2023 reread: I finally found an original text copy to read.

This novel is so grim.

...
I was going to write something glib and gross-hipster-y about the ups and downs of being a teenage model, but then i remembered that this novel was genuinely moving. ( )

A fifteen-year-old girl has trouble reconciling her "normal" life with her high-fashion modeling career.

"Modeling is a tough racket. You have to put up with a lot of garbage. You're earning this money."

Crystal is at the beginning of a glamorous modeling career in New York City. But what begins as an exciting experience for the sixteen-year-old becomes more than she bargained for in Crystal by author Walter Dean Myers.

I first read this YA novel back in my adolescence. Although the latest edition I read this time may have more than one detail updated from the edition I read decades ago, I can still see why the story painted such an accessible picture for me back then. It says enough, and ultimately hits pretty hard, without spelling everything out.

Yes, this is a story about the entertainment industry, modeling intersecting with television and movies, but of course, the importance is in Crystal's journey of self-discovery. And what I understand more this time around is an aspect of the pressure of Crystal's opportunity where her parents are concerned. Now, there were places where I didn't get the best sense of Crystal's personality, and this isn't a sparkling tale with a happy-go-lucky ending, but it's a compelling one.

This may be the only novel I read by this late author back in the day, but I plan on trying at least a little more of his work. ( )

The main character of the of the book is a teenage girl that lives in a church family with her father that doesn't know about what she does and her mother that supports her in what she does. She’s a beautiful girl that is offered to be a model and her mother is the only person that knows about her trying to fulfill her dreams. Her photographer Jerry tries to encourage her to pose nude to fit in with other model even though she doesn’t feel right about it. Her best friend pat also supports her in her choices but crytal has hard time choosing what she wants when she wants to make everyone happy and to try to get her life together. ( )

Personal response:

Good job of writing about a young beautiful girl by a male author. Crystal is breaking into the modeling world with the support of her attractive mother. She drifts away from school friends and school work, and of course needs to decide what is most important in her life. Money is important, pleasing her parents is important, working hard is important, and so is integrity.

Cirriculum/programming connections:

Good for display/list of Myer's works, girl YA dicussion on celebrity jobs, life choices, friendships.