All In This Together

July 1, 2007
Gr 6 Up-It is impossible to work with young people and not have heard of "High School Musical", the made-for-TV movie that became a surprise hit for Disney last year, propelling the accompanying soundtrack to the top of the Billboard charts. This book (which takes its title from the film's closing number) traces the creation of the movie, includes short biographies of each of the six young leads, and briefly discusses subsequent related projects, including an amateur theatrical version and the upcoming sequel. Although "unofficial," there is very little here that wouldn't pass muster in a studio-produced publication: the colorful, glossy layout is filled with color photos of the stars (though few of the photos are from the film itself), the cast and creative team fawn over each other and the fruits of their labors in extensive interviews, and quotes from reviews conveniently ignore the critics' less complimentary statements. Like many pop-culture tie-in guides, this is pure fluff, but the popularity of the source material makes it fluff worth considering."Christi Voth, Parker Library, CO"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.