Perma-Bound

Gr 6 Up-Kaitlin Burke is an overworked teen celebrity who thinks it would be cool to be ordinary for a couple of months. She also wants to get away from her competitive costar, Sky Mackenzie, who has been making her life difficult. After a bit of brainstorming, she decides to enroll, incognito, in her friend Liz's high school. During the next few weeks, she discovers how nice it is to have friends who like her for who she is-or appears to be-rather than because she's famous. She even starts a relationship with Austin, a nice boy who, ironically, has a crush on Kaitlin Burke, but hasn't a clue that he's dating her. Things go awry when Sky is asked to host the school's spring fling, which has a Hollywood theme. Everyone dresses as a celebrity, and Kaitlin ends up going as herself. While at the dance, Sky nastily unveils Kaitlin's secret. It's not surprising that her friends, especially Austin, feel betrayed, but she manages to redeem herself in the end. The protagonist is kind, unspoiled, and upstanding-refreshingly different from the norm. Fans of Meg Cabot's "Princess Diaries" (HarperCollins) or Ann Brashares's "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" books (Delacorte) will gobble this one up.-Cather Ensley, Latah County Free Library District, Moscow, ID Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information. Yet another Hollywood starlet tired of the limelight goes undercover in a "real" high school. The implausible plot is made even more so because sixteen-year-old Kaitlin Burke goes to a local school (wearing a wig and non-designer clothing) and continues to make public appearances. Stock characters and transparent plotting are up to this popular subgenre's usual standards.