Deep Down Popular

Jessie Lou Ferguson has loved Conrad Parker Smith since the second grade. Conrad is the most popular boy in school and the star of the soccer team. Jessie Lou, on the other hand, is described by her mother as a “tomboy,” and is an outsider with few friends. She doesn’t like dressing up. She cuts her own hair choppy and short. And she is very smart and loves to write poetry.  

Now, Jessie Lou and Conrad are in sixth grade at Cabanash County Elementary, and things have changed. Conrad is no longer the popular boy he once was. Conrad has developed a limp and wears a leg brace, hindering his performances in soccer, at school dances, and during field trips. When Jessie Lou is asked to help Conrad, they begin to spend more time together. But Jessie Lou is worried that if Conrad’s leg gets better, he’ll no longer want to be her friend. 

Deep Down Popular is a fun and light story that addresses issues such as friendship, self-image, and internal beauty. In the end, Jessie Lou finds the most meaningful friendships in the people she least expected—Conrad and a fourth grader named Quentin. The more they hang out with each other, the closer they become. By the end of the story, Jessie Lou tells Quentin that she, Conrad, and Quentin are “deep down friends, and as far as I’m concerned that’s about better than anything.” 

Additionally, as Jessie Lou’s sister, Melinda, prepares for the Junior Teen Beauty Pageant at the Apple Blossom State Fair, the two become closer. Jessie Lou had always been jealous of her beautiful, perfect older sister. Melinda has luscious long hair while Jessie Lou’s looks like it is buzzed. Melinda is doted on by their grandpa and mother all the time. Towards the end of the book, Jessie Lou and Melinda become closer as they bond through their sadness. Melinda is disappointed that she didn’t win the pageant and Jessie Lou thinks Conrad won’t be her friend anymore after his leg is fixed. They cry together and reassure one another, bringing them closer together.  

Jessie Lou struggles with self-image throughout the story. She compares herself to Melinda a lot and feels like a “stupid ugly old beanpole” next to her. On her self-portrait, she writes that she thinks she’s stupid, ugly, and skinny. Eventually, Jessie Lou realizes that she is her own special person and that internal beauty matters more. On her self-portrait, she writes the word “happy,” and realizes that being happy matters more. Her supportive family helps Jessie Lou realize, “I don’t know how I look on the outside, but I’d like to say that I feel pretty on the inside, and Granddaddy always told me that’s all that really matters.” Deep Down Popular is a sweet story because Jessie Lou’s relationships progress and she grows as a person.  

Stone writes mostly from Jessie’s first-person perspective, allowing readers to have a better sense of how Jessie Lou thinks. Naturally, readers end up rooting for Jessie Lou and hoping that she begins to think positively about herself. Deep Down Popular talks about the meanderings of a small town, and the events are believable. However, it is difficult to tell what is going on sometimes because of how much is happening. While the plot isn’t always entertaining, the characters are enjoyable. The kids and the shenanigans they got into are fun to read about. They are snappy, sarcastic, and silly little kids who are having fun while growing up. 

Sexual Content  

• In second grade, Jessie Lou was so in love with Conrad Parker Smith that “when he’d go running by, I’d jump out and pull him down and give him a great big kiss on his cheek. He didn’t seem to really mind, but he never kissed me back.” 
• Quentin, Conrad, and Jessie Lou watch an airplane flying while lying in the grass, “and then they roll over toward me and Conrad kisses my cheek and Quentin kisses my forehead.” 

Violence  

• None 

Drugs and Alcohol  

• None 

Language    

• The word bimbos is used once. 
• Heck is used four times. 
• While talking about people’s names, Jessie Lou says you can tell who has hippie parents. She says, “I think I’d feel half stupid to have a name like Moon n’ Stars.” 
• When Jessie Lou is left alone, she predicts how the rest of the night will go. She predicts she will go to her room and “write me a poem about feeling like a stupid old ugly beanpole, about never being able to be perfect and pretty like my snooty older sister, Melinda.” 
• Jessie Lou’s teacher assigns a self-portrait where the students draw themselves and write words to describe themselves. When looking at Quentin Duster’s self-portrait, Jessie Lou comments, “I think I would have written on his, PIP-SQUEAKY, BOSSY, TOO BIG FOR HIS BRITCHES.” Around Jessie Lou’s own, she writes “STUPID. UGLY. SKINNY.” 
• While talking about Tiny Bailey, a supposed fifth-year senior, Quentin says he sleeps a lot because of his size, to which Jessie Lou asks him, “is there anything you don’t have a lamebrain answer for?” 
• Quentin asks Jessie Lou if she likes Conrad. When she denies it, he says, “Good. Don’t gross me out by liking that idiot.” 
• Quentin gets a new snorkel set. Jessie Lou says he looks “like an idiot space alien” when running around in the yard with it. 
• Conrad goes on TV. Jessie Lou says Conrad is still “plain old, stupid Conrad,” and that it won’t change just because he went on TV. 

Supernatural  

• None 

Spiritual Content  

• While talking about Pizza Day at school, Jessie Lou says the pizza is so good that “you could just flap your way to heaven.”