3.5***

Austin Gray is nearly 15 years old, and tired of just watching the parade; she wants to be one of the “hood ornaments” who ride in the parade, perched atop a shiny new pick-up truck and waving to her adoring public. She figures if she’s crowned next year’s Sweetheart, the town bully will finally have to stop targeting her. With the support of her best friend, Maribel, she decides to join the Future Farmers of America and vie for the title. The first step is to convince her mom to give her a chicken for Christmas. She gets not just any chicken, but a show bantam rooster, which she names Charles Dickens. Slowly she gains confidence and makes new friends, including a strong-silent-cowboy type. Now if she can just get her Mom to stop being over-protective, everything will be perfect.

This is a lovely YA novel dealing with universal themes – bullying, self-image, friendship, independence, loss, love, responsibility, peer pressure, self-confidence, and happiness. I like that Alexander doesn’t sugarcoat the issues that Austin faces, and that she has her heroine make some mistakes along the way. Still, Austin is a great heroine, and this is a sweetheart of a book.
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This is one of those books that is almost there. I loved the setting of small town Texas. It was unique, interesting and unexpected. I like the main characters and really felt their struggles and issues. But...much of the book felt flat. Secondary characters, the plot, the conflict. There was very little rising action and most definitely a weak ending. Which makes me sad because this book was about another 20 pages away from being a new favorite.
PS - Even YAers get to at least KISS at the end!! You can't expect me to read a pink book and not get at least a kiss. ( )

I expected an “Austin, you’re more than somebody’s hood ornament” lesson, which happens, but there’s a lot more going on in this slim book than the Sweetheart contest. (Full review at http://www.parenthetical.net/2011/03/04/review-the-sweetheart-of-prosper-county-... ( )

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This debut novel is full of teen angst and Texas charm. Austin is fourteen, and has been bullied her whole life in her small town. She is the only child of a young widow who runs a hardware store. In the year portrayed in this book, things drastically change for Austin. She decides to change what she believes has always attracted the bully by becoming popular and being named the Sweetheart of Prosper County. You get the sense from the beginning that Austin is stronger than the bully. There are quite a few unique, interesting characters that support Austin through this year (and many of them always have, but Austin was blind to this previously). She finds more than one place to fit in – Alexander makes her popular in the FFA group (the best way to become Sweetheart), but she also does not give up her other friends. I also like that the way her dad dies isn’t necessarily a secret, but it unfolds naturally through the course of the book. It is well-written, and the whole book sings with character and personality. And the bully is dealt with in several ways – all effective and individual. ( )