Crystal

Myers, Walter Dean

ISBN 10: 0060083506 ISBN 13: 9780060083502

Publisher: Amistad, 2002

Synopsis

Sixteen-year-old Crystal knows she's blessed. She is drop-dead gorgeous and in the beginning stages of a glamorous career as a model in New York City. At first, modeling is exciting. But soon, her life becomes less and less about her, and more and more about her body. Crystal wonders if her new life is worth giving up everything -- her friends, her beliefs, and her self-respect.

About this title

About the Author

Walter Dean Myers was the New York Times bestselling author of Monster, the winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award; a former National Ambassador for Young People's Literature; and an inaugural NYC Literary Honoree. Myers received every single major award in the field of children's literature. He was the author of two Newbery Honor Books and six Coretta Scott King Awardees. He was the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults, a three-time National Book Award Finalist, as well as the first-ever recipient of the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement.

From School Library Journal

Grade 8-12 At 16, Crystal Brown is en route to stardom as a black fashion model. The world of money, glamour, fame, and celebrities excites and disturbs her. Her career demands increasing time away from family, friends, school, and normal adolescent concerns. As a model, Crystal confronts a temperamental photographer, sexual pressures, and a demanding agent. While Crystal's mother vicariously craves her daughter's success, her father's pride is tempered with protectiveness. In the end, Crystal is shocked into a career decision by the suicide of a once marketable model friend. In Crystal, Myers has created a beautiful but believable teenage heroine who makes a stand for personal integrity in a competitive world. Although certain characters and situations fulfill modeling world stereotypes, Myers' knack for vivid description and dialogue shatters many illusions of stardom. Adolescents who dream of modeling and who may envy Crystal's natural gifts will find in her forthright story certain realities that are often ignored. Gerry Larson, Chewning Junior High School, Durham, N.C.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Amistad
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0060083506
• ISBN 13: 9780060083502
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 208