Humorous Pick: Kill the Boy Band

Kill the Boy Band
by Goldy Moldavsky
Point
2016
320 pages
ISBN: 9780545867474

Available February 23, 2016

I have a huge fan girl crush, and it's for  the new YA book Kill the Boy Band which is everything hilarious about fandom, fan fic, and fan girls! Straight off the pages of a teen rag or a fan girl's Twitter feed, this book amazes. Spot on dialog with popping snark and "me first" just because I deserve it attitude, Kill the Boy Band is so funny it nearly aches.

Four fan girl BFFs (two go to the same school, the other two are online "friends" who know each other only from Twitter, text and DM's--don't hate--I met some of my BFF librarian friends online first and then in person, lol) agree to meet in NYC and rent a room at the hotel where their beloved boy band, the Ruperts (all the boys in the band have the real first name of Rupert--go figure),  will stay while in New York. Fooling all their  parents is easy since the adults  seem clueless; with the help of Apple's family maid, who checks the girls into the hotel, their plan of meeting their idols is finalized. Now to find out which room the "boys" are in. Isobel wants to post inside scoop for her blog, and readers will soon find out that Erin has much darker ideas for the boys.

After an unexpected coup at the ice machine, Apple returns with an unconscious Rupert P. The girls tie him up so he won't run off. It goes from bad to worse when Apple wants to keep him as her very own pet and Isobel snaps photos to post. At first the girls question their options, but finally talk themselves into full blown kidnapping. Rupert P. is having none of it; he argues and tries to escape. The girls have to gag him. Then they have the problem of Rupert K.'s fake girlfriend who keeps trying to find him. She's becoming a real pest.

The kidnapping and felony charges/prison time does not sit well with our narrator (who never tells us  her own name). She escapes to the hotel bar where an older bartender--she calls him Civil War Bartender--berates all  fan girls in general for  their foolish and foppish attempts to see/touch/hear/kiss/scream at/possess  their idols. He tells her that someday in the future  she'll be at a college party and someone will mention the Ruperts and say what a loser band they were. She does not believe Civil War Bartender at the time.

An unexpected but blissful encounter on the roof with her real crush, Rupert K., has our narrator in the throes of romantic tizzy, but it all comes crashing down (literally). When bestie Erin informs the others of her real plans for the boy band, the narrator nearly loses it.

All this mayhem is just the beginning; the story gets trippier and messier but, oh, so fun! Goldy Moldavsky has a great time satirizing boy bands, fandom, and pop culture. The media frenzy and pop culture hype created by social media makes this a believable read. #fangirllove, #KTBBrocks, #foreverRuperts! Shout out and heads up: Texas librarians, Goldy is coming to TLA in Houston this year! Score!


Highly, highly recommended and addictive grade 9-up. Profanity, sexual innuendo, mature themes, bad fan girl behavior, bad boy band behavior, sex, sexting.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the ARC from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Non-Fiction Pick: Shooting Stars: My Unexpected Life Photographing Hollywood's Most Famous

Shooting Stars: My Unexpected Life Photographing Hollywood's Most Famous
by Jennifer Buhl
Sourcebooks
2014
352 pages
ISBN: 9781402237007

Visit the author's website and learn more about her adventures in Hollywood

Jennifer Buhl, like so many starry-eyed dreamers,  moved to Hollywood to find fame and fortune on the silver screen. Just like the thousands of others, she finds herself waiting tables and counting her pennies not her job offers. A chance encounter with a mob of photogs convince her that she's in the wrong business. Instead of waiting on customers and picking up tips, she could be following celebrities and picking up "tips" about their whereabouts.

She convinces Richard, a nice looking paparazzi, to allow her to ride along with him on his next adventure. They follow Britney Spears up a steep canyon road to her house. They're not alone--about 25 other photogs are in the convoy of tinted windowed SUVs. They leave empty handed but Buhl is fascinated. She finds a news agency online and talks her way into a job--a sort of job. At first using borrowed camera equipment, Buhl learns the ins and outs of celebrity "shooting."

Shooting Stars reads like a gossip-y reality show or an episode of E News. There's plenty of name dropping and some name calling--take that, Seal! Readers learn that Seal does not have very nice behavior toward a female photographer, Nicole Richie secretly likes the paps, Paris Hilton will always pose and she drives slowly so the paps can get their best shots. Some celebs are not so nice--Seal, for one according to Buhl and Keith Urban and wife  Nicole Kidman are private people who don't take kindly to a photog sneaking pictures of them.

The inside scoop on the paparazzi is detailed throughout the book. Most of the paps live and work in L.A. which has the highest numbers of stars. Most of the seasoned paps are British--they started their careers as news photographers. Now, many of the paps are from Mexico or South America. Most are male; very few are female. Buhl learns to pay for tips and has a grocery clerk tip her off when a celebrity is sighted in his store.

There are some cardinal sins to shooting photos: don't take pictures of celebrities' children or at their school, don't ever take a photo of a celebrity inside her home or in the back yard, ask if you may take the photo, make eye contact, if you can make a celebrities  laugh, they will always allow you to take a photo.  Also, ugly pictures don't sell. The public wants to see pretty pictures of celebrities doing normal things: walking the dog, shopping for groceries, or driving a car. They don't want to see their favorite celebrity in a compromising shot. No one ever "outs" a celebrity until the celebrity comes out of the closet on his/her own.

Buhl clears up the misconceived notion that celebrities hate the paparazzi; most celebrities realize the paps help keep them current and in the news. If their pictures aren't out there, the public soon forgets them and they are no longer relevant. In fact, it's a well known fact that many stars call the paparazzi to let them know they are going to an event: a Christmas tree lot or a pumpkin patch or even shopping. The paps get their photos, the photos are paid for, and surprisingly, the paps sometimes even give a percentage back to the star.


The relationship between the paparazzi and celebrities can get heated but for the most part it is symbiotic--each needs the other in order to make money and have a career. Buhl gives readers what they want: a chatty book about a young woman trying to make it work in Hollywood and chasing the dream of working in entertainment. With the onset of Twitter, the paps now know exactly where celebrities are located. If a celebrity posts that she's getting her hair done, the paps knows exactly where she is. Instagram makes it easy for celebrities to post their own images and control what pictures of them are out in the public eye.

Recommended grade 9-up. Language, mature situations.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the arc from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

Teen Pick: Circle of Silence

Circle of Silence: The Story Turned Deadly
By Carol M. Tanzman
Harlequin Teen
2012
281 pages

Dangerous and dark, Circle of Silence is a teen read that could have been ripped from the headlines. It will leave you uncomfortable and a little sickened.

News girl Val and her news team produce the campus news show. They report the usual things: all the new clubs available for freshman to join, an interview with a new administrator hired on campus, the football team has their first game—just run of the mill typical high school news. When the letters “MP” start appearing tagged all over campus, no one gives it a second thought. Maybe it’s someone’s initials; maybe it’s Marshall Prep, another school nearby who is their upcoming football rival. Kids are starting to talk and wonder who’s behind the tagging.

The next week, a couple of funny pranks occur and the mysterious initials are left at the scene. The news team knows it can’t be Marshall Prep; the big football game has already taken place. Who is pulling the pranks and why?

A group of loners and misfits are secretly meeting and making plans to be the talk of the school. The tension between the members is palpable. When their leader dreams of bigger and meaner pranks, the sheep in the group follow him blindly along until someone ends up in the hospital. The pranks are becoming increasingly dangerous and deadly.

Can Val’s media team break the story before someone else gets hurt? Is Valerie herself a target? Will anyone in the secret group step up and away from the danger? How long can a group keep a secret before turning on each other? Could your biggest enemies be closer than you think?

The cover is bland and a real missed opportunity to attract teen readers who are likely to walk right by the tepid cover art.

Recommended grades 9-up. Mature situations. Language.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)