Lights, Camera, Disaster

by Erin Dionne

Overview

A budding filmmaker with executive function disorder figures out how to become the director of her own life in this funny, relatable middle-grade novel from Erin Dionne.

Hester Greene loves making movies. With her camera in hand, she can focus, make decisions, and have the control she lacks in life, where her executive function disorder (think extreme ADHD plus anxiety) sabotages her every move.

But middle school is not a movie, and if her last-ditch attempt to save her language-arts grade--and her chance to pass eighth grade, period--doesn't work, Hess could lose her friends, her year, even her camera. It will take more than a cool training montage to get her life together, but by thinking outside the frame, she just might craft a whole new ending.

Written partially in script form, with STOP/PAUSE/PLAY/REWIND moments throughout, this laugh-out-loud story will speak to any budding filmmaker, or unintentional troublemaker, in every act of their lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781338134087
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	03/27/2018
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Erin Dionne is the author of six other books for kids, including Lights, Camera, Disaster, The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet, and Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking. Erin loves action movies, especially Star Wars and The Avengers. Wonder Woman is her favorite superhero. She lives outside of Boston with her husband, two kids, and a very disgruntled dog. Visit her online at erindionne.com.

Read an Excerpt

RIGHT NOW

I might puke.

The panic-ants swarm around my body, and I can barely stay in my seat. There's no way I am going to live through this.

I scoot out of my row and stand by the emergency exit door. A light breeze blows in around the frame. I breathe. Keep breathing.

Maybe it'll be okay.

And then, the projector comes to life and the soft guitar builds through the speakers, and the title slides in from the top of the screen:

THIS IS WHO WE ARE

It's my movie. On a big screen.

I might puke, after all.

PAUSE

You want to know how I got here?

Well, it's kind of a long story. Let's--

REWIND

-Handing Miss Vogel the memory stick
-Mom and Dad in the office
- Hiding in the closet, crying
-Ms. Walker frowning, handing me the test
-My blue elbow
-Watching JAWS
-Reading the MK Nightshade website
-Stressing about--

STOP

PLAY

FOUR WEEKS AGO

Editorial Reviews

2017-12-03
A middle schooler struggles with executive function disorder in this thoughtful middle-grade novel.Hester loves filmmaking more than anything else. Not only is it her passion—she carries her video camera everywhere—but it also makes the most sense to her. Her executive function disorder makes traditional schoolwork difficult despite dedicated strategies at school and home. Luckily, her best friends, white Max and Indian-American Nev, have always been supportive and understanding. Hess loves collaborating with them on filmmaking projects, and she can't wait to show their spy film at the middle school talent show. However, she struggles to balance all of her commitments—in addition to difficult schoolwork and the trio's movie, she's working on an extra-credit film project. In serious danger of failing eighth grade and thus unable to participate in the talent show, Hess feels her world spinning further out of control. Ashamed and devastated, she finds solace and support in the kindness of a few teachers, her supportive parents, and a graphic novel-loving ELL student who wears a hijab and has emigrated from the Middle East. The book's hopeful finale is tidy and clichéd but undeniably satisfying. Through Hester's thoughtful first-person narration, structured with "fast forward," "pause," and "resume play" asides, Dionne creates a flawed, lovable, sympathetic character who, thanks to her support network, is ultimately able to become "the director of [her] own story."Readers will root for and relate to Hester. (Fiction. 9-14)

Kirkus Reviews