The Unofficial Lola Bay Fan Club
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
The intensity of tween fandom collides with the shifting friendship dynamics of middle school as Iris comes to terms with all the ways friendships can be good and bad.
Pop star Lola Bay is everything to Iris and her best friend, Leeza. Her songs speak right to their souls and they can’t wait to start a Lola Bay fan club when middle school starts. But then mean girls take over the fan club and Leeza seems to be interested in other things.
Enter Dana. She’s bold and cool and not afraid to stand up for herself. Plus, she’s a massive Lola Bay fan and knows how to get free merch online. She even has big ideas for getting them to a concert.
When some of Dana’s ideas make Iris a little nervous, she pushes the feelings down—Dana seems to know what she’s doing. Only as Dana’s plans get bigger and bigger, Iris feels worse and worse. And then Dana crosses a line that causes trouble for Iris’s whole family.
How could someone who is supposed to be a friend do that? And, Iris wonders, how did I let things go this far?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Upon entering sixth grade, longtime best friends Iris and Leeza start an unofficial fan club dedicated to 17-year-old Lola Bay, their favorite celebrity actor and singer. The club attracts classmate Melanie, who tries to take over leadership, and seventh grader Dana, who helps to halt Melanie's quest for power. Iris, who views Dana as a role model, believes all their problems are solved until Leeza, who harbors private jealousy and suspicion about Dana, quits the club. Leeza soon makes new friends on the volleyball team, while Iris spends her days with Dana. But Dana's idea of time well spent involves pranking Melanie, buying Lola Bay tickets with Iris's mom's credit card, and starting a fake fundraiser in Iris's name. After Dana's actions come to a head, Iris must face the consequences and attempt to repair her relationship with Leeza. While Dana's motivations for her manipulations may be murky, Iris's vulnerability to Dana's tactics, her genuine remorse for her actions, and her love for Lola are plainly rendered, making for a distinctly real-life portrait of one middle schooler finding her way in a new and ever-changing environment. Ages 10–up.
