Stranger in the Mirror

How would you like to be drop-dead gorgeous?

Fifteen-year-old Callie Bailey just wants to be beautiful, like her model-sister Laurel. Only her best friend Addison knows her terrible secret: she has the world's biggest crush on Laurel's fabulous seventeen-year-old boyfriend, Jake. But when Callie finds the glistening heart-shaped meteorite, her life changes in ways she can't imagine.

Suddenly the angry, geeky girl is gone. In her place is a knockout who becomes the most popular girl in school. Best of all, Jake calls. Forget about Laurel. All he wants is Callie. Then Callie shows up at a modeling job meant for Laurel, and it looks like her own career is about to take off. But now that she has everything she ever wanted, she's about to lose more than she ever imagined....

How would you like to be drop-dead gorgeous?

Fifteen-year-old Callie Bailey just wants to be beautiful, like her model-sister Laurel. Only her best friend Addison knows her terrible secret: she has the world's biggest crush on Laurel's fabulous seventeen-year-old boyfriend, Jake. But when Callie finds the glistening heart-shaped meteorite, her life changes in ways she can't imagine.

Suddenly the angry, geeky girl is gone. In her place is a knockout who becomes the most popular girl in school. Best of all, Jake calls. Forget about Laurel. All he wants is Callie. Then Callie shows up at a modeling job meant for Laurel, and it looks like her own career is about to take off. But now that she has everything she ever wanted, she's about to lose more than she ever imagined....

Grade 7-9-Though the fantasy-driven "revenge of the nerds" plot is far-fetched and not wildly original, this book is a quick-and-easy read with a lot of appeal. Callie Bailey, a self-proclaimed "high school geek," secretly wishes to be more like her sister Laurel, a popular and gorgeous model who dates the hottest guy in school. When Callie finds a strange rock in the woods and sleeps with it under her pillow, she unknowingly becomes the subject of a mysterious scientific experiment. Suddenly, her every desire becomes reality. In a few short weeks, Callie is transformed into her sister's physical and emotional equal, eventually stealing both Laurel's boyfriend and her career. Callie's inexplicable style and personality shift disturb her best friend Addison, but she is deaf to his concerns until her selfish actions have nearly fatal consequences for Laurel. Predictably, Callie then repents and emerges as a confident teen who is finally comfortable in her own skin. She never learns about the transmitter inside the rock; at novel's end, it has been discarded-soon to find its way into the hands of another young "subject." With numerous references to popular TV shows and artists such as Dawson's Creek and Ricky Martin, this title is clearly not destined to have a long shelf life. However, Callie is a well-developed and likable heroine with a caustic wit. This contemporary story is of higher quality than Francine Pascal's Sweet Valley series (Bantam), but will appeal to the same audience.
Ronni Krasnow, DC Public Library System, Washington, DC
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

With the plot of Bennett's Life in the Fat Lane taken in reverse, this far-fetched debut novel in the Mirror Image series features a girl who goes from geeky to glam. Fifteen-year-old Callie is nothing like her "perfect" older sister, Laurel, who models part-time and locks lips full-time with Jake, the boy of Callie's dreams. But all that changes when Callie finds a heart-shaped remnant from a meteorite shower, places the "Loverock" under her pillow and makes a wish: "Please, let me be beautiful. Beautiful, beautiful. Even more beautiful than Laurel. And, please, let Jake love me." Pounds drop away, Callie's hair becomes straight and shiny, her eyelashes thicker and curlier, and she is soon caught in Jake's embraceAand caught in the act by Laurel. After Laurel crashes her car and ends up in the hospital, Callie has second thoughts about her new persona, and about Jake's true character. The husband-and-wife team behind University Hospital have teen-speak down pat; the dialogue is clipped and credible. The predictable plot (involving the intermittent appearance of a "black sedan" whose occupants are apparently monitoring the Loverock) and labored prose, however, are less polished. Another teen gets her hands on this meteor by story's end, paving the way for the next installment. Ages 11-14. (Dec.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In the first book in the Mirror Image series, Callie Bailey's sister Laurel has everything that Callie wants: popularity at school, a modeling career, and Jake, the cutest boy in school, for a boyfriend. Callie is part of the geek crowd, and although she has good friends and her own interests, she longs to be more like her sister. Determined to achieve her goal, she starts working out, loses weight, and changes her wardrobe. When Jake secretly dumps Laurel for Callie, Callie thinks she's in heaven--until she loses her best friend, almost loses Laurel in a car accident, and discovers that Jake isn't the dream boy she thought. The plot is formulaic, and there's a confusing, unnecessay subplot (Is a new secret substance responsible for Callie's change?), but the story delivers some useful lessons about being true to oneself and finding happiness with who you are. Let's hope the subplot won't be the main premise in future titles in the series: this story certainly stands well enough without it. Helen Rosenberg