Laura  Peyton Roberts' Queen B   begins as red haired Cassie Howard bemoans the horrible fate facing her… Mrs. Conway put her in charge of what is sure to be the worst flop of a show in history.

Cassie doesn’t dare peek through the curtain, the crowd is huge, even her Mom, Dad and Grandmother are out there. Cassie did not set out to direct Hilltop High School’s first Student Talent Showcase to Benefit Cancer Research.

Cassie has been hating Sterling Carter for a long time, well, at least since Sterling beat her out for Snow Queen and Cassie stole Kevin Matthews away from her. Sterling is a really bad singer, and a world class soc. Winter vacation and two weeks passed way too fast. And there was a midnight/New Year’s kiss from Kevin.

The best thing about changing semesters is getting new teachers, or so Cassie thought. Cassie tried haiku, decided she liked her locker way back in the back of nowhere, and hated her milk white legs.

Then came the talent show.

The first act of the talent show was Sterling Carter and her singing. And Sterling has stage fright! Queen B is listed as companion to ‘The Queen of Second Place.’

Writer Laura Peyton Roberts has produced a fun read for teens in her angst ridden Cassie has been runner up since forever, or so it seems. However, now that she is runner up for Snow Queen and has a popular boyfriend maybe her status will change. Told in the first person, the book is written in short chapter jerks and starts, kind of like many teens talk.

Cassie is a pretty typical young teen, she reminds me of my own nieces and the youngsters who peopled my house during the years my own kids were entering high school.

Writer Roberts has crafted a manuscript filled with remarkable characters, distinctive settings and memory producing happenings.

High School talent shows were and are an evening filled with proud parents, apprehensive performers and worried show producers. Teens were and are some of the most interesting of all people. One minute a teen is on top of the world and the next they are in the depths of misery. Cassie is a fun character to read as she plows forward from one catastrophe to another.

Situations presented on the pages of Queen B are offered in enough detail to transport the reader into the location. Dialogue, as well as Cassie’s ruminations moves the narrative along as we follow a preoccupied Cassie from one calamity to another.

She doesn’t really mean to be nonsensical, however the lure of hoped for popularity and what it holds is powerful. Kids tend to view life and problems much differently than do most adults, certainly.

We grown-up types tend to not recall we thought and acted as do teens when we were that age, and with our selective memory we remember ourselves behaving and thinking in such adult manner. Language use by the author is energizing to read: I especially enjoyed the lack of graphic sexual innuendo and profanity so widespread among many teens today.

Enjoyed the read; happy to recommend for target audience readers.

While I would not choose the book for pleasure reading at my age; I did laugh quietly over many of the situations in which the young folks in the book plunged themselves. Queen B is not a work of deep meaning or problem solving, on the other hand, it is a pleasant, entertaining read meant for younger teens.

Queen B is an excellent choice for the home and school library. Girls in the target audience of upper elementary and beginning high school age will be especially interested in the book.

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Reviewed by: Molly's Reviews

molly martin

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 Genre: Juvenile Fiction - Humorous Stories

Author: Laura Peyton Roberts

Line/Publisher Delacorte Books for Young Readers Random

House ISBN 10 03857331639

ISBN: 13 978-0-385-73163-8