Really Professional Internet Person

by Jenn McAllister Narrated by Jenn McAllister

Overview

Jenn McAllister, better known as JennxPenn, has been obsessed with making videos since she found her parents video camera at the age of eight. A shy child, Jenn turned to film because, unlike life, there can always be a do-over.



Really Professional Internet Person offers both an insider's guide to building a successful YouTube channel and an intimate portrait of the surreality of insta-fame and the harsh reality of high school.



Brimming with honesty, heart and Jenn's patented sense of humor, Really Professional Internet Person features top ten lists, photos, screenshots, social media posts and never-before-posted stories chronicling Jenn's journey from an anxious middle-schooler just trying to fit in, to a YouTube sensation unafraid to stand out.

Editorial Reviews

School Library Journal

12/01/2015
Gr 8 Up—McAllister first picked up a video camera when she was eight years old. A decade later, she's a YouTube sensation, boasting more than two million subscribers on her channel, Jennxpenn. Here, she discusses the middle school anxieties that inspired her to post her videos to YouTube and how she dealt with the bullying that followed, along with the struggles of coming-of-age in front of a camera. The second half of the book focuses on her fame: attending conferences, collaborating with other YouTube celebrities, and even starring in a movie. McAllister's energetic, bubbly voice will appeal most to the teens who make up the majority of her audience. While her experience is far from the norm, her success at age 19 will be inspirational to those who are just starting out in online video. The design is mildly frustrating, however. The publisher has attempted a youth-focused, magazinelike layout, and the text is printed on different backgrounds that is occasionally difficult to read. Top 10 lists, part of Jennxpenn's online identity, take up several spreads in the middle of a chapter, often requiring readers to flip through several pages to finish a sentence. VERDICT Purchase where teens are excited about online video culture.—Brandy Danner, Wilmington Middle School, MA

Kirkus Reviews

2015-09-21
A popular YouTuber releases her memoir. Jenn McAllister, better known as Jennxpenn, details her ascent to Internet stardom and her personal struggles with bullying and anxiety. The book flips between prose chapters and lists, such as "Top 10 Things Middle Schoolers Worry About That They Shouldn't" and "Top 10 Best Pieces of Advice I've Ever Received." Unfortunately neither really pops. The lists are serviceable distractions filled with boilerplate platitudes ("Know It's Not About You"; "Nobody's in Charge of Your Happiness Except You"). McAllister's recounting of her own life starts interestingly enough (although her "bullying" is pretty tame, mostly name-calling that most children endure) but quickly loses narrative urgency or comedic charm. The book is filled with pictures as well, but there aren't any captions, so those who aren't familiar with YouTube culture won't know whom these people are or what the point of the picture's placement is. This lack of context feeds into the book's largest problem: anyone not familiar with Jennxpenn and her cohorts is left completely behind. The author describes her burgeoning channel competently enough early on, but once she makes it big, the narrative devolves into a listing of accomplishments and experiences that don't lead into one another in any way or provide much meaning to those curious about YouTubers but not particularly familiar with them. A vanity project that's for fans only. (Memoir. 13-17)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171292072
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	08/25/2015
Edition description:	Unabridged

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