zodiac girls recipe for rebellion

Zodiac Girls: Recipe for Rebellion

By Cathy Hopkins

Kingfisher

Cathy Hopkins has sold millions of books, most of them written for

teenage girls. After reading her latest book, Zodiac Girls: Recipe for

Rebellion, I credit her popularity with a tone that both accurately

captures the anxieties of adolescent life, and also achieves a

likeability of character that is the key to most of today's popular

literature. Formerly an art school student, rock singer,

aromatherapist and teacher of meditation techniques, Hopkins has an

edge to her, a wit and style only found in people who have lived life

outside of the lines to a certain degree. And this comes through in

her characters.

Recipe for Rebellion is the story of Danu Harvey Jones, a motherless

13-year-old whose father has left for the archeological expedition of

a lifetime and foisted her off on his sister, a workaholic attorney.

Danu hates having to leave her home, her pets and her friends, and

hates the cold high rise her aunt lives in. So, she plots to get

herself sent back home by dreadlocking her hair, adopting a scowl and

acting out in class. Unfortunately these tactics only increase her

loneliness and isolation, until she meets a magical stranger who

informs her that she is this month's "zodiac girl."

While the plot and characters are interesting and engaging enough to

stand up on their own, the key to the Zodiac Girls series is that each

book is centered on an astrological sign, Recipe's being Sagittarius.

And through the foil of fantastical characters - people who represent

planets and all live together in one small, needless-to-say very funky

town - Hopkins manages to give a solid overview of astrology to her

reader. Anyone not familiar with astrology would have a much better

idea of what it is all based on and how it all works after reading a

book in this series. That in and of itself is a reason I'd recommend

this over most other teen chick-lit books. It is informative as well

as incredibly entertaining.

Review by Jen Wilson Lloyd (Sagittarius)

Click here to buy:

Recipe for Rebellion: Big Mouth (Zodiac Girls)