The Black Sheep [Paperback]

Yvonne Collins (Author), Sandy Rideout (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 17, 2008

Fed up with her parents and all their ridiculous rules (they keep a binder full of them), fifteen-year-old Kendra Bishop writes away to The Black Sheep, a reality TV show that offers the chance to swap families with another teen. But when the camera crew shows up at her Manhattan apartment, Kendra starts to have second thoughts. Too late. Kendra’s whisked away to Monterey, California, to live with the Mulligans. The carefree household that couldn’t be more different that her own--complete with hippy parents, their five kids, and a pet ferret. And falling for Mitch, the Mulligan's seventeen-year-old son, only complicates things further, especially since Mitch despises the TV show and everything it stands for. But given the chance, Kendra might just be able to juggle first love, her new stardom, and a pushy TV producer who will stop at nothing for higher ratings.
 
In this hilarious and touching YA novel, Kendra learns to live under a new roof, but finds true refuge in the unlikeliest of places—her own family. 

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7–10—Fifteen-year-old Kendra, an only child, has grown up in a sterile and highly controlled Manhattan household. As she sees it, her distant parents, both bankers, are simply grooming her to assume their overprogrammed urban lifestyle. Frustrated, she enters and wins an essay contest that qualifies her to be a costar on a reality show, The Black Sheep, in which she changes places with a West Coast girl from a completely different type of family. The Mulligan household consists of a pair of aging hippies and their six children, one of whom is an attractive boy with a passion for saving threatened sea otters—a cause that Kendra quickly adopts. She discovers that it is difficult to be an amorous activist—and nearly impossible to find your true self—when you're being tailed 24/7 by a camera crew and a pushy producer. Light, predictable, happy-ending fare without much fizz.—Jeffrey Hastings, Highlander Way Middle School, Howell, MI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Fifteen-year-old Kendra Bishop is so fed up with her boring, New York banker parents and their desire to turn her into a mini version of themselves that she writes away to the reality show The Black Sheep in hopes of trading her life with some other unhappy teen. Kendra is shipped off to Monterey to live with a hippie family devoted to saving otters, while their daughter, Maya, gets to live the cultured life she has always craved in Manhattan. A culture clash ensues, pushed to the max by the ominipresent producer, Judy, who is in charge of making sure there is drama (and if there isn't, she edits the footage). The story drags when it's about the otters, for whom Kendra develops a deep affinity. It picks up when Kendra and Maya's brother, Mitch, get together, break apart, and get together. This is all hilariously over the top (though it's unfortunate that Judy, the pushy producer, has a Jewish last name). The authors have the reality-show shenanigans down pat, and there are some sharp takeoffs of folks like Dr. Phil. Au courant. Cooper, Ilene
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion Book CH (June 17, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 142310160X
• ISBN-13: 978-1423101604
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #897,903 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, April 25, 2007

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Black Sheep (Hardcover)

The only thing Kendra Bishop wanted from her parents was for them to accept her the way she is. Kendra is just not the workaholic, marathon-obsessed, art freak like her parents. She wanted them to notice her a little. But who knew that her wish would sort of come true, when a TV crew shows up on her doorstep, congratulating her for being picked for the new reality show Black Sheep, which takes two unhappy teens and then makes them live with the others' family. So now instead of just her parents noticing her, the entire world will.

But Kendra doesn't even know how she got selected. Okay, maybe she does, but it was only a mistake. She didn't mean to write a long letter about her horrible life and the bad way her parents treat her. She didn't mean to make them sound like they were crazy and then send it in to the show. She didn't mean to make her letter sound so dramatic, but that's the only thing reality shows thrive on--DRAMA. Of course her parents wouldn't go for it, right?

Kendra should already know to expect the unexpected, because now Kendra is on her way to Monterey, California, to switch lives with Maya Mulligan, who is tired of her spirit-loving, animal-saving, hippie parents. Now Kendra's new world is just too much to handle, living with Max and Mona, her new parents, a stealing ferret, and five kids. It's not exactly what she's used to.

To make matters worse, she meets Mitch Mulligan, the oldest son in the Mulligan family. The very hot guy that Kendra now has to live with, the guy that wants nothing to do with the show, since he thinks it is ridiculous, which also drags Kendra along with it. It's bad enough that Judy Greenberg, the crazy producer that talks in third person, is always tailing Kendra, making sure she gets all the problems that Kendra has to face on camera, and sometimes even making problems when there aren't any.

But there is one good thing that comes out of this reality show. His name is Maurice and he is an otter. He's not just any ordinary otter, either--he is the only thing that actually keeps Kendra sane and maybe even changes her life.

Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout, best known for their VIVIEN LEIGH REID series, takes us into the world of celebrities, the one where it's all reality and not just some script. THE BLACK SHEEP is not only funny but also heartwarming. The characters are as charming as the ones you see on actual reality shows, and Kendra Bishop is that one person that everyone loves, roots for, and hopes to see succeed. After reading THE BLACK SHEEP, it just makes me wonder if reality TV is really that spontaneous and if the cameras are actually that annoying.

Reviewed by: Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun Summer Read, July 25, 2011

By 

LeaB - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Black Sheep (Hardcover)

I'm eighteen, and I greatly enjoyed this book. At first, I was a little uneasy about a novel starring a fifteen-year-old protagonist, but it definitely went above and beyond my expectations. The storyline is a bit predictable, yes, but much of YA is. However, I found myself connecting with Kendra and enjoying every minute of her story. I felt her joy and her embarrassment, as well as her disinclination to share her possessions (I'm an only child too). The reality show angle is pretty unique--this isn't your run-of-the-mill "One Summer I Met a Hot Guy and We Fell Into a Wuv so Twu" story. It's funny, it's interesting, and the characters are great to watch. It only took me a day to read, but "The Black Sheep" was definitely worth it.