Material Girls: Revolution Never Goes Out Of Style

Reviewed by: Jan Hamilton - Long Creek Center, South Portland, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: December 1, 2015

Review

Fashion and the performing arts rule this dystopian novel. Within this society career paths are decided when children reach thirteen, they are selected to join the arts community or are assigned to remain in school to pursue a normal job. We meet two of the more successful youths, Ivy the starlet singer and Marla a fashion trend setter. Their society is fragile, built on consumerism and controlled by large companies. Although futuristic there certainly are threads examined here that are present in our own society.

Fantasy imitates reality as the characters hold tight to their success and wallow in their failure. Demopoulos has provided a plausible storyline, one that I can only hope never comes to life. Readers may see how vain these characters are yet applaud as they protest working conditions.

The book is well written and certainly will appeal to girls who love fashion. The flossed end papers are a nice touch. Romance is low key making this accessible to grades 5 and above for middle school collections. Editors missed an error on the jacket where Marla’s design house is incorrectly named.

Overall Book Score: good