Foreign Exposure

June 1, 2007
Gr 7-10-Mimi, 16, leaves her dad in New York City for a mandatory visit with her academic-psychologist mother in Berlin. When confronted with the woman's complete inability to understand her, she heads for London, where her friend Lily is staying. She takes on an internship with a tabloid magazine, which propels her into the glamorousand ultimately seedyworld of late-night parties and gossiping about A-listers. Although similar to many recent teen series in their emphasis on fashion, British slang, and crushing on foreign boys, Mimi's world seems down-to-earth. Readers simply follow along, bad decisions and all, but life goes on. Several supporting characters are one-dimensional stereotypes added for the sake of humor; a horrid babysitter job foisted on Mimi in Berlin seems like an overused chick-lit cliché , and some of the story is a little hard to swallow, but teens looking for a lightweight read should enjoy this one, whether or not they've read the earlier books in the series."Rhona Campbell, Washington, DC Public Library"

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