This book was quite the shocker as a kid. I was heavily feeding my Ann M. Martin craze and the library had this book (and now I own said copy, having picked it up at one of the book sales) so of course I had to read it. However, I was still in elementary school and not ready for the subject matter. Re-reading this book as an adult, I found it almost dull and very PSA. I wish that I had picked it up as a teenager. Then it would have worked much better for me.Anna starts a slam book at her high school in hopes of gaining popularity, which she does, but she also gains (and loses) a lot more. The book creates an excess of drama at the school. This book touches heavily upon topics that are somewhat discussed in the California Diaries series. There are far more problems with parents, drinking and the bottom of the popular list than are ever touched upon in the BSC world. This book is definitely the darkest of Martin's books.
Unfortunately, I really don't think this book will have a lot of appeal with today's readers. It feels very outdated now (no wonder, it came out in 1989) and any more it's amazing how many problems in books from that era could have been solved thanks to today's technology (though if this book could easily be modified to include cyber-bullying instead of a composition book). It was nice to re-read this book, but this will likely be the last read for it.
Happy Reading!
-Melly
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