Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
When a 17-year-old from Texas lands a job as news reporter on a cable TV show, he gets a taste of Hollywood-style celebrity. PW found the ending "disappointing" but said the novel was otherwise "thought-provoking." Ages 12-up. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
School Library Journal
Gr 7 UpPatrick Sheridan, a high school senior in Doggett, TX, shocks his very conservative family when he informs them that he has been asked to become an on-air student reporter for Classroom Direct, a national news program for students. Everything about this novel is unrealistic. There are so many "issues" and "episodes" that readers will stumble all over the place in an effort to find a conflict with which they can identify. They might care what happens to Patrick's steady girlfriend whom he so quickly leaves behind. They may even envy (for a short time) his glamorous opportunity for stardom and his hefty salary and chance for adventure. However, not even the most freethinking young adults will ever believe that Patrick's strict Catholic parents allow him to leave school and take up life in a hotel designated for teenage celebrities in Los Angeles. As if all this isn't far-fetched enough, Patrick, who knows that he is adopted, discovers during his stint in California that his long-lost sister is really his mother. By this time, readers will surely know that they have simply been given a soap-opera script in novel form. Then, a new episode is introduced. Patrick, on a trip to Ireland to cover the anniversary of the cease-fire, abandons the show and hides out in a small Irish village. He finally realizes that fame isn't so glamorous after all, and he sees how much Classroom Direct manipulates students' minds. Most readers probably won't stick with the book long enough to know this. Those who do will definitely feel that they, too, have been manipulated.Pat Scales, Greenville Middle School, SC
Kirkus Reviews
2018-06-18
In the mid-1990s, 17-year-old aspiring print journalist Patrick Sheridan from rural Texas is selected to be a student anchor on a news show broadcast into high schools nationwide in this reissue of a 1998 title.Patrick's extremely strict adoptive Catholic parents (who have banished their older, biological daughter from their lives) reluctantly allow him to move to Los Angeles alone. When Patrick leaves Texas he is still a polite, God-fearing, and sincere young man—but he soon falls down the slippery slope of fame with sex, drugs, and alcohol. Realizing that the show is more about entertainment than journalism, Patrick becomes depressed and stops caring about life. While on assignment in Belfast, he runs away to his Grampa's hometown of Kilbeg in the Republic of Ireland on a journey of self-discovery. However, the Irish interlude feels tacked on at the end and does not contribute meaningfully to the story. The book shows the impact of the Hollywood lifestyle not only on young stars, but also on the jaded and cynical adults who work there. It follows a white default, with racial, socio-economic, and sexual orientation diversity in secondary characters; a black female character is unfortunately portrayed in a highly stereotypical manner, bordering on caricature. Due to his complexion, Patrick believes that he may be biracial.Despite the racy subject matter, this is a slow-moving story with a disappointing lack of resolution. (Fiction. 16-18)
