Catch a Falling Star.

Culbertson, Kim.  Catch a Falling Star.  Scholastic Press/Point  2014  300p   $17.99  ISBN 978-0-545-62704-7  ms/hs      Realistic fiction  E-BN

This is a fantastic book for the girls, whether shy or outgoing, giddy over pop culture icons or unsure about what their future may hold.  Carter is a small-town girl who gave up on dancing even when she was offered a New York City scholarship in her sophomore year.  In the summer before her senior year, a movie is set to be filmed in her home town.  Because of her lack of interest in the filming going on in town, the manager of the movie’s lead, a teen heartthrob along the lines of Justin Beiber, asks Carter to pretend to be the lead’s girlfriend for the summer.  She accepts  his offer in order to provide money to help her family pay off her brother’s gambling debts.  An astronomy blog provides a plot device that uses astronomy facts and nighttime stargazing to illustrate the similarities between people, including famous Hollywood stars, and stars in the sky.  With humor and seriousness in appropriate places, this book settles into a comfortable contemplation of who people really are, instead of how others see them, the fact that people are scripting their lives via social media, and how we are all affected by our past and present actions and experiences, as well as how we can make choices that will affect the evolution of our futures.  The author provides exquisite visual descriptions of locale and the night sky, as well as a plot that races along to the end.         

Summary: Carter is hired to serve as girlfriend for a teenage actor who is filming a movie in her town, and her whole world turns upside down.  People are not always what they seem.  Believable characters who contemplate who they really are.  Inspirational! Grades 7+.    

Movie stars-Fiction, Astronomy-Fiction                      --Lois McNicol