Fame, Glory, and other things on my to do listby Janette Rallison
Published:
September 17th 2005 by Walker Books for Young Readers
Hardcover, 192 pages
Placement in Pile:
Borderline Reaching New Heights/Middle of the Stack
Summary:
A PC school principal turns West Side Story into a comedy of errors. Sixteen year-old Jessica dreams of Hollywood fame, and when Jordan moves into her small town, she dreams of him too. He’s a movie star’s son, and hey, he’s gorgeous to boot. Jordan has always wanted to get out from the shadow cast by his superstar father, but now that he and his mother have moved so far away from LA, how can he get his divorced parents back together? Jessica convinces Jordan the way to get his father to come for a long visit is to be a part of the school play. And if she’s “discovered” in the process, all the better. Things go wrong when she lets Jordan’s secret identity slip, and grow even more disastrous when the principal tries to change West Side Story into a gangfree, violence-free, politically correct production. In the same romantic and sharply witty spirit of Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Free Throws, Janette Rallison delivers another comic gem that teen readers are sure to love. (Goodreads)
REVIEW:
FAME is a light, funny read and one that anyone with an interest in drama will especially love. This one was a hard one for me to place in the "pile" - because if I'd read it as a teen, I think it would definitely be Reaching New Heights. However, as an adult reading it, it was borderline for me. It was hysterical (what Janette book isn't?) and very realistically "teen". I have to admit that I enjoyed MY FAIR GODMOTHER a little bit more, it was just more on a level that I enjoy in YA novels. So that's why this one isn't a full fledged Reaching New Heights.
I highly recommend FAME for girls in middle school or high school. My "rating" would be PG. I read this one a couple months back, when I got it from Janette at a BYU Writer's conference. (She was my instructor, and I absolutely loved her classes! She's even more funny in person than she is in her writing!) She is so talented, and I can't wait to read her next book!
2 comments:
Interesting! She sounds like such a fun person...I can't wait to get my hands on some of these books!
Thanks for the review Sara! It is so interesting how many age groups are thrown into the title of YA. Sometimes I think books in that category are for young YA (which I do enjoy quite a bit acutally) and sometimes they are so close to adult with content that I worry about them being labeled YA.
Love Janette! That's why I wanted to do a week on her, we are just scratching the surface of her work here this week!
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