Pretty Crooked

Gr 8 Up—Willa feels like a bit of a misfit when she starts a new school in the aptly named town of Paradise Valley-until she becomes friends with a group of wealthy, popular girls known as the Glitterati. They seem too good to be true, and of course they are. Once Willa discovers that they are the creators of a nasty blog that mocks and demeans the school's less affluent students, she vows revenge via a redistribution of wealth-or, as she puts it, she begins "kickin' it Robin Hood-style." She embarks on a binge of thievery followed by shopping, and then anonymously delivers designer clothing to the girls targeted by the Glitterati's cyberbullying. It's a fun premise, and a decent first-novel attempt, but the book leaves a few things to be desired. The tone is light and the language is peppered with preppy slang and name-dropping, which gives it a certain zing but also a distinct transience. Most frustrating is that the superficial nature of Willa's campaign is not addressed. It never comes up that the scholarship girls upon whom she bestows her gifts probably have more elemental needs, rendering her upscale charity pretty insensitive. She realizes, in a basic way, that what she's done is wrong (stealing is bad!), but that's as far as her reflection goes. The action careens to an abrupt conclusion, leaving loose ends that seem like a deliberate setup for a sequel. The question is whether the material is compelling enough to merit one.—Emma Burkhart, Springside School, Philadelphia, PA