Did you think middle school was a bit different than you imagined? What gave you ideas for your imagination to feed on? Maybe it was "Queen Bee"!
"Queen Bee" by Chynna Clugston-Major is a great read, with black and white pictures, that although are black and white, have a modern feel to it. Queen Bee revolves around a typical stereotypical sort of middle school where you have Haley Madison trying to be the most popular of the girls in the school, a.k.a. Queen Bee. The twist; Haley Madison has this special sort of power where she can move things with her mind. Chynna also makes Haley a very humorous and entertaining character with a passion for fashion. The book starts off with a bit on her old life and the storyline starts building its way up. When Haley meets a rival with the same kind of power as her, the plot begins to build up to the climax. The girl quickly earns her status as the most popular girl in the school, kicking Haley out of her position. Haley then needs to regain her title as the most popular girl in the school, which she does; through a talent show. Chynna has kept the younger teen audience flipping the pages of this book, even through 5 long years.
This book is very appealing to the younger teen audience, especially girls who enjoy girl-related books. ( )

Author last name, first name. Title. Year. Publisher: City.
Clugston, Chynna. Queen Bee. 2005. Graphix: New York.

Genre:
Fiction

Themes:
New School, Middle School, Popularity, Honesty, Trust, Friendships, Psychokinesis, Adoption

Age / Grade Appropriateness:
Grades 6-8

Awards:
None

Censorship Issues:
I did not see any issues in this book that would prove to be a censorship issue. Any issues, such as bullying or fighting, are dealt with urgently. Unless one would consider censoring because of psychokinetic powers, and in that case they would have a lot of comics to sort through!

Art style (Describe the artistic style)
Her art style mimics that of Manga crossed with black and white comic style. The characters have very large facial expressions. All of the illustrations are made with thick black ink.

Plot Summary (Summarize the plot in 250 words or less):
Haley Madison considers herself a total geek. She has a gift (if you want to call it that) which allows her to move things with her mind. It gets her into trouble with her friends, however, because she has trouble controlling it. Haley just wishes she could fit in to the popular crowd. To her surprise, her and her mother are moving into the city which means Haley will have a new chance to do just that. She practices her cool expressions and poses, and even assembles a new wardrobe. She eventually finds herself a member of “The Hive,” more importantly the Queen Bee, thanks to her newfound control of her powers. That is until a new girl makes her way into the school and unfortunately the hive. Alexa has the same powers as Haley, but uses them for more selfish reasons. The two of them commence to using these powers in an ongoing battle to hold the title as Queen Bee. Haley tends to remain the nicer of the two, and eventually finds out that being popular isn’t all that great after all. She makes many friends along the way, some worth keeping, others not so much.
Critique (Consider if the book fits the bill of a YA book as we have discussed /read. Include your opinion of the book here as well):
This book has a plot that would definitely be considered one that happens often in real life. There is always the hope of fitting in and joining the popular crowd. The book discusses the different types of people found at a middle school, as well as the different places one of these kids might go. The ending is believable as are the characters. The emotions that are dealt with in the story would be very well familiar to the reader. The only exception to this is the psychokinetic powers that the characters possess, not common in the lives of ordinary students. Nevertheless, it does give the story in interesting turn.

Curriculum Uses (Possible uses in the classroom / school library / public library):
The ability of psychokinesis would be a great psychology subject to use this book with, as well as other abilities of the sort. Comparing the two characters and how they use their gifts would be an interesting topic to cover. Different types of talents could be discussed. Writing the beginning of the next novel would be an interesting assignment for a class after reading this novel. Definitely a science teacher could make use of the descriptions of the queen bee and her hive.

Haley Madison, who struggles to control her budding psychokinetic powers, decideds to reinvent herself when she transfers to a new school. She becomes part of a group of popular and mean girls known as "the Hive" and quickly takes over as queen bee. However, another new girl arrives and she and Haley immediately become rivals for the top spot in the hive. Before long, things get nasty, as both girls have the same psychokinetic power. This is not explained, but there are hints that are sure to be addressed in the sequel.

Amusing book that looks at popularity and the power of cliques. Fans of the movie Mean Girls will like this book. ( )