Genre: Young Adult Novel

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

Publishing Date: 2002

I guess I will never get tired of reading YA Novels.

Meg Cabot is best known for her Princess Diaries series.  But I sort of had enough of it already.  Even if I haven't read anything from that collection.  Maybe it's the effect of knowing about it through the big screen.  That's why when I saw a Meg Cabot novel that neither has "princess" nor "diary" in the title, I got curious and bought the book.  I bought this from my favorite thrift book shop: Book Sale.



All-American Girl talks about the adventurous time in the young life of Samantha Madison.  Like a typical story of a middle child, Sam finds herself odd and sort of out of place.  And Meg Cabot made sure of that by giving her a very popular cheerleader older sister and a genius and whiz kid for the younger sibling. To add agony, she finds herself in loved with her big sister's boyfriend, who she seem to connect with.  She's not entirely worthless.  She is an artist.  She can draw pretty well.  Unfortunately, her parents don't seem to get that fact, and lead them to sending her to art classes.  This is where the adventure starts to kick in.  In cutting one of those art lessons, she ended saving the life of the president of the U.S. of A!  Making her an instant celebrity!  She became a new-age hero!  And to add tangle to this twist of fate, sparks are starting to fly between her and the first son!

I don't want to spoil it all for you guys.  I had fun reading another YA novel.  It was like going back to my childhood.  I can't help but remember the Sweet Valley series that I have grown to love.  It was light and easy.  You don't need to think much.  It was like watching a feel-good movie.  Yes, there are parts wherein I couldn't help but laugh out loud.  Teens would be very much be able to sort of identify with Sam.  It was fun to have such unlikely events unravel before each page.  While reading, you know for a fact that there is almost no possibility of this ever happening in real life; but somehow you still hope it's true, then laugh at yourself for hoping, and ask yourself, "what if?", but you would just smile at the sweetness of the thought.

In putting this book in my virtual bookshelf, I then found out that there's a part 2.  I did not research more about it though.  So, I'm not sure if it's still about Samantha Madison.  I would not be scurrying for this one, but if ever I come across a copy and its on sale (most probably from Book Sale again), I might buy it.

Overall, All-American Girl is a fun read and would mostly be enjoyed by teens and fans of YA Fiction and those who would want a light read.  I would know, because I am one.. aside from the "teen" part that is.. :p

What have you read lately? 




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