SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About TLT
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
    • A to Z Book Lists
    • Book Review Policy
  • Teen Issues
  • Middle Grade Mondays
  • Programs
    • TPiB
    • Tech Talk
  • Professional
    • Teen Services 101
    • Things We Didn’t Learn in Library School
  • MakerSpace
  • Projects
    • #SVYALit
    • #FSYALit
    • #MHYALit
    • #Poverty in YA Lit

May 1, 2014 by Karen Jensen, MLS

Book Review: Real Prom Queens of Westfield High by Laurie Boyle Crompton

May 1, 2014 by Karen Jensen, MLS   Leave a Comment

http://img2.imagesbn.com/p/9781402273469_p0_v2_s260x420.JPG 
  News Press Release
 
WESTFIELD Reality television is heading to high school! Watch the drama unfold as the three biggest nobodies in Westfield High’s senior calls get a shot at becoming popular!
Our hidden cameras will catch all the action as they vie for the ultimate label of acceptance and popularity—Prom Queen!
It’s no surprise to Shannon when she is voted least likely to be prom queen at Westfield High. That is until she’s selected to co-star in a hidden-camera reality show, The Prom Queen Wannabes, and undergoes a complete makeover.
Now the social hierarchy of the entire senior class is about to be turned upside down. But when Shannon uncovers proof that the beauty business can be awfully ugly, she must find a way to show her BFF and one true crush that underneath the fabulous makeover, she really hasn’t changed.
This prom night is about to shock everyone’s corsages off.

I saw the cover to this in the Sourcebook’s booth at the Texas Library Association, and I have to say, it really drew me in. I am a *sucker* for reality TV shows (most of the Bravo Housewives series, cooking contest shows, etc.), so one dealing with flipping the book on the social aspects of high school seemed like a winner.

I read it in a day.
If you watch (or hear) about reality TV at all, you will know instantly which TV shows Laurie Boyle Crompton references throughout the book (*cough* ANTM *cough* *cough* The Face *cough* *cough* Project Runway *cough*).  Along with the huge product placement, the book completely pokes fun at the “reality TV” notion (that everything is ‘real’ and ‘unscripted’) as well as the notion that things are run fairly on the shows.
Shannon falls into the reality show spell in order to try and bring her mom out of the office at all hours and into a more reasonable living arrangements- she’s all into it for the money. And to loose a school nickname that she can’t seem to shake. However, she falls deeper and deeper into the show’s depths when she can’t reveal she’s ON the show to her best friend in the whole world, and everything in her life becomes less and less real. She loses her friends, her grades, and her sense of self in the middle of everything, and only by throwing everything to the wind can she hope to regain everything.
The references are hysterical and the message is important to teens everywhere, and along with the over-the-top madness, will bring readers in.
RECOMMENDED for readers who want a funny and light read, and who love all things dealing with reality TV. Pair with Beauty Queens, Anna and the French Kiss, Bumped, and the LA Candy series. Pair with reality series non-fiction like Project Runway and others for a compare/contrast or a display of ‘real’ and ‘fictional’ books. 

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Find some more Reality TV inspired reads here and here 
And here are some Reality TV inspired programming ideas 

Filed under: Book Reviews, Laurie Boyle Crompton, Real Prom Queens of Westfield High

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments

About Karen Jensen, MLS

Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 30 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

March 2023

Post-It Note Reviews: Wish granters, brotherly mischief, a high-stakes scavenger hunt, and more!

by Karen Jensen, MLS

March 2023

Book Review: Julia and the Shark by Kiran Millwood Hargrave with illustrations by Tom de Freston

by Karen Jensen, MLS

March 2023

Book Review: Different for Boys by Patrick Ness with illustrations by Tea Bendix

by Karen Jensen, MLS

March 2023

Book Review: The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent by Ann Jacobus

by Karen Jensen, MLS

February 2023

Book Review: For Lamb by Lesa Cline-Ransome

by Karen Jensen, MLS

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

BLUE FLOATS AWAY Turns Two!

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Review of the Day – Bear and Bird: The Picnic and Other Stories by Jarvis

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Review: Swim Team

by Esther Keller

Heavy Medal

March suggestions: early Mock Newbery possibilities

by Emily Mroczek-Bayci

Teen Librarian Toolbox

Write What You Know. Read What You Don’t, a guest post by Lauren Thoman

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

Jarrett and Jerome Pumphrey Try Something New

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

Board Book Evolution: No Longer 'Just for Babies'

21 Books About Children and their Names

8 YA BookTubers To Watch Right Now

37 Kidlit and YA Titles in Honor of Hispanic Heritage Month

Pronouncing Kids’ Names Correctly Matters. Here’s How to Get it Right.

Commenting for all posts is disabled after 30 days.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Follow This Blog

Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News & Features
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • School Libraries
  • Public Libraries
  • Age Level
  • Ideas
  • Blogs
  • Classroom
  • Diversity
  • People
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Book Lists
  • Best Books
  • Media
  • Reference
  • Series Made Simple
  • Tech
  • Review for SLJ
  • Review Submissions

SLJ Blog Network

  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal
  • Neverending Search
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn

Resources

  • 2022 Youth Media Awards
  • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
  • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
  • Summer Reading 2021
  • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
  • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
  • Summer Programming Survey
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies
  • School Librarian of the Year
  • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
  • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

Events & PD

  • In-Person Events
  • Online Courses
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Content Submissions
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Diversity Policy
  • Careers at MSI


COPYRIGHT © 2023


COPYRIGHT © 2023