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284th out of 1,176 books
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6,250 voters
Famous
All Jamie Gordon wants to do is to take pictures of celebrities...and maybe to become famous herself. She's only fourteen, but already her pictures are sought after by fanzines and websites, and she's invited to all the best parties. And now she has the chance of a lifetime. She has been invited to spend a week with Willow Twine, taking pictures of the teen superstar's new...more
Hardcover, 272 pages
Published
January 25th 2011
by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
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I was totally prepared to really like this book. I loved the premise and the story really moved along at a good pace. Jamie is a phenom celebrity photographer at the age of fifteen. She's even had one of her photos on the cover of "People". She gets the opportunity to spend a week with the most famous star of the day - Willow Twine. She'll have complete access and the experience could really advance her career. Toward the end of her week, she discovers photos on her camera that she didn't take t...more
Reading Level: Grade 7-12
At 16, Jamie Gordon is the youngest of the paparazzi in New York and thus a celebrity in her own right. She is given a dream job that every celebrity photographer would want. Jamie is hired to photograph a week in the life of super star Willow Twine at the star’s Hollywood mansion. Willow needs to prove to the studio that she is drug free and Jamie needs to prove that she is truly talented and her celebrity is no fluke.
The book is narrated from several points of view. Th...more
At 16, Jamie Gordon is the youngest of the paparazzi in New York and thus a celebrity in her own right. She is given a dream job that every celebrity photographer would want. Jamie is hired to photograph a week in the life of super star Willow Twine at the star’s Hollywood mansion. Willow needs to prove to the studio that she is drug free and Jamie needs to prove that she is truly talented and her celebrity is no fluke.
The book is narrated from several points of view. Th...more
New York teen Jamie Gordon loves taking photographs, and when she happens to snap a shot of a famous actress behaving badly in public, her career seems to take off and leads to her being invited for an exclusive weeklong shoot with Willow Twine, a singer and actress who is trying to revamp her tarnished image. Told through text messages, emails, newspaper clippings, and straight narrative from Jamie and others secondary to the main story, this title is a cautionary tale about the illusory qualit...more
FAMOUS BY TODD STRASSER
As the author of several issue-reflecting teenage novels, Todd Strasser targeted the word “fame” in his new novel Famous. Protagonist Jamie Gordon lived in New York, where streets are filled with the rich and famous. Jamie had worked her way to become famous by taking photographs of celebrities like a paparazzo. She got herself a personal article in the New York Times, sold her photo to People magazine and owned the cover, and then she got to spend a week with big teenage...more
As the author of several issue-reflecting teenage novels, Todd Strasser targeted the word “fame” in his new novel Famous. Protagonist Jamie Gordon lived in New York, where streets are filled with the rich and famous. Jamie had worked her way to become famous by taking photographs of celebrities like a paparazzo. She got herself a personal article in the New York Times, sold her photo to People magazine and owned the cover, and then she got to spend a week with big teenage...more
See more of my reviews/book trailers at http://readerpants.blogspot.com.
What I liked: What I like about this book are the very things I do not like about it. With a unique format of emails, interviews, and news clippings, Famous begs the question, "How far does one go to pursue fame?" Each piece of the plot puzzle provides the reader clues to mysteries presented in the story. Even though it can be confusing, telling the story out of chronological order keeps readers guessing about how certain th...more
Jamie Gordon is famous for being the youngest paparazzi. She has a knack for getting just the right pictures of the stars. Her fellow paparazzi think that she is just a one-hit wonder. Her mother refuses to call her photography skills a career. And her boyfriend seems to be distancing himself from her.
When superstar Willow Twine requests Jamie come to LA and do an exclusive photo shoot for a week, Jamie is thrilled. Willow is trying to boost her career. After coming out of rehab she has one las...more
When superstar Willow Twine requests Jamie come to LA and do an exclusive photo shoot for a week, Jamie is thrilled. Willow is trying to boost her career. After coming out of rehab she has one las...more
This was one of my least favorite books I've ever read. I was intrigued by the story of a teenage photographer, as I am a professional photographer. I expected there to be a lot of story that unfolded after we found out what the main character (whose name I DO NOT KNOW - and that bothers me a lot) found the extra six frames on her camera. Don't expect to find out what she found until the *very* end of the book. I think the book's summary is pretty pathetic as the book mostly is NOT about those f...more
having high hopes for this book, i was kind of let down. i am a big Strasser fan and a bit of an ameture photographer myself. although i enjoyed this book, it has a very rough start. the different chapters jump around between different characters, time periods, and even news paper articles. it took me half way through the book to fully understand what was going on. had it not been by one of my favorite authors, i know i would have put it down long before halfway. thank goodness i didn't. once yo...more
This is a great book that tells a fictional story about life when your famous. The interesting thing about this novel is that each chapter switches off between different times and different characters. The main character, Jamie, is a 15 year old girl who recently became a famous paparazzo. Jamie was offered a huge opportunity- to spend a week filming the biggest popstar right now, Willow Twine. She flies out to LA and she basically spends a week living in paradise. That is, until she finds some...more
Jamie Gordon is called the Baby Paparazzo, and with good reason. Through skill and luck she has shot three celebrity pictures that have gained her fame and money. She chases celebrities during her off-school hours, and then is offered a week with the hottest teen girl star in the country to shoot her “real life”.
Strasser made this premise work pretty well- it’s believable that Jamie, at 16, has a level of ability and luck that allow her to catch celebrities to take those embarrassing photos. She...more
Strasser made this premise work pretty well- it’s believable that Jamie, at 16, has a level of ability and luck that allow her to catch celebrities to take those embarrassing photos. She...more
Jamie Gordon “fifteen-year-old prodigy photographer,” according to New York Weekly, and New York Press. She takes a photo that makes it on the People magazine cover! She’s famous for being young, talented, and taking pictures of celebrities. What more could a 16 year-old want? Um, how about hanging out with Willow Twine, one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, and documenting Willow’s life for a week? During the week, Jamie can’t find her camera were she left it. When she does find it, it has six...more
This book was, once I got used to the switching dates of the chapters, totally hard-hitting. Like really, I-expect-a-chic-flic-and-get-the-guts-knocked-out-of-me hard hit. It was all good except some swearing and mature content, but it wasn't used gratuitously and the side effects weren't hidden like modern teen books which convince our impressionable minds there is nothing wrong with plastic surgery and drugs and getting famous. You can tell me it's unreal, but I think Famous lands itself close...more
This book was pretty good. I thought the idea was pretty cool, most YA books about Hollywood and that stuff is usually chick-lit and just focuses on the glittery Hollywood. In this book it definitely focuses on the dark side of Hollywood and what happens to people who don't get their big break. But it was really sorta sad and the ending made me feel meloncholy.
The writing was okay it wasn't amazing. I liked how the chapters switched perspectives but sometimes it was confusing because it went bac...more
The writing was okay it wasn't amazing. I liked how the chapters switched perspectives but sometimes it was confusing because it went bac...more
It's about fame, being famous and the side effects of it.
There's a whole industry based on it.
This Book follows Jamie. She's becoming acidentally famous and she likes to be famous.Her boyfriend and her parents don't like her celebrity and they aren't excited as Jamie herself. One of her classmates wants to be an actor and he's getting surgeries for his beauty.They don't like her celebrity existence, too.Jamie enjoys her new world until she sees the dark side of the business. This Book sharps the...more
There's a whole industry based on it.
This Book follows Jamie. She's becoming acidentally famous and she likes to be famous.Her boyfriend and her parents don't like her celebrity and they aren't excited as Jamie herself. One of her classmates wants to be an actor and he's getting surgeries for his beauty.They don't like her celebrity existence, too.Jamie enjoys her new world until she sees the dark side of the business. This Book sharps the...more
My guilty pleasure of reading *People* magazine takes a hit with this novel about people who seek fame -- and about what they're willing (or unwilling) to do to attain and maintain that fame. 14-year-old Jamie gets a taste of the limelight when she gets a lucky shot of a supermodel hitting her child at a coffee shop, and her father (with connections) helps her to sell that photo to a tabloid for a huge (to a 14-year-old) sum of money. Ever since, she has been on the hunt for more sellable photos...more
Famous was somewhere between okay and good.
The beginning was very dry and boring. The concept and theme of the book is relevant. How we have an obsession over fame and famous people. How we all secretly yearn to lead the "ideal" life, the celebrity life. From the first chapter though, it was just all so cliché and I felt like I had read it all before. The protagonist, Jamie was very dull and almost as annoying as Avy. I know as the reader you're supposed to feel sorry for him because from the ve...more
The beginning was very dry and boring. The concept and theme of the book is relevant. How we have an obsession over fame and famous people. How we all secretly yearn to lead the "ideal" life, the celebrity life. From the first chapter though, it was just all so cliché and I felt like I had read it all before. The protagonist, Jamie was very dull and almost as annoying as Avy. I know as the reader you're supposed to feel sorry for him because from the ve...more
Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com
We are fascinated with the rich and famous. We buy magazines and tune in to shows like the Insider to get glimpses of our favorite celebrities in both their high moments and their even juicier low moments. Our appetite for celebrity gossip is satisfied by gutsy, risk-taking paparazzi and their ability to be in the right place at just the right time.
Jamie Gordon has become the darling of the paparazzi, not because she is the current...more
We are fascinated with the rich and famous. We buy magazines and tune in to shows like the Insider to get glimpses of our favorite celebrities in both their high moments and their even juicier low moments. Our appetite for celebrity gossip is satisfied by gutsy, risk-taking paparazzi and their ability to be in the right place at just the right time.
Jamie Gordon has become the darling of the paparazzi, not because she is the current...more
This book didn't work for me.
The format made no sense and was unnecessarily confusing instead of the cool it was trying to be.
The characters were annoying and I couldn't care about them.
The author didn't do research- Nasim is a Persian girl's name! It would be very very very rare for Nasim to ever be a boy's name.
Nasim and Jamie's relationship made no sense.
Jamie's family life was confusing.
Overall I'm disappointed. There's nothing really new here. I wasn't happy with Famous.
The format made no sense and was unnecessarily confusing instead of the cool it was trying to be.
The characters were annoying and I couldn't care about them.
The author didn't do research- Nasim is a Persian girl's name! It would be very very very rare for Nasim to ever be a boy's name.
Nasim and Jamie's relationship made no sense.
Jamie's family life was confusing.
Overall I'm disappointed. There's nothing really new here. I wasn't happy with Famous.
This is a book for readers who will pay attention to the titles of chapters, this is very important for keeping pace with the characters and the plot. I would not recommend this book to a struggling reader or a reluctant reader because of the amount of information contained in the chapter headings.
I enjoyed the exploration of fame and being famous. This book reminded me of Jane and Switch because of the fame aspect.
I enjoyed the exploration of fame and being famous. This book reminded me of Jane and Switch because of the fame aspect.
I liked the book famous, but I didn't love it. I found it kind of confusing because it was told from a lot of different view points. Also it was uninteresting except for certain parts. And it had the worst ending. So overall I didn't really like it. I wouldn't suggest it unless you really want to be famous or a paparazzi because that's what it is about. Maybe if you read it you'll like it more then I did.
For teenage fans of Entourage, the dark side of fame is explored through the adventures of a 16 year old celebrity photographer. Told through different points of view, flashbacks, newspaper articles, testimony, and e-mails, it is a bit hard to piece together the story and how it all connects. Overall it makes an intriguing story if you don't mind putting together the pieces.
I wanted to like this book. I wanted it to be deep and meaningful and still a good story. But I found it choppy, and sad, and ...unsatisfying. It popped the bubble and left the pieces of the broken balloon sitting out, sad and lonely and forgotten, rather than cleaning them up and bringing out the cake. It ended on a low note, and I hate that.
As usual, Strasser gives us something to think about. This one, while entertaining, was too confusing as it jumped back and forth in time in a very nonsequential way. You really had to be careful to watch the chapter titles to know which year, month and date you were flipped to. I thought the message was a touch heavy handed, too.
How did this book get published? The writing is atrocious, the plot is ridiculous, and the character is completely unrealistic. I don't give a lot of one star ratings, but this is honestly one of the dumbest books I have ever tried to read. I gave up on page fifty. I couldn't take it anymore.
He made the book really confusing by using different narrating styles. The book dragged on and on and didn't really catch my attention. I only like the end which still wasn't even very good. It sounded very amateur like it was his first book.
This book is not very good even though the it may seem so. It is a little confusing and the story line seems pointless in the end. I would not suggest this book because even though it is not horrible it is not good either.
I do so like Todd Strasser. The different/constantly shifting points of view in this were a little hard to handle at times, but overall, it was a very quick and good read. Not as powerful as some of his works, but still worth a read.
It all started with a coffee and a camera.
I really loved this book. The only reason I didn't give it one more star is because it was confusing. But don't let that stop you from reading the book.
I really loved this book. The only reason I didn't give it one more star is because it was confusing. But don't let that stop you from reading the book.
The constant shifting timeline was irritating. While the author's message seemed to be that fame is fleeting and not worth the consequences, I'm not sure kids will come away with that conclusion.
At first the timeline jumps were confusing, but this was a page-turner...it's just about teenagers obsessed with celebrity, but it kept me in it. The character of Avi broke my heart.
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Todd Strasser is an American author of more than 130 young-adult and middle grade novels and novelizations, some written under the pen names Morton Rue and T.S.Rue
Todd was born in New York City. When he was young his parents moved to Roslyn Heights, New York (Long Island). Todd went to the I.U. Willets Elementary school and then attended the Wheatley School for junior high and high school. His bes...more
More about Todd Strasser...
Todd was born in New York City. When he was young his parents moved to Roslyn Heights, New York (Long Island). Todd went to the I.U. Willets Elementary school and then attended the Wheatley School for junior high and high school. His bes...more
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“Davy once asked me if I thought it was better to be a has-been than a never was, but maybe it doesn't make much of a difference. In the end, people are just people, and the only things that matter are whether they are good or bad, loving or unloving, loved or unloved.”
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