Airhead, by Meg Cabot

Airhead, by Meg Cabot. New York: Point, 2008. ISBN-10: 0545040523; ISBN-13: 978-0545040525. 352 p.

Plot Summary
Emerson Watts likes to play video games, is good at calculus, and didn't even want to go to the grand opening of the new Stark Megastore. But someone needed to look after her sister. How was she to know that disaster would strike and life would never be the same? After a freak accident, Emerson's brain has been transplanted into the body of a brain-dead supermodel. Even though her brain is the same, everyone is judging her for her body! How can she be the same person she was?

Critical Evaluation
Dealing with issues of identity that plague many high school girls ("Would I be treated differently if I were beautiful?"), Meg Cabot treats the subject with humor and whimsy. Emerson's thoughts are very realistic, even as she deals with a problem straight from science fiction. Justine Magazine explains, "Getting inside a teenager's head seems like a scary idea...but Meg channels this age group effortlessly. Her ability to write in the voice of a teen so convincingly makes us wonder how she does it. This novel wows as one of Meg's best to date"

Reader’s Annotation
Emerson has the brain of a nerd transplanted into a supermodel's body. Everyone treats her differently now. Is she still the same person she was before she became beautiful?

Author Information
Meg Cabot has written and published over 60 books since her first book was published in 1998, and more than 15 million copies of her books have been published worldwide. She is best known for her Princess Diaries series, although she has written several other popular series for tweens, teens, and adults. Cabot was already a succcessful romance novelist before she began writing her popular YA books, and has also published books under the names Patricia Cabot and Jenny Carroll. She divides her time between New York City and Key West, Florida with her husband and cats. Her website is http://www.megcabot.com/.

In a 2004 interview, Cabot was asked how long it took for her to get where she is today.  Her reply is comforting to any aspiring writer: "I have a U.S. postal mailbag in which I keep my rejection letters. It is too heavy to move. The Princess Diaries was rejected 17 times. For a while, I was getting a rejection letter a day for several years (except on Sunday, when there was no mail). This however only fueled my conviction that the entire publishing industry is completely insane. Now that I am a published author, I have been let in on the secret: I was right all along. They are all insane. But then, so are the writers, so it's a nice fit."

Genre
Chick Lit

Curriculum Ties
None.

Booktalking Ideas
What would you do if your brain was transplanted into the body of a supermodel?

Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 7-10.

Challenge Issues
None.

I included this book because it looked like a fun read. It was also nominated for a Teen Choice Book of the Year in 2009.