Something Real

Gr 8 Up—It's been four years since the reality television show Baker's Dozen went off the air. Bonnie Baker, 17, feels lucky to have survived the tension and challenges from constantly being in the limelight with her 12 siblings. Incognito, she now attends a new high school as Chloe. The teen has two best friends and even the sweet security of her first boyfriend, Patrick. Slowly but surely, Bonnie has moved beyond the stigma of being the 13-year-old who took an overdose of pills due to the stress and frustrations of the show, her parents' divorce, and the never-ending paparazzi lens. But neither the show's owner, MetaReel, nor the photographers have forgotten her family, and claiming they need the money, her mother and stepfather have contracted with MetaReel to go back on the air for another round of "reality." Bonnie is floored when her identity is revealed and her personal life is again overshadowed by national scrutiny. She struggles to break away from the clutches of the camera one last time, even if it ultimately means filing a lawsuit with the help of Patrick, her two best friends, and brother Benny (who was forced to come out about his boyfriend on the air). With likable protagonists and snappy dialogue, Something Real credibly zooms in on reality TV's impact on unwilling subjects-a shoo-in for teens drawn to contemporary romance and drama. It will especially attract those who liked the similarly compelling reality show fictional exposés Reality Boy by A. S. King (Little, Brown, 2013) and The Real Real by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus (HarperCollins, 2009).—Diane P. Tuccillo, Poudre River Public Library District, CO