The Market by J.M. Steele

What it's about (from Goodreads): High school senior Kate Winthrop is about to find out just how much she's worth.

After stumbling across the Millbank Social Stock Market, Kate is horrified to discover that out of the 140 girls in her class, she's ranked a bleak 71. Sure, she's not drop-dead gorgeous, and her "fashion" choices leave a bit to be desired...but 71?! Determined not to accept her fate as a "junk bond," she and her best friends quickly set out to make her the fastest rising stock on the Market.

Armed with a sexy new haircut and killer wardrobe, Kate puts her plan into effect — and the analysts take note. In a matter of weeks, her stock value soars, and "Blue Chip" status is within reach. But what begins as a fun social experiment quickly turns into an obsession, one that threatens to ruin her reputation, friendships, and a chance at first love. Will Kate survive the highs and lows of the Market, or will her security crash and burn?

What I learned: I think it's pretty obvious what the authors wanted the reader to learn: popularity isn't all it's cracked up to be. Yeah, yeah, we get it. Almost every contemporary YA book has that message somewhere in it and we all know cerebrally that it might be true but I think a lot of us (myself included, at times) still wish we were popular.
I really liked the premise of this book but I wish it were better written. I think it could've been taken a bit further with the stock market angle and fleshed out more there. I never knew who was running the Market and how the girls paid (or who they paid) and I wanted to know more about it.
When my brother was in junior high, a list went around the school of the ten hottest guys in the seventh grade. (There may have been a similar list for the girls, but I only heard about the boys since I have a brother.) My brother was on it and it actually really upset him. He didn't want to be seen like that or get the kind of attention it brought him. I remembered that list from over ten years ago while reading this book and it made me think about my need to rank people. 
I have a horrible, almost automatic habit of mentally ranking the attractiveness of everybody in the room, wherever I am. Sometimes I put myself in there (and I'm brutally honest, usually placing myself in the middle or bottom third, but sometimes near the top) but I usually don't. I have no idea why I do this, though it's probably just an easy way for me to classify people, or put them in boxes so I think I understand them better (though of course that's not true at all). I've always known that it's a very bad habit but this book really made me think how negative the consequences can be. Ranking people by attractiveness doesn't help anyone and it usually hurts almost everyone. Nothing good can come out of it. I cause myself to think wrongly about people and even though no one knows I'm doing it, it's still not right. It's definitely something I'm going to be working on, thanks in part to this book.


If you've read The Market, what did you learn? Will anyone else admit to silently ranking people?