As in life, the popular kids are far outnumbered by the not so popular kids in The Out Crowd. Ready for a stellar senior year, Hallie takes the reigns of the cheerleading squad with all her usual gusto. With the big Homecoming Game kicking off the start of the school year, Hallie finds some unexpected challenges to her In Crowd status in the form of some rumors that begin to circulate among the student body. To help combat the ‘toxicity’ plaguing Gates High, a rival school newspaper is printed. The book is mostly about the two competing papers and the information and misinformation they print. The students have to adjust as the once clearly defined line fencing off the Out Crowd begins to crumble.
With a fantastic cover, reminiscent of Saturday morning cartoons, one might have a different idea about the contents of The Out Crowd. Although technically the story follows a bunch of immature high-schoolers and their juvenile politics, the tale bears more resemblance to the politics surrounding our current governmental landscape. There are moments of humor, vaguely reminiscent of Mean Girls, but overall the story gets tripped up with dense prose that feels out of place in a book featuring high school drama. Perhaps this was intentional, again to mirror what we hear in the news on a daily basis. That being said, The Out Crowd isn’t a light read about a subject easy to poke fun at. If you’re tired of the fake news circulating in the media, then this will be a refreshing read.
