L.A. Candy Audiobook (Unabridged)

Author: Lauren Conrad

Publication Information: Harper Audio

Language: English

Plot Summary:Jane and Scarlett are two recent LA transplants, moving to Los Angeles from Santa Barbara the summer after they graduated from high school. Scarlett is a incoming freshman at USC, and Jane is interning for a famous LA event planner. Both are eager to start their new lives in the big city. One day while out on the town, the two girls get approached to star in a reality tv show about young girls starting their lives in LA. Both girls sign on, and quickly get pushed into the limelight. Eventually though, they realize that being famous isn't all its cracked up to be, and each girl has to make some serious life choices about the paths they want to travel.

Critical Evaluation:Although this book is a work of fiction, it clearly parallels the life of the author, Lauren Conrad, who was the star of the break out MTV hits Laguna Beach and The Hills. The audiobook is narrated by Conrad herself, and while her voice can get tiresome after 6 plus hours, many readers are already familiar with her voice from her narration of the two aforementioned tv shows. The book in itself is fluff, interesting enough, but nothing groundbreaking. The novel is clearly geared towards teen girls who enjoy following the tabloid exploits of Conrad and her costars, and would be an okay recommendation for a beach read. This is the ultimate chick lit book, with a standard boy meets girl plot, and a tv show thrown in for a twist. Meg Cabot and Melissa de la Cruz do this genre better, but this novel is for teens that enjoy The Hills tv show, or the Gossip Girl series.

Reader's Annotation:Best friends Jane and Scarlett get picked to star in a reality show almost as soon as they move to LA. But they soon realize that fame isn't all its cracked up to be...

Author Information: Lauren Conrad was born and raised in Newport Beach, CA. While in high school she starred in the MTV reality series Laguna Beach. In 2006, after spending one semester at the Academy of Art University, Conrad moved back to LA and began filming the reality series The Hills. She is a television star, author and designer. She currently lives in Los Angeles (author information taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauren_Conrad).

Curricular Ties:N/A

Genre:Chick Lit

Book talking ideas:

• Why do Jane and Scarlett decide to be on the show L.A. Candy? Would you participate in a reality tv show?
• Why was Madison so jealous of Jane? Why did Jane trust Madison?
• How does Jane's life parallel the author, Lauren Conrad's life?
  

Challenge issues: underage drinking, sexual content

• Familiarize yourself with the book and its contents.
• Check the library for specific policies on challenged books.
• Check the ALA website for advice on how to respond and react when a book has been challenged. (http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/index.cfm)
  
• Find positive reviews from reputable websites.
• Ask the challenger for their specific objections and try to address them using information from the above research.

Interest Age: Grades 8 and up

Why I selected this piece: The Hills is one of MTV's most popular tv shows. I thought that there are probably many teens that are interested in reading Lauren Conrad's debut novel.