My Life Starring Mum

Gr. 5-8. Thirteen-year-old Hollywood (Holly) Bliss Wintermann is unfazed when her mother yanks her out of boarding school after a kidnapping scare: I've kind of got used to threats. Like you do, when your mum is like the tenth richest woman in the world. Holly's mum is Kandhi, a mega pop star who resettles her daughter in a separate, posh London hotel suite and then ignores her. With her safety still in question, Holly is confined to her maximum security luxury cell, and she describes the hours of boredom, daydreaming, and mother-daughter conflict in her diary-format narrative. The characters, particularly Kandhi, aren't very nuanced, and the thin plot's meandering pace may lose some readers. Still, the view of the glamorous life as lonely and tedious may attract an audience, as will the wry, funny observations: after overeating, for example, Holly says she feels like an inflatable bouncy castle. Young people, especially those with distracted, highly driven parents, may see themselves in Holly, who struggles against her mother's ambitions and her own healthy cynicism to discover herself.