get her to end her engagement? Now that they are in London, why won't he just leave Victoria alone? And why is she even attracted to such an infuriating man as Jacob? And is Hugo hiding a terrible secret? I enjoyed this book even more than Meg Cabot's first Avon True Romance. It had a really good romance and also a good mystery subplot.