The Aristobrats Review

The Aristobrats by Jennifer Solow

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

Release date: September 1, 2010

Source: Publisher

It’s all about the Attitude

Parker Bell knows the secret to beauty is pretty simple–wearing the right clothes isn’t as important as how you feel in them. Popularity is like that too. It’s all about attitude. You have to picture who you want to be and then just imagine that’s who you already are.

This year Parker and her three best friends have made their way to the top of the populadder at Wallingford Academy. And they’re ready to use their Aristobrat status to help spread positive vibes throughout the school. But when the girls are assigned to produce the seriously lame school webcast, their popularity plummets! Will this tragedy destroy the girls' status? Or their friendship? Or both?

Review:

The Aristobrats was an entertaining and original start to what I'm sure will be a very fun series.

In middle school I loved reading series like The Clique and Gossip Girl. They were my guilty pleasure reads that I could finish in a couple of hours. The Aristobrats was similar but it was much more positive and full of girl power. While Parker and her three besties are all about being popular and setting new trends, they also care about other people and just want to be kind and positive. Other students look up to Parker and the Aristobrats and the name isn't demeaning at all- it's a compliment.

The four main characters were Parker, Kiki, Ikea, and Plum. The novel mainly focused on Parker, so I didn't know much about the other three besides what Parker mentions. Of the four, Parker was my favorite. She saw people for more than they appeared and really cared about her friends. Her home life was rocky and throughout the novel she was worried that her mother was going to lose her job and they would have to move. Parker, Kiki, Plum, and Ikea are at the top of the "populadder" until they are assigned to produce their school's webcast. Suddenly another set of girls is stealing their thunder and the Aristobrats are having to spend more time on the webcast then checking out Facebook and Teen Vogue.

I think having to do the webcast was the best thing for the girls, they learned a lot about themselves and what popularity and status truly means. The only complaint I really had was that some of the lingo and abbreviations the girls used was completely unfamiliar to me and got a bit tiresome at some points. Although there was a glossary in the back that helped!

Although the plot of The Aristobrats is similar to other novels I've read, the positive vibes and true friendships shown throughout. The girls nickname for each other was "Lylas" (Love you like a sis). No matter what they stuck together and helped each other out.

The Aristobrats will appeal to 10-14 year old girls the most, but I think older readers will enjoy it as well. Filled with positive messages and great friendships, I can't wait to see where this series goes next. I'm hoping to hear more about Kiki, Parker, Ikea, and Plum!

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars