Friends with Benefits

June 1, 2006
Gr 9 Up -In "The Nannies" (Delacorte, 2005), readers met Kylie, Lydia, and Esme, three unlikely allies who work as nannies in California. In this episode, Platinum -s TV show has been canceled, but the rock star wants Kylie to stay on and help with her kids. Platinum -s personal life is a mess -she is addicted to drugs and alcohol. Esme is having a relationship with her boss -s stepson, while still balancing her relationship with her boyfriend, a paramedic in the barrio back home. Lydia, a perpetual -borrower - of her aunt -s things, is in hot water with her aunt -s partner, Anya. Amid all of these crossing plot lines, which are crazy enough to generate interest yet too glossed over to sustain it, each girl has to deal with some form of turmoil. Mayer drops some serious names and brands, which gives a hip tone to the text at the beginning. However, as the barrage continues, it becomes tedious." -Emily Garrett, Naaman Forest High School, Garland, TX"

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