"Popular: How a Geek in Pearls Discovered the Secret to Confidence" by Maya Van Wagenen is a memoir that chronicles the author's transformative journey through high school. Inspired by a vintage popularity guide from the 1950s, Maya embarks on an experiment to apply its advice in her everyday life. As she navigates social challenges, she learns important lessons about self-acceptance, friendship, and the complexity of popularity. Through her humorous and insightful reflections, Maya discovers that true confidence comes not from conforming to others’ expectations but from embracing one's unique identity and values. [Generated by language model - please report any problems].

This book is aimed at children at US 5th grade+.

This book has been graded for interest at 12-17 years.

There are 272 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 2015 by Turtleback Books .

Maya Van Wagenen is fifteen years old. When she was eleven, her family moved to Brownsville, Texas, the setting of Popular . When not hunched over a desktop writing, Maya enjoys reading, British television and chocolate. She now lives with her parents and two siblings in rural Georgia. She is a sophomore in high school but still shares a room with her sixth-grade brother. Remarkably, they have not yet killed each other.