Book Descriptions
for Everyone Wants to Know by Kelly Loy Gilbert
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Honor Lo, 15 (Chinese American/white), grew up in the spotlight thanks to a reality TV show about her family. Although the show has ended, her parents and two older sisters continue to seek the spotlight and monetize their fame. Honor and her twin brother, Atticus, prefer a low profile, while their older brother finds their past toxic and has an on-again, off-again relationship with the family. When their parents announce a separation, Honor, who suffers from anxiety and panic attacks, is devastated. Her pain is amplified when online speculation and gossip, rampant and hard to ignore, reveals that someone close has betrayed her confidence. But more than anything, Honor wants to reunite her family. She pins her hopes on a trip to celebrate hers and Atticus’s birthday, only to discover their dad has been seeing a much younger woman. Then Honor’s sister Skye, an online influencer who’s just started college, shares that she’s been diagnosed with cancer. It’s news that changes everything. As the family pulls together to support Skye during her treatment, online rumors continue to fly in this page-turning story that also sees Honor navigating how and whom to trust as she seeks to establish connections at a new school. A book that’s both entertaining and thought-provoking invites readers to contemplate big ethical questions about the behavior of online “influencers,” including adults who put their children on display, as well as followers who freely judge and speculate about their lives. (Age 13 and older)
CCBC Choices 2024. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2024. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
A ripped-from-the-tabloids, “achingly wrought” (BookPage, starred review) young adult drama by critically acclaimed author Kelly Loy Gilbert about a girl’s famous-for-being-famous family fracturing from within as their dirty laundry gets exposed.
The Lo family sticks together. That’s what Honor has been told her whole life while growing up in the glare of the public eye on Lo and Behold, the reality show about her, her four siblings, and their parents.
Their show may be off the air, but the Lo family members still live in the spotlight as influencers churning out podcasts, bestselling books, and brand partnerships. So when Honor’s father announces that he’s moving out of their northern California home to rent an apartment in Brooklyn, Honor’s personal upset becomes the internet’s trending B-list celebrity trainwreck—threatening the aspirational image the Los’ brand (and livelihood) depends on.
After one of her best friends leaks their private conversation to a gossip site, bruised and betrayed Honor pours all her energy into reuniting her family. With her parents 3,000 miles apart, her siblings torn into factions, and all of them under claustrophobic public scrutiny, this is easier said than done. Just when Honor feels at her lowest, a guarded yet vulnerable boy named Caden comes into her life and makes her want something beyond the tight Lo inner circle for the first time. But is it fair to open her heart to someone new when the people she loves are teetering on the edge of ruin?
As increasingly terrible secrets come to light about the people Honor thought she knew best in the world, she’s forced to choose between loyalty to her family and fighting for the life she wants.
The Lo family sticks together. That’s what Honor has been told her whole life while growing up in the glare of the public eye on Lo and Behold, the reality show about her, her four siblings, and their parents.
Their show may be off the air, but the Lo family members still live in the spotlight as influencers churning out podcasts, bestselling books, and brand partnerships. So when Honor’s father announces that he’s moving out of their northern California home to rent an apartment in Brooklyn, Honor’s personal upset becomes the internet’s trending B-list celebrity trainwreck—threatening the aspirational image the Los’ brand (and livelihood) depends on.
After one of her best friends leaks their private conversation to a gossip site, bruised and betrayed Honor pours all her energy into reuniting her family. With her parents 3,000 miles apart, her siblings torn into factions, and all of them under claustrophobic public scrutiny, this is easier said than done. Just when Honor feels at her lowest, a guarded yet vulnerable boy named Caden comes into her life and makes her want something beyond the tight Lo inner circle for the first time. But is it fair to open her heart to someone new when the people she loves are teetering on the edge of ruin?
As increasingly terrible secrets come to light about the people Honor thought she knew best in the world, she’s forced to choose between loyalty to her family and fighting for the life she wants.
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.