View source for My Life on TV by Kimberly Greene

{{infobox
|title=My Life on TV
|sort=My Life on TV
|author=Kimberly Greene
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Teens
|summary=An eye-opening look at the world of reality shows and celebrity, with a heroine young girls will warm to.  Recommended
|rating=3.5
|buy=Maybe
|borrow=Yes
|paperback=1409508293
|hardback=
|audiobook=
|ebook=
|pages=320
|publisher=Usborne Publishing Ltd
|date=April 2010
|isbn=978-1409508298
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409508293</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>1409508293</amazonus>
}}

Sam’s sister, Danni, is a pop star and her mother is Danni’s manager.  Dad died before Sam was born, so between the three of them life is quite fraught, particularly as they’re the subject of a reality show which is planned to run for three years.  If they manage the full three years the house they live in will belong to their mother, but it all looks to be in jeopardy when Danni decides that she can’t take the pop star life any longer and she’s going to hang up her microphone.  Sam’s scared that this will mean they have to leave the house and go back to the days when they had to struggle to pay the rent.  There might be a way round it though – what if she was to become a TV star and the reality show could continue?

So, just like your normal family then?  Well, yes and no.  Thankfully we’re not all the subject of a reality show, our relatives are not pop stars and we don’t fly in private planes.  But – we all had to work out who we are and what we really want to do with our lives.  We all had to realise that friendship matters more than fame and that honesty is important.  Thirteen-year-old Sam is thoughtful and someone that young girls will warm to.

I guess that most young girls hanker after the celebrity lifestyle at some point in their lives, but this book won’t encourage them in their ambitions.  Being a TV star isn’t an easy life – in fact it’s hard work and Sam soon realises that she’s not only got to work very hard, she’s got to lose all her freedom to do what she wants and she has to put her long-standing friendship with Olga at risk.  She might have the trappings of celebrity, but she’s lost all the things which are important to her.

She learns very quickly that not all of the people who inhabit that world are particularly pleasant.  Her co-star, Seth, might look gorgeous, but he’s dishonest, self-centred and prepared to use anyone to get what he wants.  It’s a good story and it put the ‘’reality’’ back into the reality show.

I’d like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

If this book appeals then we can also recommend [[Miss Understanding: My Summer on the Shelf by Lara Fox]] and [[I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You (Gallagher Girls) by Ally Carter]].

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