Loser/Queen

Gr 7 Up—Cammy Hall, 15, is a born outsider, positioned at the bottom of the high school social order. She dresses oddly and lives with her grandparents. She spends her time knitting amigurumi, watching old episodes of Golden Girls, and hanging out with her equally uncool exchange-student friend, Gerdi. After a humiliating incident at a school dance, she begins receiving mysterious text messages from someone calling him/herself the White Rabbit. The White Rabbit seems to know everyone's secrets, good and bad, and gives Cammy cryptic commands to do various things to and for fellow students and teachers. At first, these are relatively harmless and even positive, and she finds herself becoming more and more popular, but when the White Rabbit's agenda becomes more mean-spirited, Cammy must choose whether to go along with it or refuse and risk losing her newfound popularity and the affections of the boy she has long admired. This is the print version of an interactive book that was originally posted on the Loser/Queen website in online installments, with story elements determined by reader feedback and voting. Not surprisingly, the book is completely plot driven, sometimes at the expense of characterization, and the conclusion seems abrupt. However, readers will enjoy the many twists and will be eager to discover the identity of the mysterious White Rabbit.—Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ