Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Categories
Children’s, Teenage & Educational

VIP: I'M WITH THE BAND

Jen Calonita

VIP: I’M WITH THE BAND by Jen Calonita is the first installment of a fun new middle-grade series about a 12-year-old girl who gets to go on tour with her favorite boy band.

Twelve-year-old Mackenzie "Mac" Lowell's dreams are about to come true. Thanks to her mom scoring the coolest job EVER, Mac is going from boy band fanatic to official tour member of her favorite group, Perfect Storm. Good thing she's brought along her journal so she can record every moment, every breath, and every one of lead singer Zander Welling's killer smiles in written detail and doodles throughout the pages. But between a zillion tour stops and pranks-gone-wrong, Zander and his fellow band members Heath and Kyle become more like brothers to Mac. Which makes it all the worse when the boys' differences start to drive them apart. Can Perfect Storm's biggest fan remind them why they're perfect together? It'll be up to Mac--and her comic book alter-ego Mac Attack--to keep the band together and on the road to stardom. Chronicling her experiences on tour, Mac's journal springs to life with black-and-white illustrations and comic book panels throughout its pages. Jen Calonita knows all the inside scoop about boy bands. As a former entertainment editor at a teen magazine, she hit the road with ’Nsync, hung backstage with 98 Degrees, went on location for Joey Fatone and Lance Bass’s movie, and met Joey McIntyre. (Personal note from my pre-teen self: Squeal!!!) Jen has interviewed everyone from Reese Witherspoon to Zac Efron, and has written for popular magazine including Teen People, TV Guide, Glamour, and Marie Claire. Jen is also a popular children’s author. SECRETS OF MY HOLLYWOOD LIFE was her first YA series (also published by Little Brown) and been published in 9 territories. She has written novels about summer camp and reality tv, and most recently, a middle-grade series about fairies. She lives in New York with her husband, Mike; sons, Dylan and Tyler; and their Chihuahua, Captain Jack Sparrow.

Available products
Book Published 2015-12-01 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Comments

This behind-the-scenes story of a girl who gets to travel with her favorite boy band is funny and filled with heart. A wonderful start to a brand new series.

Calonita captures squealing tween-girl excitement perfectly in this diary-style novel, but she makes sure being a fangirl isn’t Mac’s only M.O. Her ambitions to be an artist not only feature in the plot but also in its illustrations...

Calonita targets Directioners and other boy band devotees with this effervescent first book in the V.I.P. series…. the real meat of this diary-style story lies in the behind-the-scenes details of life on tour, as well as Mac’s relationships with the band members as she gets to know them as real people.

A sweet and hilarious adventure about fandom, friendship, and family. Jen Calonita has captured the perfect storm of being twelve and finding yourself within reach of your wildest dream.

Czech: Alpress ; Denmark: Høst & Søn

This fun confection narrated by 12-year-old Mackenzie Lowell is just the ticket…. There’s a lot to like in this series starter: Mac’s voice, snippets of her graphic novel, the authenticity, the humor, and the pacing. VERDICT: The diary format and many illustrations will entice fans of Rachel Renée Russell’s “Dork Diaries” (S&S) but should be appealing to a wide audience and will have tween readers eager for the next installment.

A sassy and adorable wish-fulfillment adventure that had me squealing and goofy smiling. The characters, the comics, the concerts... I promise, you're going to want to marry this book.

Best Books of the Month, December 2015

Cute boy banders? Backstage drama? And a butt-kicking comic book heroine? VIP: I'm With the Band is an all-access pass to fun! Don't miss the debut of Jen Calonita's delightful new series!

Written in diary entries and interspersed with vaguely manga-styled illustrations as well as some of Mackenzie's comic-book stories, this hits the sweet spot for fans of Dork Diaries. This tale of ultimate wish fulfillment is a must-read for starry-eyed fans of boy bands.