Cabot, Meg.
ALL AMERICAN GIRL
New York : HarperCollins, 2002.
IL YA
ISBN 0060294698
 

(11 booktalks)

Samantha Madison is a fifteen-year-old aspiring artist.  She lives in Washington DC with her parents and she loves dressing in black.  As a matter of fact, she has dyed all her sister's hand-me-downs black.  She wears her Doc Martens and considers herself a bit of a radical.  She is also in love with her sister's boyfriend.  When her parents find out she is selling drawings to people instead of doing her German homework, they decide she needs a bit more structure in her life.  She is now enrolled in art class every Tuesday and Thursday.  The first class brings Sam a shock.  Even though she thinks her painting is far superior to those of the rest of the students, her work is criticized when everyone else's is praised.  Reluctant to go through that humiliation again, she ditches the next art class.  As she spends her time in the music store near the art studio, she notices a middle aged man who just didn't fit in.  Afterwards, while waiting in the rain for her ride, the man stands next to her.  He keeps checking something under his coat.  Sam assumes he stole a CD.  She is distracted when the President's motorcade pulls up across the street and the President himself gets out and enters the cookie store.  Can you believe it?  The President of the United States, the most powerful man alive, goes into a cookie store to buy some cookies.  Wouldn't you think he has someone to do that for him?  As Sam is waiting to catch a glimpse of the President coming out, she sees something horrible out of the corner of her eye.  The man next to her has pulled out a gun.  He is pointing it at the President.  What can Sam do?  What would an All-American girl do?

Booktalk #2

Here are the top 10 reasons why Samantha Madison's life might just be over:
10. She can't stand her first-born sister (a.k.a. Lucy): you know the kid most likely to be CEO of a major corporation, dictator of a small country, supermodel, you name it.
9. She's in love with her first-born sister's boyfriend (a.k.a. Jack): you know, the one with the soul of an artist, the tortured genius. Surely Jack is just about to realize that he really doesn't like Lucy dragging him to teen gross-out movies, or the mall, or receiving boxer shorts with Tweetie Bird on them for his birthday. Surely he would much rather see independent films, visit museums or galleries, discuss the latest issue of Art in America, and open a present filled with sable brushes or a leather-bound copy of Romeo and Juliet.
8. She can't even begin to understand her last-born sister (a.k.a. Rebecca): you know, the kid most likely to discover a cure for cancer, host her own talk show, step up to the alien mother ship when it lands and be all, "Hey, welcome to Earth."
7. That's right, Samantha is the middle sister: you know, the misunderstood forgotten middle child. The kid most likely to be a teen runaway, the one who's died everything she owns black and has bright orange hair sticking straight out of the top of her head.
6. Samantha has to take art lessons from Susan Boone. That's right Susan Boone. You know, the teacher who has a big black crow named Joe who likes to take chunks out of Samantha's scalp while chanting, "Mind your manners, mind your manners." Susan Boone, who has the nerve to tell Sam that she must "draw what she sees, not what she knows"... as if she weren't already the best artist in the whole class.
5. While trying to avoid art lessons Samantha inadvertently saves the life of the President. That's right, the President. You know, the guy who runs our nation. She didn't mean to do it. One minute she was standing on the street, looking for her ride. The next minute the President's entourage pulls up and "He" gets out. Then some old guy next to her pulls a gun, and Samantha finds herself flying through the air at the old guy.
4. Samantha now has a broken wrist, is in the hospital, is surrounded by men in black suits with ear thingies, and is looking at the TV with breaking news bulletins showing a picture of Samantha's school ID photo... You know, the one you never show to anyone for fear of public humiliation... the one where you blink just as the picture's being taken and your hair has gone completely berserk.
3. The news is calling Samantha a national hero and now she can't go anywhere without lightbulbs popping in her face and microphones being stuck under her chin. People who used to avoid Sam now invite her to parties and dress in all new, all black clothes from the Gap. And, to top it off, Samantha has been asked, by the President, to be the Teen Ambassador to the U.N.
2. Samantha has just found out that the cute guy in her art class at Susan Boone's is none other than the son of the President of the United States. You know, the one whose life she just saved. How was she to know? I mean, he was wearing a Save Ferris T-shirt and combat boots. He looked nothing like the geeky guy she'd seen on TV.
1. Samantha begins to suspect that Number One Son might just be in love with her.

Susan Bartel  (Colorado Blue Spruce Children's Award)

Booktalk #3

The whole reason I ended up saving the president of the United States life is on account of a pineapple that wasn't there. My name is Samantha Madison or Sam for short and no I'm not related to Dolley Madison. I'm an urban rebel, meaning I dress in black on a daily basis and I'm not like my cheerleader popular sister, Lucy who pours over the fashion magazines daily. She does have the coolest boyfriend, Jack who I'm sure is my soulmate and once he wakes up and realizes this, he'll break up with Lucy to be with me.

Back to the pineapple that wasn't there. I have a bit of an artistic talent and have gotten a reputation around school that I can draw a decent celebrity picture. For the most part I do this for free, because I don't think it's fair to charge anyone except for Kris Parks and her group of snobby friends. Kris Parks was my best friend up until third grade when my dad moved us to Morocco. The next year when we came back, I had to attend a speech and hearing class to overcome my speech impediment, something akin to what Cindy had on the Brady Bunch and Kris believed this was fodder to dump me as her friend. But I digress. The problem is Lucy squealed on me about drawing celebrity pictures during Duetsh class and my parents decided to sign me up for an art class to channel my talents.

All of that was right and good until the day we had an assignment to draw a still life. Susan Boone, the art teacher, put some fruit on the table and said, "Draw what you see". So I did, and I added a pineapple to spruce up the picture. When she came around to critiquing mine, she said "Oh Sam, I didn't tell you to draw what you know, but what you see". Needless to say, when next Thursday rolled around and Theresa our housekeeper dropped me off, I didn't head up to class. I went into Capitol Cookies to get a snack and then to Static to listen to some music.

Later on, when I was back out on the sidewalk waiting for Theresa, the president came into Capitol Cookies. Then when he came back out, I noticed the guy on the sidewalk next to me, who was also in Static listening to Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" (music for old people, by the way). Mr. "Uptown Girl" started fiddling with his jacket and the next thing I know, he's pulling a gun on the president. Without even thinking about it, I leapt on top of the guy, foiling his plan and saving the president.

Now I'm considered a national hero, with a broken wrist on top of it. Not only that, but I don't want my parents to find out that I was ditching art class and that's how I saved the president's life. On top of that, the whole reason the president showed up in that neighborhood is that his son David was in my class. The very guy who I thought was sort of cute and complimented me on my combat boots. He also knows about my pineapple fiasco. There are times like this, I wish I could be someone cool like Gwen Stephani who would totally know how to handle a situation like this. What's a girl to do??

Susi Bonato  (Colorado Blue Spruce Children's Award)

Booktalk #4

In the right place at the right time? Or was it the wrong time? wrong place? Dressed all in black, and with wild red hair, Samantha prided herself on her nonconformity, her sensitivity, and her artistic talent. She was hardly inconspicuous as she nonchalantly perused CDs at a music store instead of going to the art lesson her mother had insisted on.

But after almost accidently saving the life of the President of the USA ( who just happened to have a non-conformist, artistic son) what could she do but be an All-American girl?

An entertaining examination of an "all-American" teenage girl's values by the author of The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot, this will be a popular read.

Marge Erickson Freeburn  (Colorado Blue Spruce Children's Award)

Booktalk #5

While waiting for her ride home from an after-school art class, Samantha Madison, a sophomore at John Adams Preparatory School in Washington, DC, inadvertently saves the President's life by jumping on the back of a would-be assassin. Suddenly, she is a celebrity, invited to the White House for dinner, named the teen ambassador to the U.N., and revered by her fellow classmates. Sounds great, right? But even with her new star status, Samantha still doesn't have the one thing she really, really wants - a date with her sister's artistic, rebel boyfriend, Jack. Pulling out all the stops, Samantha decides to capture Jack’s attention by asking out the President's son – but she gets way more than she bargained for when she hooks up with the First Son!