12/01/2015
Gr 8 Up—McAllister first picked up a video camera when she was eight years old. A decade later, she's a YouTube sensation, boasting more than two million subscribers on her channel, Jennxpenn. Here, she discusses the middle school anxieties that inspired her to post her videos to YouTube and how she dealt with the bullying that followed, along with the struggles of coming-of-age in front of a camera. The second half of the book focuses on her fame: attending conferences, collaborating with other YouTube celebrities, and even starring in a movie. McAllister's energetic, bubbly voice will appeal most to the teens who make up the majority of her audience. While her experience is far from the norm, her success at age 19 will be inspirational to those who are just starting out in online video. The design is mildly frustrating, however. The publisher has attempted a youth-focused, magazinelike layout, and the text is printed on different backgrounds that is occasionally difficult to read. Top 10 lists, part of Jennxpenn's online identity, take up several spreads in the middle of a chapter, often requiring readers to flip through several pages to finish a sentence. VERDICT Purchase where teens are excited about online video culture.—Brandy Danner, Wilmington Middle School, MA

2015-09-21
A popular YouTuber releases her memoir. Jenn McAllister, better known as Jennxpenn, details her ascent to Internet stardom and her personal struggles with bullying and anxiety. The book flips between prose chapters and lists, such as "Top 10 Things Middle Schoolers Worry About That They Shouldn't" and "Top 10 Best Pieces of Advice I've Ever Received." Unfortunately neither really pops. The lists are serviceable distractions filled with boilerplate platitudes ("Know It's Not About You"; "Nobody's in Charge of Your Happiness Except You"). McAllister's recounting of her own life starts interestingly enough (although her "bullying" is pretty tame, mostly name-calling that most children endure) but quickly loses narrative urgency or comedic charm. The book is filled with pictures as well, but there aren't any captions, so those who aren't familiar with YouTube culture won't know whom these people are or what the point of the picture's placement is. This lack of context feeds into the book's largest problem: anyone not familiar with Jennxpenn and her cohorts is left completely behind. The author describes her burgeoning channel competently enough early on, but once she makes it big, the narrative devolves into a listing of accomplishments and experiences that don't lead into one another in any way or provide much meaning to those curious about YouTubers but not particularly familiar with them. A vanity project that's for fans only. (Memoir. 13-17)