Summer Intern [Hardcover]

Carrie Karasyov (Author), Jill Kargman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2007

To do:

—Attend photo shoot on pier at sunset.

—Get invited to NYC's most exclusive parties.

—Walk big star's makeup artist's assistant's dog.

—Fetch dry cleaning when it arrives from Paris.

There's nothing run-of-the-mill about working at Skirt, the preeminent fashion magazine. I'm Kira Parker, total fashion junkie. I thought I had it made when I landed this job. Ha. I mean, don't get me wrong—working at Skirt is amazing. And spending the summer in New York City without my parents? Golden. But now I'm up against Daphne Hughes, daughter of the magazine's owner. What Daphne wants, she gets—all wrapped up in a cute Coach bag. She's already got the guy of my dreams and all the right connections. Now she thinks she'll get the plum position working for the editor in chief without even lifting a diamond-adorned pinky? This catwalk is primed for battle.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up—When Kira Parker submits her fashion ideas to Cotton, a group that is offering a summer internship to one student designer, she is chosen and spends the time working in New York City for the magazine Skirt. At her first meeting, she learns that the magazine owner's daughter, Daphne, and her friends (who are called the Trumpettes with disdain by other staffers) are also interning. The most coveted spot, working directly under the editor-in-chief, is up for grabs. In spite of Kira's hard work, Daphne ends up getting the job, even though she never works and is haughty at every turn. Still, Kira has a fabulous experience that extends outward from the fashion world to encompass learning more about people, about relationships, and about running a business. By the end of the novel, readers will be impressed with her growth. The authors do a great job of describing the ins and outs of fashion couture. This addition to the chick-lit genre is funny and lighthearted, and worth purchasing if you have students who love stories about strong female characters who persevere in the face of adversity—and do so with style.—Emily Garrett, Armstrong Elementary School, Sachse, TX
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Praise for Bittersweet Sixteen: "Teen readers will love the details and vicariously whirl their way through social contexts they only read about in magazines, but they will also see what it means to be true to oneself." (KLIATT )

"Perfect summer novel...the authors pull the reader in and never let go." (Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) )

"Funny and lighthearted." (School Library Journal ) --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
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: HarperTeen; 1st edition (May 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061153753
• ISBN-13: 978-0061153754
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,715,034 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Summer Book!, August 28, 2007

By 

Lola Violet "Hello Kitty Girl" (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Summer Intern (Hardcover)

Here is another book by one of my favorite writers, Carrie Karasyov. This book is about a summer internship at a fictional magazine, Skirt. I know this book has been compared to Devil Wears Prada, Mean Girls and Gossip Girls--well, I say that is a good thing!! Definitely a light summer read that will hold your attention. It may come across as predictable to some people, but I don't really think the point is to be unpredictable. It was just a fun read!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very cute coming-of-age story, August 13, 2007

By 

K. Huff (Radnor, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Summer Intern (Hardcover)

Kira, recently graduated from high school and entering her first year at Columbia, is about to embark on the opportunity of a lifetime: a prestigious internship at Skirt magazine. Her roommates are Gabe and Teagan, who quickly become her best friends for the summer. Kira's nemeses, however, are the girls dubbed the Trumpettes, led by Daphnes Hughes, daughter of the owner of the company. Daphne gets pretty much everything she wants, including the hot boyfriend, and it seems as though she's going to get the pretigious internship working for Genevieve West, Editor-in-Chief of the magazine. Kira is also accustomed to getting everything she wants, but not in a spoiled-brat kind of way. At some points it seems similar to the plot of Mean Girls, except set in the offices of a magazine.

At first I thought I wouldn't like this attempt at YA from two chick lit authors. But I found, to my surprise, that I did. The book is written in a quirky, upbeat style. Although the book was filled with cliches (gay best friend, anyone?), I thought the authors did a good job of highlighting how much Kira grows during her first summer in New York. I'm looking forward to reading Bittersweet Sixteen, another YA novel by Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Recipe for Blandness, July 14, 2007

By 

Brittany Rose (Winnipeg, MB) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Summer Intern (Hardcover)

Summer Intern is essentially two parts Mean Girls (the characters are virtually identical), one part Gossip Girl (rich NYC heirheads), and one part The Devil Wears Prada (the summer internship is at a Vogue-like magazine). What do you get when you add these all up? One very unoriginal book. Although I enjoyed the breeziness - and this is after all a summer book - I found it so annoying how blatantly the book ripped off other existing characters and stories - Mean Girls being one of the most obvious. Despite the familiarity of the characters, I found it difficult to really *care* about any of them cause I could predict what was going to happen.

To summarize the plot, Kira is a Philly girl who wins an internship at Skirt magazine. Along the way she makes a number of friends (many who waffle between friend and foe) but feels frustrated at being under the shadow of the heiress to the magazine Daphne - who barely does a thing to earn her keep, her friends, or her boyfriend. Enter various hilarity and you'll get the plot.

I've actually read a couple of other books by this author duo - who specialize in writing about the Upper Crust of NYC. I still have mixed feelings about Karasyov & Kargman's talents...I've failed to reallllly love one of their books, although Wolves in Chic Clothing was by far the best I've read of theirs.

Overall if you're into the whole teen chick lit going on right now, this is a better written, more palatable version of books like the Gossip Girl series. If you don't think you'd be interested in reading a full-length tome like Devil Wears Prada, this is a great teenage version of it...but if you're expecting some revolutionary writing/plot, skip it.