Princess of Gossip by Sabrina Bryan and Julia DeVillers
When Avery moves from Ohio to L.A., she expects to run into celebrities at every corner. She doesn't. She does, however, get mistaken for someone in the know! Peppered with celeb sightings and good intentions, Princess of Gossip by Sabrina Bryan and Julia de Villers is a fun pick for tweens. It's sure to please readers of de Villers' previous works as well as Team Sabrina, dancer/actress Bryan's loyal fanbase.
At first, moving makes Avery both excited and sad. She doesn't want to leave her friends behind, but now all they seem to care about is if she’s rubbing elbows with celebrities yet. Too bad she's more likely to bang her elbow on her new school locker. She hasn't seen any stars in California. Meanwhile, her dad bumps into Gwen Stefani (whom he refers to as "Jen Stephanie") at a coffeehouse. At school, popular but snotty classmate Cecilia Singer decides Avery's not worth a second thought.
Avery eats alone at lunchtime until she meets Jenna, a vibrant girl whose wardrobe matches her colorful personality. When she's hanging out with Jenna and Sebastian, Jenna's computer whiz older brother, Avery finally feels comfortable in her new school and her new town.
After she creates an online MySpace Street Team for an up-and-coming pop singer named Marisa, she starts getting emails from Marisa's publicity team, who think Avery's somehow connected to or working for her. Avery gets invitations to parties, where she meets celebs and gets even more inside scoops. She starts a celebrity news blog, but takes care to post only true tidbits. Soon, her blog is getting more buzz than she can handle. Publicity and PR people start sending her designer dresses, swag (a fancy word for free stuff) and invites to exclusive parties. Will Avery get caught up in the hype, or will she let the world know she's a high school student and not a real Hollywood insider?
This book could have been filled with petty jealousy and negative postings, and it wasn't. It was clean and good-natured, just like the leading character. I liked that Avery had the best intentions at heart from start to finish. She never slandered, slammed, or took advantage of the famous, nor did she aspire to be famous herself. Neither did her new school friends. I also liked the positive message of Marisa's song lyrics.
Bottom line: This is a good clean read for teens and tweens. Give it a try.
Read my review of Princess of Gossip at SparkLife.
Related Booklist: But I Don't Want to Be Famous!
