Recipe for Rebellion (Zodiac Girls Series)

Danu used to have tons of friends and did well in school. But that was before her dad went away for work and left her with her cold, workaholic aunt. As a Sagittarius, Danu longs for space and company. When she can't get either, Danu rebels at school, changing from a straight-A student into every teacher's worst nightmare. When a Web site search reveals that she is a Zodiac Girl, Danu is skeptical at first, but soon her zodiac guardians are pointing her back in the right direction. Danu learns that she must take responsibility for her own happiness and that when life hands you a difficult card, it's how you play that counts.

Publishers Weekly

Hopkins (the Mates, Dates series) kicks off the Zodiac Girls series with this somewhat silly yet quickmoving novel centering on an angry, lonely 13yearold. When her widower father goes off to South America on an archeological dig, Danu is sent to live with her workaholic lawyer aunt in a sterile apartment. Feeling neglected and friendless, Danu plays a rather forced badgirl role at her new school, hoping she'll get expelled for inane stunts she pulls off with tricks from a magic shop. But her life takes a change for the better and the bizarre after she encounters Joe, a cheerful fellow who runs a deli and tells her to check out his astrology Web site. When she visits the site, she learns that she has been selected as "this month's Zodiac Girl!!!!!," with Joe as her "guardian." Danu learns that Joe is the planet Jupiter "in human form," and he offers advice so she can transform her life, which she does with the help of his celestialbeing pals. These include Mars, a martial arts instructor who teaches Danu to defend herself against neighborhood bullies, and Venus, a beautician who spiffs up Danu's appearance. Despite the novel's farfetched premise, the heroine emerges as a realistic, likable character. Readers will likely find her story's happyeverafter ending quite satisfying and may well tune in for another Zodiac Girl's chance to change her life in From Geek to Goddess (ISBN 9780753458952), due out the same month. Ages 812. (May)

Cathy Hopkins is the author of the best-selling Mates Dates series, which has sold more than one million copies and has been translated into fourteen languages. Before becoming a full-time writer, Cathy worked as an aromatherapist and was a singer in a rock band. Cathy was born in England but went to elementary school in Kenya. She now lives in London with her husband and four cats. She is an Aquarius.