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A MILLION VIEWS

Aaron Starmer

Brewster Gaines just wanted to make a video and get a million views - he didn't count on needing friends to get there. From the author of Spontaneous and the Locker 37 series comes a heartfelt story of friendship, family, and filmmaking.
Brewster Gaines loves everything about making videos. The planning, the filming, the editing, and especially the feeling of watching his YouTube views tick up and up. So what if he doesn't have friends to film with or parents who are home every night for dinner? He's got a phone and a tripod and a lofty goal: A million views. But when he enlists the acting chops of charismatic new kid Carly for a 10-second video, he gets more than he bargained for. Her intimidating friend Rosa soon steps in with funding to produce an epic fantasy trailer, and before long, their tiny team is adding cast and crew. What started as a simple shoot mutates into a full-fledged movie production, complete with method acting cosplayers, special effects, and a monster made out of a go-kart. That's when Brewster realizes that getting to a million views may be harder than he ever imagined... Aaron Starmer was born in northern California and raised in the suburbs of Syracuse, New York. Before pursuing writing full-time, he worked in New York City for over ten years as an editor for a travel bookseller and as an operations director for an African safari company. His middle grade and young adult novels have been translated into multiple foreign languages and have appeared on best of the year lists from Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, New York Public Library, YALSA, Bank Street College of Education, Chicago Public Library and School Library Journal. He lives in Vermont with his wife and two daughters.
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Book

Published 2022-10-04 by Penguin Workshop

Comments

Starmer skillfully explores his band of misfits: Every one of the seven tweens gets subtle character shadings that make for a memorably engaging group of characters. The humor is sharp, the story is well paced, and any reader who ever hoped to go viral will find plenty to enjoy here... A well-rounded, heartfelt tale of creativity and family.