The Actual Real Reality of Jennifer James: A Reality TV Novel [Aug 01, 2006] ...

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Product Overview

From School Library Journal Grade 7 Up–Jennifer James considers herself the Most Unpopular Person in her public high school–considered a bog standard, or substandard, institution by most of the residents of her British town. She wishes that her parents had the money and inclination to allow her to transfer to a more competitive academy. When her school is chosen to participate in a new reality TV program in which students will compete for entry into the prestigious St. Willibald's College–an elite preparatory–Jennifer is shocked when she is named one of the contestants. Written as a series of diary entries and interspersed with clippings from the local newspaper and a faux British gossip rag, Shields's first novel details the show's reality from the point of view of an unlikely participant. The narrative reads much like Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicholson titles (HarperCollins)–diary entries are labeled by date and time and some slang is marked with asterisks and explained in footnotes–but it takes a while to gather momentum. The plot is saved from predictability when Jennifer and her friends uncover a voting scam going on behind the scenes; some readers will have noted elements of foreshadowing prior to this revelation. This novel doesn't pack the same punch as Tucker Shaw's Confessions of a Backup Dancer (S & S, 2004) or the insight of Sarra Manning's Guitar Girl (Dutton, 2004). With a glut of similar books on the market, this one doesn't stand out.–Amy S. Pattee, Simmons College, Boston Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Read more From Booklist Gr. 7-10. Take TV's Survivor and the 2005 movie Mean Girls, add a self-effacing narrator a la Georgia Nicolson, and you get this delightful romp from across the pond, told mostly through diary entries. By her own account "The Most Unpopular Girl at [her] school," bookish teen Jennifer James leaps at the chance to participate in a wacky reality show that is being filmed on campus. Contestants vie for the chance to "survive" on the show, sinking into a quagmire of backstabbing and fraud that nearly brings down the school (along with a few of the show's orchestrators). Jennifer, of course, comes through with aplomb--despite challenges that include outsmarting a menacing classmate, charming the boy she loves, managing her parents' mixed emotions about the ordeal, and getting through the days amid intense publicity. Shields stretches the comic situation to a breaking point, but that won't stop the outrageous satire from triggering laughs--and nor will the frequent Briticisms, defined in a concluding glossary. Anne O'MalleyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Read more See all Editorial Reviews