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Movie Girl | 
| Author: Christina Hamlett
Publisher: Outskirts Press
Category: Book
Buy New: $11.95
New (12) Used (5) from $11.53
Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 2047467
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Pages: 188
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5 x 0.4
ISBN: 1432718541
EAN: 9781432718541
ASIN: 1432718541
Publication Date: January 30, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Can Life really imitate Art? When sophomore Laurie Preston is chosen to be lead screenwriter for a movie her high school is producing, she sees the chance of a lifetime to scribble a romantic script that will finally make the boy of her dreams say the words she's been longing to hear. Unfortunately, the senior hottie who won her star-struck heart from the very first moment she saw him has yet to discover she even exists. Movie Girl is the launch title of a new humorous fiction series targeted to teen/tween girls. Inspired by the author's long memory of high school angst and her current work in the film industry as a consultant, Movie Girl is a comedy that transcends the generations and affirms that every "Laurie" will know an "Artie" at least once in her life. Hopefully such infatuations will not last more than a semester.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
 Fun, happy story! September 1, 2008
Kristine Wells (Folsom, CA USA)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I always like to read a book before giving it to my 13 year old daughter to read. This one is perfect! My daughter will enjoy (and relate to) the characters involved and the content is definitely clean enough for me to give to her guilt free! Cute story!
 Movie Girl August 14, 2008
Millie A. Ellis Deal (North Carolina)
How did we ever survive High School?? This book brought back memories of my time in high school when you thought it was the end of the world if a certain boy didn't notice you. When I look back on high school I would not want to be with any of them.
I would recommend this book to anyone, I did not want to put it down once I started reading it, it keep my interest to the very end.
I look forward to reading more books by Christina Hamlett.
Great for young adults August 7, 2008
Kelly Moran (WISCONSIN)
I found Movie Girl, by Christina Hamlett, fascinating. Christina Hamlett is a former actress and theatre director. She is an award-winning author, a ghostwriter for The Penn Group, and professional script consultant. She has 25 books, 125 plays, and 5 optioned feature films. She resides with her husband in Pasadena, California.
When high school sophomore, Laurie Preston, is picked to write a screenplay for a movie her school is producing, she finds it is the perfect opportunity to write a romance film guaranteed to gain the attention of Artie, the senior she's pining for and the one who doesn't even know she exists. As if the pressures of teenage-hood and screenwriting and everlasting love weren't enough, Laurie's friends, Kathy and Lyn, have to add drama to the mix. And what was up with her best friend, Gus? He's been acting the strangest of all.
Every once and awhile, throughout the book, I would find a misplaced comma, causing me to have to re-read a sentence. There were a couple times that the auto-correct changed Laurie's friend, Lyn to Lynn.
In saying that, I finished this book in one sitting due to my interest. A book for every young adult, Christina Hamlett displays a great understanding for the targeted age and I feel every girl can relate to this. The characters were witty, enchanting, and believable. I, at no time, lost interest, nor did I find any dead spots. Ah, the days of yore, bringing me back to that first crush and just how much it crushes you. Following the paths of similar movies as Sixteen Candles and She's All That, this will engage any reader just as much. And, I might say, could and possibly should be turned into a movie, as well. I like that the characters were flawed, displaying the fact that none of us are perfect, but you love `em anyway. I especially loved the family dynamic in this story, as it demonstrates a closeness amongst them without going unrealistically overboard. There are diary entries at the opening of every new chapter which I found humorous and add to the story-line well. There wasn't an overuse of the love quandary and/or scenes, which makes it perfect for all young adult readers as well as the older teenagers.
Movie Girl is a well-written, stellar read, sure to captivate any young adult audience. I hope to see more from Christina Hamlett in the near future.
Kelly Moran,
Author and Reviewer
Movie Girl June 10, 2008
Melanie Cressman
When she is picked to write a screenplay for her school's new movie, Laurie isn't fazed. Soon after, she finds that she might have a need to worry.
Movie Girl is the classic untold story of a crush that takes control of someone and totally changes them without their realization. In this story, Laurie has a crush on Artie. She begins to follow Artie around, and without knowing it, pushes everyone away as she chases after him. She winds up missing cheerleading tryouts to join Chess Club, writing a love poem to herself, and nearly destroying a friendship with one of the greatest guys she knows, all the while attempting to write a screenplay for her movie.
Laurie finally decides to give up on Artie after realizing how much she has changed to become a person he might like and still has not convinced him to like her. We can all take a lesson from how Laurie stubbornly continued to like Artie despite the events that should have led her to like someone else. We just need to take the time to look around and not take our friendships for granted just because we think we want something else.
Movie Girl is a feel-good story; one that has a simple but common timeless theme- love will prevail. Everything always works out in the end, and everyone can realize that we should appreciate what is right next to us as much as what we could have. Some things are simply meant to be, and nothing, from crazy stunts to hectic scheduling, can ever change that.
Attraction and Assumption May 19, 2008
Yvonne Perry (Nashville, TN)
Have you ever liked someone so much that you began assuming they shared your affection and admiration? This type of mental outlook clouds our reality and causes us not to see what is really happening around us. The relationship with the person who was truly meant for us doesn't have a chance to blossom because we are so attached to the outcome that we can't see past what we think should happen. This is the case with Laurie Preston in Movie Girl.
The story begins when the would-be lovers are barely teenagers. Laurie falls in love with Artie the first time she sees him and begins to pursue her dream of marrying him. However, Artie is oblivious to her feelings for him. He hardly knows she exists. The nonchalant coincidentally-on-purpose meetings she sets up to "run into" him are more clumsy and accidental than she planned, and he doesn't gets the message. Instead, he has her write a poem for his girlfriend, whom Laurie assumes is none other than herself!
Being the youngest in a family of writers, Laurie has a natural talent for writing and everyone at school knows it. Therefore, when Paul Revere High School is awarded a grant to allow the school to film a movie, Laurie is the sophomore chosen to write the script. From asking him to be on the writing committee to playing the lead role, Laurie tries everything to get the unsuspecting future-father-of-her-children to notice her--she even joins the high school chess club in an effort to sit next to him.
Once the script begins to take shape, Laurie's infatuation for Artie becomes more and more obvious. With names like MacArthur Wedlock and Lauren Trueheart and the setting in the fog-shrouded moors, the committee has to help open her eyes to a better storyline.
Hamlett uses the book as a teaching tool. Not only is there a lesson in the moral of the story, and take-home value demonstrated in family relationships, but the reader also learns something about writing for screenplay and how it differs from writing a book. A book is written with great detail given to imagery, plot, character, and scene. A screenplay has a special formatting with a lot of white space and only minimalist description other than to say who enters when and where.
The truth about Artie comes out in a heart-breaking manner, but it also opens Laurie's eyes to an even greater truth. The friend she has been ignoring and continuously pushing away is almost lost before she realizes what a treasure he is.
Christina has developed her story well and told it in a manner that both adults and teenagers will appreciate. While the story is set among teenaged characters, it deals with such a mature topic that anyone, any age can benefit from the reading. It gives adults a glimpse into what teens deal with; it gives teens a reminder to utilize family dynamics and allow the adults who love them to play an active role in their daily triumphs and frustrations.
The story has a happy ending with many lessons learned. I highly recommend this book.
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