Reel Life: Starring Us is a teen fiction novel written by Lisa Greenwald. The main character, Dina, is a new girl at a tough school. She is just trying to adjust when she is paired with the meanest girl in school, Chelsea Stern. They are assigned to create a project together, all year long, to present at the end of the year gala. While Dina is just trying to work, be cool, and fit in, Chelsea just doesn’t see it. Her, along with her two best friends, start to bully Dina beyond her control. Besides chipping, ditching, and purposefully discluding, the new year isn’t going so well. When Chelsea’s family gets into trouble and Chelsea can’t keep up with her friends, she realizes lots of things. Something I learned about the world from reading this is not everyone is nice. Not everyone is hard-working or has the same interests as you. People will only show true desire through something if they have an interest for something. Chelsea does not have an interest for this project therefore, she is not nice, cooperative or hard-working. At first, Chelsea put no effort forward to enhance the experience of the project. As the year progressed, and the book, she started to help more and become more interested. I would recommend this book to many people. Although some of the characters represent poor morals and attitudes toward others, there are some very interesting things that you can take away from the book. This book would be especially enjoyable for middle school girls who are looking for a book they just can’t put down. An important lesson I am taking away from this book is everyone is different and you have to accept that. In the video Chelsea and Dina were creating for the fiftieth anniversary, they included an interesting fact about everything. This showed everyone is different in their own special way. They also learned new faces and names. Chelsea and her friends hated Dina at the beginning but that changed. Dina found out that they didn’t like her and was hurt in the book Molly texted Chelsea saying. Can’t believe your missing this. Having fun with the weird video girl. Dina so badly wanted to be popular and part of Chelsea’s “group”. The best quote in the story is when Sasha Preston, a movie star said “Things are always changing and evolving.” I love this quote because it shows you have to accept change whether you like it or not. Everything is always changing around you. Chelsea asked Sasha Preston why she had no friends in eighth grade. She said that everyone wanted to be like everyone else and she was that girl who wanted to be different. For example, in the book Chelsea went from having the newest trends and clothes to her dad losing a job and wearing her new but old clothes. Lisa Greenwald left me wanting more and more. I want to read more books by her!
What do You think about Reel Life Starring Us (2011)?
I recommended it to my 13 years old niece. I love this book, keep writing.
—rimelaw
I relly liked it. It is very real life like.
—Hannah
