All-American Girl by Meg Cabot

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
Meg Cabot, bestselling author of The Princess Diaries, shoots off literary fireworks in this capital romance about an artistic alterna-girl, whose world is rocked when she saves the life of the U.S. president and gets chummy with his son.

Samantha Madison is an average, cool Washington, D.C., teen: She loves Gwen Stefani (who doesn't?), can draw like nobody's business, and enjoys being opposite to her sister's annoying ultra-social personality. When she ditches art class one day, however, she doesn't expect to be jumping on the back of a wannabe presidential assassin. Soon, the young hero is receiving worldwide acclaim for her bravery, having dinner with her family at the White House, and is even being named teen ambassador to the UN. As if this weren't enough, she and David, the president's son, strike up a friendship that everyone wants the dirt on, which starts to give her romantic "frisson" feelings. Unfortunately, Sam thinks her sister's boyfriend, Jack, is the true love of her life, and she makes a few wrong turns that could screw up what she's developing with David. Will she ever stop following what she knows and start following what she sees?

With a lively story line that will leave you dreaming about dates with American "royalty," All-American Girl is a fast-paced heartwarmer that will quickly zoom to No. 1 on fans' top ten lists. Sam's realistic language and emotions make her a well-developed and likable character, and the relationship between her and David -- although totally coincidental -- has enough unexpected surprises to keep readers glued. A teenage romance with Secret Service agents and presidential motorcades, this modern-day fairy tale is star-spangled fun. Shana Taylor

From the Publisher

Top Ten Reasons Samantha Madison is in Deep Trouble

10. Her big sister is the most popular girl in school

9. Her little sister is a certified genius

8. She's in love with her big sister's boyfriend

7. She got caught selling celebrity portraits in school

6. And now she's being forced to take art classes

5. She's just saved the president of the United States from an assassination attempt

4. So the whole world thinks she is a hero

3. Even though Sam knows she is far, far from being a hero

2. And now she's been appointed teen ambassador to the UN And the number-one reason Sam's life is over? 1. The president's son just might be in love with her

Publishers Weekly

In another teen-pleasing novel from the author of the Princess Diaries books, a feisty 15-year-old self-described "urban rebel" finds that her life suddenly changes when she foils an attempt to assassinate the president. "A convincing and diverting tale," PW said in a starred review. Ages 12-up. (Aug.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Caroline Haugen - Children's Literature

Meg Cabot, well known for her Princess Diaries books, has also done well with this book. Samantha Madison has lived in Washington, D.C. her entire life, but she never really had any encounters with the presidential family. When Sam is forced to take drawing classes she finds herself accidentally saving the president from an assassination attempt. Suddenly, Sam, the middle child, finds herself at the center of everyone's attention. In addition to her new friendship with the president, Sam becomes close with his son. She begins to question her crush on a boy that she had always considered perfect. The story, while quite an adventure, seems just plausible enough that it could happen to your average teen standing on the corner. Cabot does a nice job capturing issues of a high schooler and their solutions. 2003, HarperTrophy/HarperCollins,

Paula Rohrlick - KLIATT

To quote from the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, September 2002: Sam doesn't think of herself as anything special. Sure, she has artistic talent, but compared with her beautiful, popular older sister and her brilliant younger sister, she self-pityingly describes herself as "a fifteen-year-old, left-handed, redheaded, boyfriendless, misunderstood, middle child reject, broke, standing in the rain after her drawing class because she couldn't take criticism." Then the president's motorcade draws up, and as the president emerges Sam notices that the man next to her on the curb is pulling out a gun. Acting instinctively, Sam throws herself on the would-be assassin, saving the president's life, breaking her wrist, and catapulting herself into instant celebrity; though she's more concerned with being grounded by her parents for skipping class. Sam meets the president and his family, and is appointed teen ambassador to the U.N.; and who knew the cute guy in her drawing class would turn out to be the president's son, David? This funny, breezy novel, very much in the style of Cabot's wildly popular Princess Diaries series, chronicles the ups and downs of this developing romance, as Sam recovers from her crush on her sister's knee-jerk radical boyfriend and comes to appreciate David. She also learns to use her new celebrity to take a stand on an issue of political and artistic integrity. As in the Princess Diaries books, there are up-to-date references to brand names that teens will recognize and humorous David Letterman-type lists that enliven Sam's first-person narrative. My 14-year-old daughter read this eagerly, though she commented that she preferred the Princess Diaries books and their castof characters. But fans of those will certainly want to read this entertaining romp. KLIATT Codes: JS; Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2002, HarperTrophy, 398p.,

KLIATT

To quote the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, September 2002: Sam doesn't think of herself as anything special. Sure, she has artistic talent, but compared with her beautiful, popular older sister and her brilliant younger sister, she self-pityingly describes herself as "a fifteen-year-old, left-handed, redheaded, boyfriendless, misunderstood, middle child reject, broke, standing in the rain after her drawing class because she couldn't take criticism." Then the president's motorcade draws up, and as the president emerges Sam notices that the man next to her on the curb is pulling out a gun. Acting instinctively, Sam throws herself on the would-be assassin, saving the president's life, breaking her wrist, and catapulting herself into instant celebrity—though she's more concerned with being grounded by her parents for skipping class. Sam meets the president and his family, and is appointed teen ambassador to the U.N.—and who knew the cute guy in her drawing class would turn out to be the president's son, David? This funny, breezy novel, very much in the style of Cabot's wildly popular Princess Diaries series, chronicles the ups and downs of this developing romance, as Sam recovers from her crush on her sister's knee-jerk radical boyfriend and comes to appreciate David. She also learns to use her new celebrity to take a stand on an issue of political and artistic integrity. As in the Princess Diaries books, there are up-to-date references to brand names that teens will recognize and humorous David Letterman-type lists that enliven Sam's first-person narrative. My 14-year-old daughter read this eagerly, though she commented that she preferred the Princess Diaries books andtheir cast of characters. But fans of those will certainly want to read this entertaining romp. Reviewer: Paula Rohrlick

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-Samantha Madison is back. She is still a semi-celebrity for saving the president's life and she is still dating his son. She is faced with a huge dilemma when it appears that she not only condemns the president's new Return to Family policy, but also implies that she has slept with David. The ensuing consequences and Samantha's conflicted feelings about sex provide drama. A subplot involves Lucy, Samantha's older sister, falling for her nerdy math tutor, who does not return her feelings. This is a surprisingly political book with a positive attitude about sex. The themes are more mature than those of "The Princess Diaries" series. Samantha writes frequent top-10 lists, such as "Top ten things that suck about being the sister of the most popular girl in school." Teen sexuality and honesty about protection, awkwardness, and masturbation are handled in a humorous and sensitive manner. The characters are real, witty, and relatable, and the author has an ear for teen dialogue. Some more conservative areas and school libraries might give pause, but the book is funny, smart, well paced, and honest.-Amy Patrick, New York Public Library Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

In this sequel to All-American Girl (2002), Samantha Madison, now almost 17, must cope with hero status in society (she saved the President's life) but unpopularity at school, the disconcerting but nonetheless intriguing discovery that models don't wear a stitch of clothing in life-drawing class and the possibility of sex with her boyfriend David, who just happens to be the President's son. The central comic misunderstanding that drives this attenuated, sitcom-like story is an invitation from David to join his family at Camp David over Thanksgiving weekend. David tells Samantha that there are lots of fun things to do there, including Parcheesi, which Samantha concludes is a code word for sex. This drives Cabot's funny, outspoken heroine into a tizzy as she tries to figure out if she's ready or not, a situation that thoroughly confuses her boyfriend and later culminates in a mortifying public debate with the President. Cabot is a witty writer who has the ability to practically channel teen-speak, and while this work is thinner than her usual fare, fans should come away satisfied. (Fiction. 12-14)

Product Details

• Table of Contents
• Interviews & Essays
• Read an Excerpt

Table of Contents

Interviews & Essays

Barnes & Noble.com: The teenage voice you write in sounds so natural -- and your books are so in-tune with teens today. How do you do it?

Meg Cabot: My natural inner voice sounds about 16 (example of Meg's inner voice: "Ew, gross, I can't believe she's wearing that in public"), so it is very easy for me to write from the point of view of someone that age. The memories of adolescence seem to be permanently seared into my brain.

B&N.com: What were your own high school experiences like -- and how (if at all) do they figure into your writing and affect the way you write about your character's lives?

MC: My four years of high school were the most miserable of my life. When I have nightmares now, they are always about being stuck back in high school. Generally in geometry. Sometimes gym.

Fortunately, I kept detailed records of my agony. I frequently refer to the journals I kept when I was a freshman–senior for inspiration while writing my books, particularly The Princess Diaries.

B&N.com: Where did the idea for All-American Girl come from?

MC: My mom's boyfriend has three little granddaughters who live in Washington, D.C. One day I just started wondering what it would be like to grow up in a town like D.C., where so much is going on. A kid could, conceivably, even run into the president...and possibly save him from an assassin's bullet. So that's how I came up with the plot for All-American Girl. Although Sam is not based on any of my mom's boyfriend's grandkids...they are all under the age of eight.

B&N.com: Is Samantha based on anyone you know, or knew? She is an artist -- and she was thrown suddenly into the media spotlight. Is she like you?

MC: Sam's experiences and attitudes are definitely based on my own. I had an art teacher in middle school who was exactly like Sam's. She kept holding up white eggs and telling me to paint the colors in them. For a long time I thought she was nuts. Then one day, it just clicked. It took me much longer than it took Sam, though.

I haven't exactly been thrust into the limelight like Sam was, though. Coke and Pepsi are not sending me lifetime supplies of their products (sadly).

B&N.com: You write so well about Sam's "unrequited love" for Jack...and then her confusing feelings for David. Again, how do you do it? Any personal experiences with all-consuming crushes?

MC: Oh my gosh, who hasn't had a crush on a totally inappropriate person? Like Samantha, I loved (or thought I loved) a boy who was totally wrong for me -- and I think I was the only one who couldn't see it...or the fact that the perfect guy for me was there all along, just waiting for me to notice him! Thankfully I finally woke up one day, and now we've been married for almost ten years.

B&N.com: Were you a big reader when you were growing up? Can you name a few of your favorite children's books?

MC: I read almost exclusively sci-fi fantasy as a kid: Tolkien, Lloyd Alexander, Susan Cooper. I've been expanding my horizons lately, and am loving Tamora Pierce, Maud Hart Lovelace, and Louise Rennison.

B&N.com: Now that one of your books (The Princess Diaries) has been made into a movie -- and you have others optioned -- has your writing changed (i.e., do you write more for the screen)?

MC: The only thing about my writing that's changed is that I am finally making a living doing it, so I no longer have my "day job" (assistant managing a 700-bed freshman dorm at New York University) and can write full time. And the good thing is that I have enough money saved up so that if my next book really bombs, I won't have to go back to listening to kids complain about their roommates any time soon (I hope).

B&N.com: Does your success surprise you? How has it changed your life?

MC: Well, I have a car for the first time in my life (even though I don't drive). And I own real estate in Manhattan, something I never thought would happen. And I got the one thing I've always wanted: a whirlpool tub! I sit in it for hours every night (I am not kidding), reading.

I guess I'm not as surprised about my books' success as some of my family members and ex-boyfriends are. Especially the ex-boyfriends.

B&N.com: What is next for Meg Cabot -- what can we look forward to?

MC: Lately, I have been combining my two loves -- YAs and historicals -- by writing YA historicals. I will have two out soon: Nicola and the Viscount and Victoria and Rogue. These are fun romances that are totally appropriate for the 12-and-up crowd. But I'm not abandoning my adult books! I have two coming out soon, under the name Meggin Cabot: The Boy Next Door (October 2002) and She Went All the Way (December 2002), humorous romantic mysteries that are set in the here-and-now! And in January 2003, Haunted, the latest installment of my YA series The Mediator, will be out, followed in Spring 2003 by The Princess Diaries 4: Princess in Waiting.

Phew! Am I tired! Good thing I've got that whirlpool tub waiting....

B&N.com: Can you give me a list of the top ten reasons why you love your life?

MC: 10. I get to wear pajamas all day long.
9. I can go to bed whenever I want.
8. I can eat popcorn for lunch, ice cream for dinner.
7. No homework, ever.
6. I got to meet Julie Andrews.
5. I have 300 channels, and can watch TV all day (and frequently do).
4. I live in New York City, the greatest city in the world.
3. I got to meet Judy Blume.
2. I have a total hottie for a husband.
1. I get paid to make things up!

Read an Excerpt

Okay, here are the top ten reasons why I can't stand my sister Lucy:

10. I get all her hand-me-downs, even her bras.

9. When I refuse to wear her hand-me-downs, especially her bras, I get the big lecture about waste and the environment. Look, I am way concerned about the environment. But that does not mean I want to wear my sister's old bras. I told Mom I see no reason why I should even have to wear a bra, seeing as how it's not like I've got a lot to put in one, causing Lucy to remark that if I don't wear a bra now then if I ever do get anything up there, it will be all saggy like those tribal women we saw on the Discovery Channel.

8. This is another reason why I can't stand Lucy. Because she is always making these kind of remarks. What we should really do, if you ask me, is send Lucy's old bras to those tribal women.

7. Her conversations on the phone go like this: "No way. . . . So what did he say? . . . Then what did she say? . . . No way. . . . That is so totally untrue. . . . I do not. I so do not. . . . Who said that? . . . Well, it isn't true. . . . No, I do not. . . . I do not like him. . . . Well, okay, maybe I do. Oh, gotta go, call-waiting."

6. She is a cheerleader. All right? A cheerleader. Like it isn't bad enough she spends all her time waving pom-poms at a bunch of Neanderthals as they thunder up and down a football field. No, she has to do it practically every night. And since Mom and Dad are fanatical about this mealtime-is-family-time thing, guess what we are usually doing at five thirty? And who is even hungry then?

5. All of my teachers go: "You know, Samantha, when I had your sister inthis class two years ago, I never had to remind her to:

a) double space
b) carry the one
c) capitalize her nouns in Deutsch
d) remember her swimsuit
e) take off her headphones during morning announcements
f) stop drawing on her pants."

4. She has a boyfriend. And not just any boyfriend, either, but a nonjock boyfriend, something totally unheard-of in the social hierarchy of our school: a cheerleader going with a nonjock boyfriend. And it isn't even that he's not a jock. Oh, no, Jack also happens to be an urban rebel like me, only he really goes all out, you know, in the black army surplus trench coat and the Doc Martens and the straight Ds and all. Plus he wears an earring that hangs.

But even though he is not "book smart," Jack is very talented and creative artistically. For instance, he is always getting his paintings of disenfranchised American youths hung up in the caf. And nobody even graffitis them, the way they would if they were mine. Jack's paintings, I mean.

As if that is not cool enough, Mom and Dad completely hate him because of his not working up to his potential and getting suspended for his anti-authoritarianism and calling them Carol and Richard to their faces instead of Mr. and Mrs. Madison.

It is totally unfair that Lucy should not only have a cool boyfriend but a boyfriend our parents can't stand, something I have been praying for my entire life, practically.

Although actually at this point any kind of boyfriend would be acceptable.

3. In spite of the fact that she is dating an artistic rebel type instead of a jock, Lucy remains one of the most popular girls in school, routinely getting invited to parties and dances every weekend, so many that she could not possibly attend them all, and often says things like, "Hey, Sam, why don't you and Catherine go as, like, my emissaries?" even though if Catherine and I ever stepped into a party like that we would be vilified as sophomore poseurs and thrown out onto the street.

2. She gets along with Mom and Dad -- except for the whole Jack thing -- and always has. She even gets along with our little sister, Rebecca, who goes to a special school for the intellectually gifted and is practically an idiot savant.

But the number-one reason I can't stand my sister Lucy would have to be:

1. She told on me about the celebrity drawings.

Chapter One

She says she didn't mean to. She says she found them in my room, and they were so good she couldn't help showing them to Mom.

Of course, it never occurred to Lucy that she shouldn't have been in my room in the first place. When I accused her of completely violating my constitutionally protected right to personal privacy, she just looked at me like, Huh? even though she is fully taking U.S. Government this semester.

Her excuse is that she was looking for her eyelash curler.

Hello. Like I would borrow anything of hers. Especially something that had been near her big, bulbous eyeballs.

Instead of her eyelash curler, which of course I didn't have, Lucy found this week's stash of drawings, and she presented them to Mom at dinner that night.

"Well," Mom said in this very dry voice. "Now we know how you got that C-minus in German, don't we, Sam?"

This was on account of the fact that the drawings were in my German notebook.

"Is this supposed to be that guy from The Patriot?" my dad wanted to know. "Who is that you've drawn with him? Is that . . . is that Catherine?"

"German," I said, feeling that they were missing the point, "is a stupid language."

"German isn't stupid," my little sister Rebecca informed me. "The Germans can trace their heritage back to ethnic groups that existed during the days of the Roman Empire. Their language is an ancient and beautiful one that was created thousands of years ago."

"Whatever," I said. "Did you know that they capitalize all of their nouns? What is up with that?"

"Hmmm," my mother said, flipping to the front of my German notebook. "What have we here?"

My dad went, "Sam, what are you doing drawing pictures of Catherine on the back of a horse with that guy from The Patriot?"

"I think this will explain it, Richard," my mother said, and she passed the notebook back to my dad.

In my own defense, I can only state that, for better or for worse, we live in a capitalistic society. I was merely enacting my rights of individual initiative by supplying the public -- in the form of most of the female student population at John Adams Preparatory School -- with a product for which I saw there was a demand. You would think that my dad, who is an international economist with the World Bank, would understand this.

But as he read aloud from my German notebook in an astonished voice, I could tell he did not understand. He did not understand at all.

"You and Josh Hartnett," my dad read, "fifteen dollars. You and Josh Hartnett on a desert island, twenty dollars. You and Justin Timberlake, ten dollars. You and Justin Timberlake under a waterfall, fifteen dollars. You and Keanu Reeves, fifteen dollars. You and -- " My dad looked up. "Why are Keanu and Josh more than Justin?"

"Because," I explained, "Justin has less hair."

"Oh," my dad said. "I see." He went back to the list.