Totally Crushed

Gr 5–8—"Yearbooks last forever. They are one of the few things you will keep until the day you die." This second installment in Tracy's "Project (Un)Popular" series revolves around the school yearbook, a first-period class and yearlong project that (according to the narrative) will outlast unfortunate videos gone viral, unflattering selfies, and unkind comments on PopRat, the current hot social media platform. The action picks up days after the previous novel leaves off. It's October, and already sixth graders 12-year-old Perry and her best friend, Venice, have survived a revenge prank gone wrong and a week of detention. As junior photographer for the yearbook, Perry is called on to shoot all of the faculty and student photos, and highlights of the school Halloween party. Her current life goal is to make even the "nerdiest nerd who ever tripped down our school's hallway" look good in the yearbook. While Perry occasionally muses about accepting people for who they are and following her own path, these sentiments are drowned out by her near constant whining, judgmental comments, and utterly self-absorbed thoughts about everything and everyone around her. Perry's teachers, parents, and older sister are supportive but only vaguely sketched characters. The "crush" mentioned in the title is one-sided until the last few pages, setting the stage for more from Perry and her crew. The highs and lows of middle school communication in the digital age are better explored in Rebecca Stead's Goodbye, Stranger and Rachel Vail's Well, That Was Awkward.