The Black Sheep

Reader reviewed by Theresa M. Lambert

I would highly recommend this book to anybody who watches shows like Trading Spouses or Wifeswap or any other reality television show. It really gives you an inside look at what really happens behind the camera lens, and I now realize that, as much as we like to think, the people may not be as crazy as they seem. The story follows the experiences of Kendra Bishop on a show called The Black Sheep. It was just her way of venting, but her tape is actually accepted. She moves across the country to a family of beatniks, while their daughter goes to live with the Bishops and all of their rules and restrictions. She lives a completely different life, and struggles to be accepted by those who disapprove of her and the show. Judy, the director, is a real jerk, and makes Kendra out to be this spoiled girl on TV. It shows how much you're average day could be edited and show your average family as complete psychos. Kendra learns powerful lessons, and that's where you would expect the book to end, but it doesn't stop there, and that's one of the reasons the book is so good. Her parents end up on a show like Dr. Phil, and have to work out their problems. It's a really cool book in the sense that it's relevant to something we all see on television.

Reader reviewed by Sara

by Yvonne Collins and Sandy Rideout

"Fed up with her parents and all their ridiculous rule (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 crw, led by brash TV producer Judy Greenberg, shows up at ther Manhattan apartment, Kendra starts having second thoughts.
Too late. Kendra is whished away to Monterey, California, to live with the Mulligan family in a household that couldn't be more different from her own - complete with hippie parents, their five kids, and a pet ferret. Of couse, when Kendra falls for Mitch, the Mulligans' seventeen-year-old son, it only complicates theings 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 producer who will stop at nothing for higher ratings."
This was a really fun book. Parts of it were confusing - the parents were kind of weird. They weren't explained all that well. Otherwise the characters were perfect and interesting. Kendra is a good lead character, though a bit self-centered. She evolves throughout the book though and is more bearable in the end.