Zibby Payne & the Drama Trauma

Zibby Payne #2

by Alison Bell

Everyone is excited about the school play -- except for Total Tomboy Zibby, who thinks acting is utterly boring. But when she learns that the main character in the play is a soccer star, just like her, she decides that playing a famous athlete and having tons of adoring fans would be More Than Okay. After she gets the part, she realizes her character has to kiss a boy. Even worse, the boy is her soccer buddy ... and he may actually like her. That way. Zibby will do anything to get out of The Kiss, if it means rewriting the script, wearing plastic lips, or quitting the show! Can she find a way out of smooching on stage without letting down her cast members, or will she wreck the entire sixth grade musical?

94 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2007

About the author

I am a freelance magazine writer and author of 10 non-fiction books for teens and pre-teens on a wide variety of topics from fashion to parties to handwriting analysis. But my real love is writing fiction, and my first fiction book for kids was published in the fall of 2006, Zibby Payne & the Wonderful, Terrible Tomboy Experiment (Lobster Press), based on the antics of my own daughter. The second in the series is due out in the spring of 2007, Zibby Payne & The Drama Trauma. The series, for children ages 7 - 10, features a spunky, feisty little girl who remains true to herself -- sometimes, well, all the time, with comic results! I am currently working on a new series based on my 6-year-old son.

Reviews

[bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was a good book.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a review of books 1 and 2 of the Zibby Payne series.

I discovered the Zibby Payne books by accident, while browsing in a library in a neighboring system. I love visiting libraries outside of my system because they often have different titles, authors, and series that I'm not familiar with. I'd never heard of Zibby before, but the cover of the first book said that the books were featured on the Today Show, so I figured I'd give them a try.

In book one, Zibby Payne and the Wonderful, Terrible, Tomboy Experiment, Zibby starts sixth grade. She's excited about it, until she realizes her best friend Sarah has changed a lot over the summer. Suddenly she's into clothes, makeup, and hairstyles, while Zibby is still excited about playing tetherball or soccer at recess. Deciding not to give in to the pressures to conform to Sarah's girly lifestyle, Zibby takes things to the other extreme. She puts on her older brother's clothes, plays only with the boys at recess, and perfects the art of burping, in an effort to become a complete and utter tomboy.

In book two, Zibby Payne and the Drama Trauma, Zibby tries out for the school play, after hearing that the main character is a soccer star. But when she lands the part, she realizes that she must kiss the male lead - a soccer buddy of hers - at the end of the play! Troubled by the idea of kissing her friend in front of everyone, she tries anything and everything to get out of the kiss, even rewriting the play, and quitting the show entirely at the last minute!

Zibby is a spirited, interesting, and realistic sixth grader, which, at times, also makes her somewhat annoying. Her tendency to take things too far and to overreact is her main personality trait, and because of that, I found myself rolling my eyes at certain points during the story. Sometimes it just got to be too much, and I wondered why the people around her were putting up with her behavior. I also felt that Zibby was the only true character in these two stories, and all the others were mainly flat representations of the people who would typically make up a sixth grader's world.

The strength of these books, though, is the message. Zibby is absolutely unwilling to compromise her values just because her friend's have shifted. She might take it too far sometimes, but Zibby is a true non-conformist, and I think that side of her is an excellent role model for tweens who are moving from childhood to adolescence. These books reinforce the idea that it's okay to be a girl who likes sports, and that not every girl has to start using lip gloss just because she reaches a certain age.

Overall, though, this series was just okay for me. I think they might make a good starting point for a reluctant reader, but I think there are better titles - especially those in the Aladdin Mix and Candy Apple series - that cover this same ground with better writing and stronger supporting characters.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewed by Allison Fraclose for TeensReadToo.com

Zibby Payne has decided that "drama is for sissies, not tomboys," so she has absolutely no interest in trying out for the school play, even though everyone else is. But when hotshot Amber comes to her for soccer tips, Zibby can't help but think that she would be a natural for the lead character, who scores the winning soccer goal at the end of the play.

Before she knows what she's getting in to, Zibby lands a part in the play...as "The Prissy Girl!" She even has to sing a solo about the color pink! Amber, of course, gets the main part, while Zibby's soccer buddy, Matthew, lands the role of lead male.

When an accident lands Amber in a cast and Zibby in the main role, Zibby and Matthew are horrified to learn that they must kiss at the play's closing. Mrs. Halpin, the director, will not back down, and Zibby must try everything to get out of this kiss, even if it means quitting the show.

I had a very hard time believing that a teacher would force two obviously uncomfortable students to exchange such an intimate gesture in public. Regardless, Zibby's second adventure left me with a few laughs, and a happy conclusion.

[Wendy Reaves · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel was a different type of interesting. It was kind of different, but I do think that middle schoolers would enjoy it because it has to do with real life events. I would recommend it for middle schoolers, but I did not really enjoy the novel. It was kind of boring, and it did not keep me interested while I was reading the book.

[Ashanti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that in the book it is pretty dramatic because in the book Zibby trys to go thru all of this stuff in the beging to get the part of Miranda in a play and she tried so hard that she becomes understudy!!! Find out what happens when you read Zibby Payne and the Drama Trauma!