The Queen of Cool

Libby Brin’s got it all—friends, a hot boyfriend, style, and popularity. With laid back parents, it’s easy for Libby to go to parties, host parties of her own, and drink. Libby is a risk taker and a trendsetter—she says when things are cool, and when they were “so yesterday.” But among all this, she realizes one day how shallow her friends are—is life only about parities, drinking, and sex?

Libby is hangs out with her friends, Perla, Mike, Sid, and Libby’s hot boyfriend, Kenji. Perla is a shallow girl who is obsessed with herself, true, she’s beautiful, but all she thinks about is how gorgeous is she is, and getting her own reality show. Mike, Perla’s boyfriend, is just as shallow, only wanting sex. Sid is the geek of the group—the only person in this clique to actually think about things. But the others don’t like him because of all his thinking and philosophical ways, instead of just letting it all lose and partying all the time. Kenji is Libby’s hot guy. But Libby realizes that all Kenji wants is to get inside her pants. Seeing how 2-D her friends are, Libby gets bored. She may be the Queen of Cool in her school, but what exactly is cool? Having these narrow-minded friends and living in a world with laid-back parents, sex, drinking, and partying?

But Libby surprises everyone—herself included—by signing up for a zoo internship. Believing that she was out of her mind when she signed up, she goes with it anyway. Her friends think Libby is insane to sign up. Things only seem to get worse when Libby is paired with Tina (a.k.a. Tiny) and Sheldon—both the considered geeks by Libby. Tina is a small person, but has big dreams and a strong personality, but Sheldon is quieter but bright. Looks can be deceiving, and Libby soon finds herself enjoying the internship. Libby learns a thing or two from Tina and Sheldon and realizes what true friendship is. Can Libby be friends with Tina and Sheldon and belong in her group? Does she even want to be part of her group anymore? Is Kenji a real caring boyfriend—or just guy who wants to ‘do it’ with her?

A great book for teens (mainly girls!) I enjoyed reading this book and would definitely recommend it to fans of Ms. Castellucci’s first book, Boy Proof! An excellent story about a girl finding her true self! There are some mature themes in this book, as well as some strong language, so I would only recommend this book to olden teens, 14 and up.