Young Adult Book Reviews

Genre:  Realistic Fiction

# of Pages:  250 p.

RAC Book:  Yes

Katriona Shaw lives in England with her parents, but during the summer she is sent to live with her grandmother, Noni.  Noni used to be a major movie star and lives a life of luxury to prove it.  Kat has never felt a strong connection with her grandmother and does not hide the fact that she would rather be home skateboarding with her friends.  Everything changes when Noni finds out she could be up for a part in a movie.  She is supposed to meet with one of the executives about whether or not she would be right for the part and it is all she can think about.  Unfortunately, she falls off of Katriona’s skateboard and sprains her ankle shortly before the meeting.  Convinced she would be unable to audition with a sprain, Noni and her stylist come up with a crazy and ridiculous idea to fool the executive into thinking Noni is in perfect health.  The stylist transforms Kat to look like her grandmother so that she can go to the meeting instead.  Despite Kat’s protests, they convince her to at least try this for her grandmother and she reluctantly agrees.

The plot of this story, while humorous and fast paced, seems a bit ridiculous.  Obviously there are talented people who can transform young people to look older, but it seems unlikely that a granddaughter of 15 could be made to look exactly like her 62 year old grandmother in a way that someone close up would not be able to tell the difference.  This story also has some pacing issues.  For example,  for half of the book Kat is merely a sulky teen visiting her grandmother against her will and then the plot takes a quick turn as they prepare for this Hollywood meeting and ends rather abruptly.  Teens who like funny, silly books will be a fan but anyone looking for more substance should keep looking.