Teen Fiction - Girls & Young Women, Teen Fiction - Entertainment & Arts, Teen Fiction - School

The Real Real

Name: The Real Real
Author: Emma McLaughlin
ISBN: 9780061720420

by Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus

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Overview

The bestselling authors of The Nanny Diaries introduce a new heroine to root for: Jesse O'Rourke, coffee barista, high school senior, and unwitting reality TV star.

Imagine there was never a Laguna Beach, a Newport Harbor, the shimmering Hills. Imagine that your hometown—your school—is the first place XTV descends to set up cameras.

Now imagine they've trained them on you.

When Jesse O'Rourke gets picked for a "documentary" being filmed at her school in the Hamptons she's tempted to turn down the offer. But there's a tuition check attached to being on the show, and Jesse needs the cash so she can be the first in her family to attend college. All she has to do is trade her best friend for the glam clique she's studiously avoided, her privacy for a 24/7 mike, and her sense of right and wrong for "what sells on camera." . . . At least there's one bright spot in the train wreck that is her suddenly public senior year: Jesse's crush has also made the cast.

As the producers manipulate the lives of their "characters" to heighten the drama, and Us Weekly covers become a regular occurrence for Jesse, she must struggle to remember one thing: the difference between real and the real real.

Synopsis

Imagine there was never a Laguna Beach, a Newport Harbor, the shimmering Hills. Imagine that your hometown your school is the first place XTV descends to set up cameras.

Now imagine they've trained them on you.

As the producers manipulate the lives of their "characters" to heighten the drama, and Us Weekly covers become a regular occurrence for Jesse, she must struggle to remember one thing: the difference between real and the real real.

Publishers Weekly

Long Island girl Jesse O'Rourke is a down-to-earth Have-Not among the glamorous, vacuous Haves at Hampton High. But all this changes when she's one of the lucky six chosen to star in a reality-TV show called The Real Hampton Beach. From the authors of The Nanny Diaries, this first venture into YA functions as a reality-TV exposé about how the genre corrupts those who play along-even a regular girl like Jesse. For $40,000 toward college, Jesse risks everything-her best friendship, dignity, values, respect from her parents and even getting the right guy-as TV producers stage ridiculous, fake situations for these high school "stars" that lead to humiliation, backstabbing and other shock-value fare. And things only get worse once the show airs ("Must stop looking every time someone calls my name," thinks Jesse after passersby harass her while she's picking up the mail.) Though the endgame payback lacks punch-its purpose is to set up a sequel-with this lighter-than-air page-turner the authors deliver a fast-paced, fun read. Ages 14-up. (June)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author, Emma McLaughlin

Drawing on their own harrowing experience as nannies to NYC's pampered and powerful, Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus penned the breakout No. 1 New York Times bestseller The Nanny Diaries. Their latest irresistibly entertaining satire, Citizen Girl, takes aim at the working world.

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Editorials

Sarah Mlynowski

"Really funny, really smart, and really entertaining. I really LOVED this book!"

Publishers Weekly

Children's Literature - Myrna Dee Marler

The authors of The Nanny Diaries have taken on young adult literature and the world of teen TV reality shows with their first young adult novel. They focus in on the life and trials of sixteen-year-old Jesse O'Rourke, one of the lower middle class people who live in the Hamptons (Her mother is a maid and her father manages a restaurant.), who unaccountably finds herself starring in a reality show about teenage life in the Hamptons. Her reality co-stars are the rich and beautiful (and shallow) people at school, except for the boy Jesse hankers after. This intrusion into her privacy would all be worth it because it comes with a check; but her best friend is furious that she was not cast and when Jesse tries to make it up to her, the demands of what turns out to be a totally false picture of life at Hamptons High, take up all her time. Some of the same confusion and conflict troubles her would-be relationship with Drew, the only other cast member she likes. It turns out that reality television is anything but and, in participating, Jesse has to figure out how to be loyal to herself and her real friends. Celebrity life is not for everyone and fame definitely has its downside. Fun reading, full of current cultural allusions, and snap/ crackle humor. Reviewer: Myrna Dee Marler

VOYA - Jordan Triplett

This touching and funny book is about a girl who ends up on a popular reality show. Along with the stress of being on television, Jesse falls in love with a sweet boy named Drew. But suddenly, she finds herself fooling around with the hottest guy in school named Jase. This book has it all, and the characters are awesome! Reviewer: Jordan Triplett, Teen Reviewer

VOYA - Diane Tuccillo

Along with five popular members from her class, high school senior Jesse is picked to take part in a hit new reality show called The Real Hampton Beach. Unlike the other teens whose parents are rich, Jesse's parents are not, so the $40,000 scholarship that comes with her contract is welcomed. Unfortunately when her best friend, Caitlyn, is not picked for the cast, it causes a rift in their friendship. As the show progresses, Jesse realizes that her participation is more like servitude, and she finds herself going places, wearing clothes, and doing things that go against her grain. She also allows herself to get into questionable drinking and sexual behaviors, and between the real situations and those made up by a gossip magazine, she becomes both adored and despised by the public. As the first season of the show comes to a close, Jesse discovers who her real friends are and what is really important in life. The authors of The Nanny Diaries take the plunge into the teen market with a thoughtprovoking page-turner. Most characters, including Jesse and Caitlyn, are well drawn, but a few others could have been more clearly developed. The plot is somewhat predictable, and an important plot hinge, that the teens have been secretly recorded in a variety of compromising settings, is not fully believable. Still the quick pace, interesting premise, and satisfying resolution will keep readers hooked. Reviewer: Diane Tuccillo

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up–Teens will revel in the juiciness of this fictional exposé. In The Nanny Diaries (St. Martin’s, 2002), McLaughlin and Kraus took on the world of the rich and neurotic. In their first novel for teens, they expose the malicious underbelly of the reality-TV industry. When Jesse O’Rourke gets chosen to be part of the cast of a new documentary series, The Real Hampton Beach, about seniors dealing with the real world and real issues, she has considerable reservations, but the offer of $40,000 in college tuition is too good to turn down. It sounds easy enough–pretend to be best friends with people you despise, wear designer clothes you cannot afford, and give up any semblance of privacy–right? If only it were that simple. Between the phony friendships, the staged fights, and the product placements, Jesse can no longer differentiate between what’s real and what looks good on television. She and the other players are just pawns in the network’s moneymaking game. However, that changes when Jesse gets dirt on the network’s president of programming. Now they have the upper hand and can finally regain control over their lives. This book is far more entertaining than most of the so-called reality programs on television. The authors have a natural ability for digging up the dirt and bringing it to the surface.–Robyn Zaneski, New York Public Library

Kirkus Reviews

Jesse is convinced her senior year will be nothing short of pathetically normal until she's picked to be one of the six stars of The Real Hampton Beach, a reality show filming in her town. As one of the few middle-class families in town, Jesse's parents can't resist the $40,000 scholarship Jesse gets for being on the show. What Jesse trades for the $40,000, however, is her privacy, her reputation, her best friend and a chance to finally get together with the boy she likes (also in the show). Jesse's narration is mired in tedium, unlike a reality show in its failure to edit selectively for the interesting parts and the juicy storylines. When the show begins to air and Jesse becomes famous and loved, the book picks up steam, but readers might not get that far. Jesse's rich, blond cast mates are interchangeable. Though they have drama of their own, readers never feel much for any of them until near the end of the book. The authors' name recognition (The Nanny Diaries, 2002, etc.) should guarantee some sales. (Fiction. YA)