STRUTTING IT!

The real skinny on modeling. Beker—for 25 years a host of Canada’s Fashion Television—distills the essence of her many years of experience as a model-watcher into this slim but engaging combination of advice, history and truth-telling. Each chapter showcases a different aspect of a model's career development, from Dreaming the Dream to the Reality of the Road, offering a peek behind the curtain at each step. Starry-eyed ingenues, take note: Modeling is “hard work” that can be “strange, harsh, and crazy-making,” and if your body type doesn’t meet the industry’s exacting standards, you won’t make it. Photographs of and biographical sidebars on current queens of the runway—Gisele Bundchen, Agyness Deyn, Chanel Iman—as well as legendary models of yore—Lauren Hutton, Cindy Crawford, Twiggy—offer both a modern feel and historical context. Infusing an insider’s chumminess with a bracing dose of realism, this title both offers practical advice on making a career in modeling work and stresses the importance of planning for life after modeling. Blessedly responsible and sane, a worthy title for any career collection for teens and a must for aspiring models. (Nonfiction. 11 & up)