Queen
of Likes
by
Hillary
Homzie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE:
middle
grade/tween
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Like
everyone at Merton Middle School, Karma Cooper’s smartphone is
almost another body part. She’s obsessed with her LIKES on
Snappypic. When her parents shut down her social media account and
take away her smartphone, Karma’s whole world crumbles. She has to
figure out what she actually likes and how to live life fully
unplugged. This book will jumpstart conversations about how social
media is changing the ways tweens are growing up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt:
“So
we’re come up with a new punishment,” says Dad. “Something that
will get your attention.”
Dad
looks at Mom and Mom looks at Dad and I can tell that they are a
united front against me. “We’re going to close your Snappypic
account,” states Dad.
“What?”
My stomach dips as if I’ve just dropped from highest part of a
roller coaster. I want to flop against the nearest car in the parking
lot. “You can’t do that. It’s my account. It’s private. You
can’t.” Every day, I get smiley faces and hearts and balloons and
LIKES. All of the time. Waking up and not being able to se what my
followers are up to? Being totally cut off like that? My parents
might as well send me to Antarctica because I’m going to be frozen
out of everything. “This must be some kind of hallucination,” I
say. “The parents I know would never do this to me!”
“Karma,
I’m sorry,” says Mom. “But I think you are over-reacting. You
knew the rules.”
“Please.”
I clasp my hands together. “Please, please. Please. I’ll do
anything. I’ll babysit Toby as much as you want. I’ll clean the
house every single day. I’ll make dinner I’ll—”
“It’s
a final decision,” says Dad.
“But
I’m like… a professional. I have more followers than some
companies.”
“Exactly
our point, Karma,” says Mom. “You’re not a company. You’re
our daughter and still a kid. And I don’t really love this
obsession of yours.”
The
parking lot is practically spinning. “You just don’t want me to
grow up!”
I fling
up my arms. “Please,” I beg. “Don’t do this.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After reading this book I sat back and watch some young teen and young adults and realized just how real this book hit on the subject. I laughed. I felt like this story was really written about those around me. The plot is real! The characters... real! And the story has moments of laughter and unbelievable realization... It was a fun read!
*Received for an honest review*
AUTHOR
Bio and Links:
Hillary
is the author of the tween novel, THE HOT LIST (Simon &
Schuster/M!X) which Booklist says “captures the angst of young teen
friendships and fragile identities.” She’s also the author of the
middle grade novel, THINGS ARE GONNA GET UGLY (Simon &
Schuster/M!X), a Justice Book-of-the-Month, which was just optioned
by Priority Pictures, and the forthcoming QUEEN OF LIKES
(Simon & Schuster/Aladdin M!X, April 2016), which is about
social media, as well as the humorous chapter book series, ALIEN
CLONES FROM OUTER SPACE (Simon
& Schuster/Aladdin), a Children's Book-of-the-Month Best Books
for Children. Emmy-nominated Suppertime Entertainment developed
the books to become an animated television series and it was sold to
ABC Australia. Hillary’s young adult fiction has been published in
TEEN MAGAZINE and anthologized (MUDDVILLE DIARIES, Avon Books).
She has sold non-fiction and fiction projects to Klutz
Press/Scholastic Books, The Learning Company and John Muir Books.
With her frequent writing partner, Steven Arvanites, she has had film
projects developed by Brooklyn Weaver’s Energy
Entertainment. Hillary got her start performing and writing
sketch comedy Off-Broadway, and was a Heideman Playwrighting Award
Finalist.
Hillary
holds a master's degree in education from Temple University and a
master’s of arts degree from Hollins University in children's
literature and writing. Currently, she’s a visiting professor of
children’s literature and writing at Hollins University.
Visit her on the web at www.hillaryhomzie.com and follow her on
Twitter
@HillaryHomzie and visit her on
Facebook
at
Queen
of Likes buy Links:
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