Product Description

Ask Annie your most complex interpersonal relationship questions. Go on, we dare you!

All letters to Annie are subject to publication in the Clayton High School Register. Names and e-mail addresses of correspondents guaranteed confidential.

High school junior Jenny Greenley is good at solving problems ... so good she's the school newspaper's anonymous advice columnist. Even if solving other people's problems doesn't make her own -- like not having a boyfriend -- go away, it's still fun. But when nineteen-year-old screen sensation Luke Striker comes to Jen's small town to research a role, he creates havoc that even levelheaded Jenny isn't sure she can repair ... especially since she's right in the middle of it.

Can Jen, who always manages to be there for everybody else, learn to take her own advice, and find true love at last?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #777388 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-01
• Released on: 2004-07-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 7 10–Nothing much happens in the small town of Clayton, IN. At least not until major teen heartthrob, 19-year-old Luke Striker, comes to town to research a part for a new film project. Jen Greenley, a junior at the local high school and all-around friend to everyone, is assigned to show him around. The only problem is that no one besides Jen is supposed to know who he really is. Between keeping his identity a secret, lying to her best friend who's Luke's biggest fan, writing the advice column for the school paper, and developing a crush on her friend Scott who happens to already have a girlfriend, Jen is feeling a little overwhelmed. The characters are funny and engaging and the dialogue is just right; both elements redeem the somewhat predictable plot.–Ginny Collier, Dekalb County Public Library, Chamblee, GA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Gr. 7-11. To research an upcoming movie role, teen actor and heartthrob Luke Striker goes undercover as a new student at a small Indiana high school. Junior Jenny Greenley (the archetypal girl-next-door) is assigned to be his student guide, and she must swear to help keep his identity a secret. Jenny is great at keeping secrets: no one has guessed that she is the face behind the school newspaper's agony column, "Ask Annie." This predictable but wholly satisfying combination of three love stories reads like a cross between a teen sitcom and Much Ado about Nothing. Cabot has an uncanny ear for both teen dialogue and interior monologue, and she punctuates the plot with aptly selected excerpts from "Ask Annie" and instant messages. The text is peppered with pop-culture references that may date the story eventually, but which, for the moment, give it an extra jolt of immediacy. Debbie Carton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Inside Flap
Ask Jenny your most complex interpersonal relationship questions. Go on, we dare you!

High school junior Jenny Greenley is good at solving other people's problems . . . so good she's the school newspapers' anonymous advice columnist. But when nineteen-year-old screen sensation Luke Striker comes to Jen's small town to reserach a role, he creates havor that even levelheaded Jenny isn't sure she can repair . . . especially when he asks her, and not Jenny's Luke Striker-groupie best friend, to the Clayton High Spring Fling.

Can Jen, who always manages to be there for everybody else, learn to take her own advice, and find true love at last?


From the Compact Disc edition.

Customer Reviews

Another Amazing Effort By Cabot
Seventeen-year-old high school junior, Jenny (Jen) Greenley has always been great at solving everyone's problems. Friendships, relationships, parents, work, anything you have a problem with, she'll help you. Which is why she is Clayton High School's Ask Annie advice columnist. However, no one in school knows that. Not even Jen's best friend, Trina. But when nineteen-year-old screen heartthrob, Luke Striker, comes to Clayton High School posing as a transfer student named Lucas Smith, to research a new role, and Jen is forced to be his guide, she realizes that maybe she's not as good at figuring people out as she thought she was, as there's something about Luke that she can't quite put her finger on. I mean, who knew that a guy as famous as Luke Striker could actually have feelings, and care about people? But all bets are completely off when Luke asks Jen to Clayton High School's Spring Fling dance. And not as a friend, but as an actual...date.

Meg Cabot, being Meg Cabot, is able to create a mountain out of a molehill, and that's what she's accomplished with TEEN IDOL. Jen is a fun character, who so many girls will be able to relate to, as she is the All-American, girl-next-door who wants to help everyone, and cares more about everyone else in the world, and all of their problems, more than she cares about herself and her own problems. Luke Striker is a character who all female readers will fall in love with, as he is so not like what you'd expect from a teen celebrity. He's caring, intelligent, kind, not to mention very easy on the eyes. Cabot has created another book that will capture the hearts of readers the world over. Don't miss TEEN IDOL!!

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

A Good Message
Between the responsibilities show choir, homework, baby-sitting, and offering consolation to the angst-ridden teenagers of Clayton High School, Jen Greenley has a full plate. The last thing she needs is an undercover heartthrob to entertain as he researches his next film role. Because Jen, unlike her friend Trina, is not the type to get excited about a celebrity; not even Luke Striker, who wooed teenage girls nationwide in the hit TV show Heaven Help Us as well as in his portrayals of Tarzan and Lancelot.

Though she expects nothing but a hassle from the introduction of this personage, Jen finds in Luke Striker a good friend...and maybe more. But more importantly, she finds the one person who can show her who she really is, and all that she can truly accomplish.

In the tradition of all Meg Cabot's books, Teen Idol is funny and nicely paced, though I feel the story didn't really pick up until about the halfway point. I wouldn't consider it to be entirely predictable, although of course Jen ends up getting the guy. (You need to read it to find out WHICH guy!) Above all, I feel that the overall message leaves the reader feeling a bit more purposeful and empowered.

Important teen issues presented in a delightful read
Jen Greenley is the "It" girl in all the magazines. Reporters want to know what color she's wearing to the Clayton High School Spring Fling, and whether she's going to wear her hair up or down. Despite what you may think, though, Jen Greenley is not the title's "teen idol" --- she's just going to the Spring Fling with one.

It all started when reliable, thoughtful Jen, advice columnist for the school paper and "everybody's best friend," was asked by the school administration to guide a new student, Lucas Smith, through his first days at Clayton. Jen and the administration are the only ones who know that Lucas Smith is really Luke Striker, the hottest movie star in Hollywood. All the girls at Clayton think the new boy is cute, but when he accidentally reveals his true identity, Jen finds herself thrown headfirst into her fifteen minutes of fame, and a lot of turmoil with her friends and classmates.

Meg Cabot's trademark charming wit and ability to capture Jen's multitude of emotions make this book a delightful read for everyone. Jen's transformation from laid-back listener to instigator of social change, with inspiration from Luke Striker, will have you cheering for everyone touched by Jen's bravery. TEEN IDOL is a story with messages concerning self-image, confidence and friendships, but Cabot always keeps it lighthearted and funny. A perfect read for summer --- or fall, or winter, or spring.

--- Reviewed by Carlie Webber