One Wish

Chubby Wrenn Scott's wish to be popular seemingly comes true after she lands a lead role in her high school's production of Grease. Finally getting to rub elbows with the cool kids, she allows fellow cast members to give her a beauty makeover and begins shedding pounds at an alarming rate. Readers will quickly recognize that she is traveling down a path toward self-destruction; it isn't until family members discover her secret for weight loss that Wrenn is forced to come to terms with the harm she is doing to herself. Brescia tackles important issues in her first novel, and Wrenn's thoughts and the characters' dialogue feel honest, though supporting characters are less developed. Wrenn's shallowness makes her less sympathetic (she dismisses the man her mother is dating based on his name alone, and when asked what kind of boy is her ""type,"" she replies, ""Guys who are good looking and popular""), but no less believable. Wrenn does finally show some growth and depth in the final chapters when she is undergoing therapy for anorexia, and begins to reflect on the choices she's made. Ages 14-up.