Instant fame as the goofy-faced star of a series of soft-drink commercials goes to a lad’s head in this insider’s-eye view of the Hollywood Dream’s ups and downs. Wanting only to fit in at his new California school, Mitch goes to an open casting call and against all odds lands the part. Better yet, though he’s only on screen for a second he’s suddenly a widely recognized celebrity—until a news feature on childhood obesity complicates things, and he discovers that he needs the friends he’s blithely been blowing off. The plot is predictable, but Williams draws on long experience in the film industry to surround Mitch with adults (notably his irascible tutor) and experienced peers to explain jobs on the set, give him quick acting lessons and guided tours of the studios, deliver savvy observations about the price of fame and provide general life coaching. Ultimately Mitch gets his priorities straight, repairs his friendships and finds a clever way to get out of his contract, so all’s well that ends well in this lecture-ish but lighthearted look behind the scenes. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8109-8347-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 31, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2010
A sixth-grader and an inexperienced teacher both learn something from each other in Clements’s newest teachable-moment-driven school tale. Hart Evans has always, and effortlessly, been Cool—a talent that backfires when his control-freak music teacher, Mr. Meinert, throws up his hands and leaves it to the unruly school chorus to elect its own director for the upcoming Holiday Concert. Hart surprises both Mr. Meinert and himself by rising brilliantly to the occasion. Clements stirs a few side issues into the pot—for one, Meinert and the other arts teachers are being laid off on January first—but his focus being Hart’s introduction to group dynamics and the management thereof, complications of plot or character cause only minor ripples. Having learned the value of listening, of running things democratically, and of knowing when to seek help, Hart and Meinert engineer a quirky, rousing triumph—that, no, doesn’t save Meinert’s job, but does leave everyone involved, readers included, with both good feelings and the idea that both young people and adults are sometimes guilty of underestimating each other. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-689-84516-2
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2004
Who is next in the ocean food chain? Pallotta has a surprising answer in this picture book glimpse of one curious boy. Danny, fascinated by plankton, takes his dory and rows out into the ocean, where he sees shrimp eating those plankton, fish sand eels eating shrimp, mackerel eating fish sand eels, bluefish chasing mackerel, tuna after bluefish, and killer whales after tuna. When an enormous humpbacked whale arrives on the scene, Danny’s dory tips over and he has to swim for a large rock or become—he worries’someone’s lunch. Surreal acrylic illustrations in vivid blues and red extend the story of a small boy, a small boat, and a vast ocean, in which the laws of the food chain are paramount. That the boy has been bathtub-bound during this entire imaginative foray doesn’t diminish the suspense, and the facts Pallotta presents are solidly researched. A charming fish tale about the one—the boy—that got away. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-88106-075-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2000
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