Meg Cabot's Stage Fright

Just like Allie, my class put on a play with a royal lead. I was DYING to play the part of the princess. But it went to my classmate Meera (who now stars in musicals professionally— so I guess she was pretty good, even though she was only 9)! I was stuck playing the princess's best friend! I was so mad.

But my mom and friends convinced me that there are no small parts. . . only small actors! So I played the best princess's best friend I could. I was REALLY nervous. . . especially since, right before I went out on stage. . . my front tooth fell out! I was sure I was going to be awful (or lose my tooth and not be able to get money from the tooth fairy).

But neither thing happened. Everything went great, and we all got a huge standing ovation. And years later, in high school, I actually beat Meera to get the lead in our high school musical. She's the one who went on to be an acting star though. . . I decided I loved WRITING the stories better than starring in them. And we both lived happily ever after.

Me dressing up Fifties-style in high school!

— Meg Cabot, Author

Meg Cabot author photo at top left © Ali Smith

Allie Finkle #4: Stage Fright Sneak Peek

So I just read the very first chapter of Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls, Book 4: Stage Fright by Meg Cabot, and if you're an Allie Finkle fan, you certainly won't be let down. Even reading the first fifteen pages, I already see Allie's cute wit, and I get a sense that deep down inside she wants to be a star! I mean, who wouldn't want to be a celebrity? I'd take being a local celebrity!

I found it interesting that the book starts with a rule (No, I'm not going to give it away!) that basically acknowledges the importance of giving compliments. Allie certainly isn't a stranger to giving herself compliments either. Some people might call it bragging, but I think she's just confident. However, I wonder if this first rule is going to be a running theme throughout the book. Even if someone makes a complete fool out of herself or totally messes up, shouldn't you always make that person feel better anyway?

That's just my guess regarding the theme of the book. However, in order to know for sure what is really going to happen to Allie, I'll have to read Stage Fright in its entirety when it comes out on September 15th.

Read the Stage Fright Excerpt (PDF)

— Carly M., STACKS Staffer

Oh and since when is Allie into 1980's comic books? The Voltron reference was awesome!

3 Qs for Mary Kay, Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls

I think Allie Finkle has the right idea. Rules are great -- they remind us to look both ways before crossing streets, to not eat too much candy before dinner, and to not blame the dog if we didn't do our homework.

I just finished Moving Day, Book 1 in the Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls series, and I decided I needed to ask Allie's former best friend, Mary Kay, some questions. See, Mary Kay ends up betraying Allie in a pretty specific way, but I think overall, she probably means well. She was just hurt and probably a little afraid.

So here's what I would ask Mary Kay if I had the chance:

1. Why do you cry so much?
2. Why would you want to be friends with someone like Brittany Hauser?
3. Do you miss Allie now that she's moved away?

Who else out there likes Allie Finkle? Tell me what you'd want to ask Mary Kay in the comments!

— Morgan, Scholastic Staffer

Meg Cabot Rocks the Super Sleepover

Things I didn't know about Meg Cabot at this time last week:

• Meg's first cat was named Jenny.
• Meg got the cat as a present from her parents after they moved the family across town.
• Meg had a window seat in her new bedroom.
• Meg has two younger brothers.
• Meg won't eat things that are red or swim in the ocean.
• Her little brothers' favorite restaurant was Red Lobster.

If you missed it, I learned all these things at the Allie Finkle's Super Sleepover webcast. The full webcast archive is up for on the Allie Finkle website.

The webcast was hosted by the super awesome Caroline Rhea, whom some of you might know as Aunt Hilda from Sabrina the Teenage Witch or Ilsa Shickelgrubermeiger-Von Helsing der Keppelugerhofer from Disney's The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. She's also the voice of Mom on Phineas and Ferb.

Caroline and Meg treated us to a night of comedy and insight on Allie Finkle. Like – the one way that Meg isn't Allie is that Meg is bad at math. And that's one of the reasons Meg isn't a vet, like Allie wants to be. Apparently, you need to be good at math to be a vet.

After Meg gave up her dream of being a vet, she wanted to be an illustrator. Take a look at some of her illustrations:

During the webcast, there was a lightning round of questions, in which Meg gave 60 seconds worth of answers all about herself. For example, did you know that Meg's favorite accessory is purses? Well, it is.

Meg also revealed the top ten rules from the the Girl's Life "Allie Finkle's Super Rules" contest — as selected by Meg from submissions from kids around the country. The winning rule will be in Allie Finkle Book 5: Birthday Bash, which comes out in Spring 2010. Did your rule make the list? Check out the video archive to find out! (My favorite of the rules was #4: Saying "no offense" DOESN'T make it any less offensive.)

To hold fans over until Book 5, Meg gave us the scoop on Allie Finkle Book 4: Stage Fright (coming out September 2009): Allie tries out for the part of the princess in the school play! (Meg also told us that the perfect person would be a princess who is good at math!)

And of course, what would a good webcast be without questions from the audience? Meg answered questions spanning all sorts of topics, like:

Q: Who was your best friend in 4th grade and do you still talk?
Q: What is one thing girls today need to hear that they don't hear enough of?
Q: Did you have a role model growing up?
Q: Did you ever fight with your brothers when you were little?
Q: How has being an author changed your life?

And the ever important question of —

Q: What if there is a guy in three of my classes and I like him — what do I do?

For Meg's answers and more (like Meg reading an excerpt from the brand new Allie Finkle book, Best Friends and Drama Queens — see picture below), make sure to watch the video replay on the Allie Finkle website: http://www.scholastic.com/allie_webcast!

And if you like the awesome bedroom set Meg and Caroline are hanging out on, be sure to enter the Super Sleepover Sweepstakes for a chance to win to all the furniture!

— Carly H., STACKS Staffer

Fill-in-the-Blank Famous Quotations: Allie Finkle

I haven't posted a "Fill-in-the-Blank Famous Quotation" in a while, and since it's almost the new year, I thought I'd try my hand at an Allie Finkle edition — because her rules are kind of like New Year's resolutions. (In case you're not familiar with Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls, it's a series by Meg Cabot about a girl who keeps a notebook of all the important things to remember as she navigates school, friends, family, and boys.)

For this "Fill-in-the-Blank Famous Quotation" entry, I chose two of my favorite rules from Allie's notebook:

"Don't get a pet that poops in your hand."
and
"Don't put your cat in a suitcase."

Here are my twisted versions:

• Don't get a pet that urinates in your bed.
• Don't put your cat in a mailbox.
• Don't get a pet that sheds on your prom dress.
• Don't put your cat in a dollhouse.
• Don't get a pet that eats in your bathroom sink.
• Don't put your cat in a filing cabinet.

YOUR TURN!
"Don't get a pet that _____ in/on your _____."
and
"Don't put your cat in a _____."

How would YOU fill in the blanks?

— Karen, STACKS Staffer

If Allie Finkle had a soundtrack...

Music is the gateway to helping us remember certain events and
particularmovies. Since most movies nowadays have soundtracks
— which are there to remind us of the characters and specific scenes — why shouldn't books have fun soundtracks as well?

Therefore, if Allie Finkle had a soundtrack, here would
be my top choices to dance and groove to:

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Miley Cyrus
Hold On - The Jonas Brothers
Two Worlds Collide - Demi Lovato
I Want It That Way - The Backstreet Boys
It's Gonna Be Me - *NSYNC
Stronger - Britney Spears
Beautiful - Christina Aguilera
Nobody's Perfect - Hannah Montana
All-American Girl - Carrie Underwood
Time After Time - Quietdrive
Burnin' Up - The Jonas Brothers
I Don't Want To Be - Gavin Degraw
                                     Breakout - Miley Cyrus
                                    When It Rains - Paramore

   

What would YOUR ideal Allie Finkle soundtrack include?
Or, suggest a soundtrack for another book! 

— Carly M., STACKS Staffer

iGo to See Miranda Cosgrove Read From Allie Finkle!

Yesterday I learned that I'm very similar to Miranda Cosgrove, the star of Nickelodeon's iCarly. No, I don't act on a hit TV show. No, I haven't been in movies alongside big names like Jack Black. No, I don't lead a life of glitz and glamor. And saddest of all, no, I'm not on a first-name basis with Drake and Josh . . . Okay, fine, I'm not similar to Miranda Cosgrove at all. But I really did discover one thing that we have in common: we both love Meg Cabot's new series Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls!

How do I know? Because Miranda visited the Scholastic Store in SoHo, NYC, to do a reading — and out of all the books in the world that she could read from, she picked Moving Day, the first installment in the Allie Finkle series!

Miranda chose two of her favorite chapters to read: Chapter 4 ("Brothers — and Parents — Can Be Very Insensitive") and Chapter 11 ("When You Finally Figure Out What the Right Thing to Do Is, You Have to Do It, Even If You Don't Want To"). Check out this video that Carly H. took of Miranda reading all of Chapter 4:

Allie Finkle Trivia - Answer!

Congratulations to Sarah! She correctly identified Meg Cabot herself as the inspiration for the character of Allie Finkle in my trivia post — check out this video, in which Meg reveals more about the story behind the story than she'd like . . .

— Jack L, STACKS Staffer

Trivia Tuesday: Allie Finkle

I'm about to send you off on a little scavenger hunt, so here's some classic American rock to get you pumped up: Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run

OK! Here's your Tuesday trivia question: Who is the character of Allie Finkle based on?

This is a pretty tough question, but the answer is somewhere on this site — from the lips of author Meg Cabot herself. So here's a hint . . . Good luck!

— Jack, STACKS Intern

Check out the answer!