Indie Girl

by Kavita Daswani

Overview

FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD INDIE KONKIPUDDI HAS ALWAYS DREAMED OF BECOMING A FASHION REPORTER. She'd do anything to land an internship with glamorous Celebrity Style magazine -- even babysit publisher Aaralyn Taylor's two-year-old son. Indie's neurosurgeon dad can't understand why Indie would want to spend her weekends picking Play-Doh off of someone else's Persian carpets, and pretty soon she starts asking herself the same thing.

Then Indie finds out that (1) Celebrity Style is in trouble, and (2) Hollywood's hottest star is having her wedding dress made in a village in India. Indie's sure she's scored the juiciest gossip in town -- the kind of story that will put the magazine back on the map and finally land her the internship! But when things don't pan out exactly as planned, Indie wonders -- will Aaralyn ever see her as anything more than just the hired help?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781439120644
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	06/30/2008
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
Lexile:	970L (what's this?)
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Kavita Daswani is an author. She has been a fashion correspondent for CNN, CNBC Asia, and Women's Wear Daily, has written for the Los Angeles Times and the International Herald Tribune, among many other publications, and has been the fashion editor for the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong.

Editorial Reviews

In her first YA novel, fashion correspondent and author Daswani (The Village Bride of Beverly Hills) offers a sometimes moving, often funny glimpse of Indian-American family life along with a look at the cutthroat world of fashion journalism. Her 15-year-old heroine, Indie, has lived and breathed fashion for years, and dreams of being a fashion journalist. Now she has a chance at an internship at Celebrity Stylemagazine-if she can make an impression on its owner, the infamous Aaralyn Taylor. Indie does indeed win notice (after chasing Aaralyn's limo) but ends up with a different job: baby-sitting Aaralyn's tantrum-prone two-year-old. Despite the setback (and her parents' strong misgivings), Indie is determined to wow her boss with her fashion finesse and ability to get the scoop on what celebrities are wearing. Some of her efforts prove fruitful, but along the way she learns some hard lessons about racism and nepotism. The exaggerated show-down between sincere, youthful ambition and fashion-insider ruthlessness and self-absorption can make this novel read like The Devil Wears Agatha Ruiz De La Prada, derivative and far-fetched, but those who share the protagonist's passion for trend-setting fashion will willingly suspend their disbelief in hopes that Indie will eventually come out on top. What sets this novel apart is Daswani's nuanced take on her character's Indian-American subculture, the pressure she feels to be like her more conventional cousins, her desire for independence, American-style, and her pride in her heritage. Indie is a heroine worth meeting. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly

Gr 7-10
When Indira Konkipuddi learns that the editor of her favorite fashion magazine will be speaking at her school, she knows that this is her great opportunity to make connections. She's sure that a conversation with Aaralyn Taylor will guarantee her a coveted internship at Celebrity Style , so she is crushed to learn that one of her schoolmates is Aaralyn's niece and the more likely shoo-in for the internship. However, when she corners the woman after her presentation, she is offered a different opportunity. Glossing over Aaralyn's comment that "people from your part of the world are good with domestic duties," Indie accepts a job babysitting for Aaralyn's two-year-old son. The novel continues in what seems like a Devil Wears Prada direction (complete with a trip to Milan) until Indie learns some insider information that allows her to deliver more than one scoop to the fashion editor. The breezily written novel's conclusion is a mixture of wish fulfillment and compromise that brings the chick-lit fantasy aspect of Indie's story back down to earth in a satisfying and affirmative way.
—Amy S. PatteeCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

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