I loved the narrator's voice in this book. A fun, beautiful read.

"All the popular kids play piccolos or flutes. I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe it's because they just naturally gravitate towards that high-pitched stuck-up sound."

Genius. ( )

The nonfiction novel, 'Deep Down Popular' by Phoebe Stone is an inspiration story. The book follows the story of Jessie Lou Ferguson, who is deeply in love with Conrad Parker Smith since grade two. Conrad is the most popular boy in the town Virginia, where as Jessie Lou has part-time friends only, but when Conrad is forced to wear a metal leg brace, his popularity goes crossing. Soon Jessie Lou, Conrad and an annoying fourth grader, other wise known as Quentin form a friendship and are on a mission to save the Baileys Hardware store from closing. The main theme of the story is not to judge people by the way they look, but by what they are on the inside. 'Deep Down Popular' is set after school, as Jessie Lou is too shy ti talk to Conrad during school hours and only communicates with him after school, but she slowly grows confident throughout the book. To tell the story, Phoebe Stone uses descriptive language, imagery and colloquial language.

The descriptive language used, helped to create a well written novel. "Inside-out with joy" was one way Jessie Lou had described herself, allowing the readers to understand her emotions. "Lonely old river" had also been another phrase used to explain the Virginia river. There was a lot of descriptive language inside the book, and it was also extremely poetic.

To make the readers feel involved, imagery was used. "Sometimes a poem will wait and hover under the surface, making me feel like I might split into two getting it out" was one of the imagery lines found. This line caused the reader to visualize Jessie Lou splitting in half and shows the difficulty poet have when they write, including herself. Describing the smell with imagery was also common.

The colloquial language set the book. The characters had a southern accent and background. "Y'all have yourself a real nice day Jessie," was spoken by Jessie Lou's part-time friends, Elizabeth and Sarah. Characters had called there mother "mama" and grandfathers "granddaddy." "Y'all" was common throughout the novel as it was part of the colloquial language that helped give an understanding of the characters personality's and how they spoke.

My favorite character was Jessie Lou as she seemed more realistic than most characters and as the story was told from her perspective. The book kept myself guessing and asking questions because it was somebody's life, which could have changed at any second. My favorite event would have to be when Jessie Lou and her sister connected. They understood how each other felt and how alike they were, putting their differences aside for once, instead of rivaling against each other. The novel kept myself, reading its contents and had its grip on me.

'Deep Down Popular' is a well written novel. I didn't dislike the entire book. The only part that I found disappointing was when Jessie Lou would continually go on about being a poet, but there were only two poems, although the description made up for it.

I would suggest this novel to young female children. From the age of nine and up is my recommended age group. I would definitely recommend this to any middle aged school girl, looking for a good read.

five out of five stars
I chose this rating because the book was well thought out and had humor to keep the readers entertained. 'Deep Down Popular' is an extremely descriptive book. The story met my expectations and wen beyond. I thought it was a perfect love story with a twist of inspiration/ Phoebe Stone's book has by far entertained me. ( )

This was an ok book. I found it was really slow, but it had a cute endding. I would recomend it to elemety school kids (grades 2-5) that dont like fanasy or magic books. ( )

this book was about a girl and a guy and they both liked eachother but they didnt know it yet..so one day the guy broke his leg and since he lived right down the street from the girl,she walked him home everyday. he would do things he didnt want to because he didnt like his life but the girl helpped him out and they started to like eachother.

I loved this book! It's a regular love-story, except in elementary school. I think this book is creative, marvolous, and spectacular! Everyone should read it since it is such a great book. It almost made me cry. =D ( )