Famous by Todd Strasser

Famous by Todd Strasser

Rating: PG

Score: 3 1/2 stars

This book is about a young sixteen year old paparazzo named Jamie, the baby pap prodigy that has had her pictures land covers on People and US Weekly. She thinks her career is just getting started when she's offered up one of the biggest gigs yet, the chance to hang out with Willow Twine, the hottest popstar and actress in the country. Her assignment: document a whole week in Willow's life, trying to get her career back at the top as well as make a name for herself as a celebrity photographer. Everything seems perfect at the moment. Her perfect boyfriend, her best friend becoming an aspiring actor himself, and of course, her own career looking up. Until Jamie finds her camera placed where she knows without a doubt she didn't put it and finds six different shots that she knows she didn't take. Including a picture that could change everything for everyone. Is she willing to sell the pictures and bring down Willow's fragile career, pictures that could easily in the blink of an eye bring Jamie up to the top of the paparazzi business? Or will she save Willow and give up on everything she's ever worked for?

Review:

First the pros.

1. The story is about the obsession with kids and teens and fame. It deals with problems such as changing yourself not only emotionally but physically for the camera, as the character Avy, Jamie's best friend and aspiring actor, portrays in the book.

2. It also talks about sacrifice for the things you want and the things you need. Walk away from it all for someone who doesn't deserve the negative attention? Or forget them and go for it all, no matter what may happen?

Cons: 

1. The only thing I did not enjoy very much about the book is that it skips back and forth in each chapter. Sometimes you read a chapter that is placed a year before, then one placed in the present, then one from the point of a different character all together. I will admit that though it does take you through the whole process of how Jamie got her start as a paparazzo at fifteen, I would've liked to see the book start from there and work it's way forward instead of flipping back and forth between different scenes from different times.

Overall, this book is an eye-opener on how sometimes fame can destroy not only us but the people around us and that not every celebrity is as perfect and happy as they seem. Especially behind closed doors. 

Age Recommendation: 12+

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