cover image HOW MY PRIVATE, PERSONAL JOURNAL BECAME A BESTSELLER

HOW MY PRIVATE, PERSONAL JOURNAL BECAME A BESTSELLER

Julia DeVillers, . . Dutton, $15.99 (212pp) ISBN 978-0-525-47283-4

Readers will drawn to the entertaining premise of DeVillers's (GirlWise ) novel: When 14-year-old Jamie mistakenly turns in a journal entry instead of her homework assignment, her English teacher is wowed. Feeling deflated by teen magazine images and a bad encounter with snotty Sawyer, Jamie had written about a self-assured girl who becomes a superhero named IS, fighting against the "Evil Clique of Populors," such as The Fashionistor and The Dietor. The teacher submits the story to an agent friend, a bidding war ensues, and ordinary Jamie becomes the "best-selling author of the year," appearing on TV, doing interviews—even attending a Hollywood party. Readers must make a leap to accept the speed of Jamie's success (she turns her journal entry into a manuscript after a week of writing, and her editor leaves her manuscript "pretty well untouched"), but they will understand why Jamie enjoys many perks of her new life—including her longtime crush asking her out on a date. However, she doesn't know what to say in interviews, how to help a desperate reader or what to write anymore. She also feels like she's losing her two best friends. The book takes a bizarre turn when Jamie tries to save that distraught reader with the help of her sister, who is a secret computer genius. But for the most part, middle graders will relate to funny, klutzy Jamie, who ultimately begins to channel the power of the superhero she has created. Ages 10-up. (May)