The A-List: A Novel
Grade 9 Up-Moving from Manhattan's elite world to "Hollyweird" presents Anna with quite a culture shock, but one that she's ready for. White gloves and tea give way to her drugged-out dad in the gazebo and a Hollywood celebrity's wedding where she is introduced to Ahi rolls. She discovers that all is not without controversy in LaLa land, and that beautiful girls are not always welcome in the inner circle, especially those who pick up the hunk whom all the insiders are lusting after. After surviving the evil competitors, bad yogurt, and a vengeful seatmate on the plane, Anna proves that gorgeous good girls can, and do, survive in L.A. All of those nasty, high-society types that populate the "Gossip Girl" series (Little, Brown) can be found here in bikinis and Oakleys instead of wool pashminas and Blahnik boots. Unfortunately, this book tries to be more than the others of its genre by making frequent use of words and phrases that don't fit the beach-baby scene, such as "-she wasn't one to snivel over the vagaries of her own existence." Fans of the series will flock to this book, but they may be a tad disappointed with the replay.Lynn Evarts, Sauk Prairie High School, Prairie du Sac, WICopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.