Jennifer Solow

I promised Jennifer that I would review this months ago, and I am finally following through. Sorry for taking so long, Jennifer!

I'm going to be the first to say that I am not the world's best reviewer. I used to have a "book review blog" years ago, way before they became popular, and I didn't keep up with it because I realized it's not my strength. (Get me blogging about Disney World, on the other hand....) Still, I am going to give it my best shot.

At first glance, it may seem that The show more Aristobrats is another one of those "bitch-lit" stories like Gossip Girl or The Clique. (And don't get me wrong, I LIKE the few Gossip Girl books I've read a lot.) I was pleasantly surprised it wasn't. The characters are warm and fun to read about. They're not perfect, but that's OK.

I loved Parker's interactions with her mom. I was laughing out loud at a lot of it. They were hilarious. But my favorite story was Ikea's. YAY person of color!! And YAY person of color who struggled with things that I did when I was younger as far as fitting in, trying to be like the other girls. Her story was dear to me. I don't want to give away spoilers, but she is so strong. I was pumping my fist and yelling 'you go girl' at many points!

I loved that this book wasn't overly positive or negative. It just was. And that was refreshing. :) show less

"Solow steals the show," says People magazine, and they mean that literally. Jillian Siegel lives to shop and to steal, even though she comes from a wealthy family (so wealthy that... well, I won't give away the story but there's a contrived plot point). She comes to the attention of some pros and gets in deep. It's scary, disturbing, and fascinating.

The Aristobrats is about a group of girls that while high on the popularity scale aren't really what you would consider mean girls, not really, they really like their popularity but for the most part they are nice to other students which was refreshing!

The book was very current which was good and bad, I loved the idea of someone like Steve Jobs providing the school with all sort of current gadgets like giant screens and tablets and things that let you spy on classrooms making it an show more ultra-techy school. But at the same time there was so much insider lingo to the girls' group it sort of distracted from the actual story because I kept having to look up the words in the back or if there weren't listed in the Guide to Terms figure it out on my own. Yes, the lingo showed how close the girls were having almost their own language but it made it a bit harder for me, the reader.

I also thing telling the stories from each girl's perspective for say a whole chapter instead of for a bit here and there would have helped separate them more from each other and create a clearer personality for each girl. But if this is set to be a series, which I think it is, maybe the next book will be told for another girl's perspective?

I did really like the plot though, how the girls were assigned to write and film a school wide newshow with other classmates, and also the normal things 8th grade girls go through dealing with cliques and boys etc. Overall, I think this book might be especially enjoyed but Middle Grade/Junior High age girls! show less

I read this book as additional research in rewriting my young adult novel, The Take and Go, which was an entry in the 2007 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.

The concept of petty shoplifting is taken to the level of organized crime. The ending wasn't believable as fiction, but believable as non-fiction, since it's harder to convince a reader that luck is instrumental in a fictional world.