Thursday 27 July 2017

#famous

Image from: www.jillygagnon.com

by Jilly Gagnon

Rachel Ettinger and Kyle Bonham are seats away from each other in class but worlds away from each other in social standing. Rachel is pretty sure Kyle doesn't even know who she is but, one day, while she is at the mall, she "Flits" (read Tweets) a picture of Kyle to one of her friends. Her friend shares the picture and caption with a few other people and the whole things ends up going viral.

The flit goes so viral that a talk show host asks to have  Kyle come on the show to talk about his recent fame. The visit goes well and the show decides that they also want to meet Rachel. They decide that Kyle will ask her to go to a dance at their school and that they will film the whole thing.

Rachel and Kyle end up thrown into a Hollywood adventure where they have to learn to trust each other, let go of insecurities, value themselves and decide what really matters to them. This story read quickly and was, overall, a fun read that I really enjoyed.

The other part of this story is about social media and the mean behaviour of some students in their teen years. In this particular story, Rachel is treated very poorly by the virtual world, while Kyle is given Star Status. Over time, the "Flitterverse" changes its opinion about Rachel but she suffers through many rude comments and even death threats.

As a parent, I think this book could be a gateway to talk about the importance of being careful on social media. It also made me pause and think about what kind of person I may have been had my high school years been filled with social media. There is some drinking and talk about sex in this book but it is not central to the plot line. I would recommend this book for Grade 8 and up.


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