Foreign Exposure

10th Grade Social Climber #3

by Lauren Mechling, Laura Moser

After two glorious (though somewhat hectic) semesters with her dad in New York City, Mimi must make good on her promise to her parents: summer break with her mom. But it seems going back to her cozy old life in Houston isn’t in the cards. Instead, she’s dragged off to Berlin, where her mother’s been offered a fellowship. After a few weeks of a nightmare nanny job, it becomes clear that Mimi’s European vacation isn’t much of a vacation after all. On the verge of a nervous breakdown, she receives a call from Lily Morton, her friend from New York, who invites her to London, where an internship at a family friend’s magazine awaits. Soon Mimi is at it again—living it up with glamorous friends, pursuing a new crush, and chasing down celebrities at her very entertaining job. For a while, Mimi’s convinced she has it made. Never before has fitting in been so easy. If only it could stay that way. Mimi may have gotten a handle on the Empire State—but that’s nothing compared to the state of the empire!

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Lauren Mechling grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Harvard College.
She writes a weekly column for the New York Sun, where she has also been a crime reporter, and she has written for several other publications including the Wall Street Journal and Seventeen Magazine.

Reviews

[Sylvia Ewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

so inane but i ate it up

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Jocelyn Pearce for TeensReadToo.com

FOREIGN EXPOSURE: THE SOCIAL CLIMBER ABROAD is a continuation of the adventures of Mimi Schulman, first introduced in THE RISE AND FALL OF A 10TH- GRADE SOCIAL CLIMBER and then appearing again in ALL Q, NO A: MORE TALES OF A 10TH-GRADE SOCIAL CLIMBER. The first two books were hilariously excellent, favorites of mine, so I had high expectations for this book--and I was not disappointed! It's another hilariously written adventure full of awesome characters (though I missed my favorite characters from New York City while Mimi was in Europe).

Mimi at first sets off to spend the summer with her mother, but her time in Berlin is not what she expects. She wasn't looking forward to being forced to learn German, but it's better than her mother's new plans--she's gotten Mimi a babysitting job. Mimi is going to babysit for evil eight-year-old twins whose mother is a demanding, overbearing woman much like Mimi's own mother. Mimi has no time to herself, no time to enjoy the city at all, and, when her mother refuses to listen, she escapes it.

Mimi runs off to London, looking forward to spending the rest of her summer with Lily Morton, one of her best friends from New York. At first, London seems better than she could ever dream: she's got Lily around instead of her mother, she's staying with a wonderful family in their gigantic house, she's in an exciting city, and she's got a job at a popular celebrity magazine. Of course, nothing goes as well as planned, and nothing is as easy as it seems for Mimi.

I especially missed Sam Greckman in this story; he makes only brief appearances, and he's my favorite character from the first two books! All of the characters, are, of course, wonderfully written, though. Despite the absence of my favorite characters, Mimi's adventures in Europe are entertaining, and, as usual, left me wanting more from the brilliant duo of Lauren Mechling and Laura Moser!

[Mabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mimi spent her school year with her photographer dad and now it's summer vacation. Instead of spending it in New York City like she wants, she is forced to keep the promise she made with her mom and go to Berlin where her mom works and lives. She does a babysitting job for a few weeks but that job become so unbearable she is forced to tell her mom, but her mom's reaction? she uses her work skills and her busy schedule to wave Mimi off. Her friend Lily calls from London just in time to save Mimi and Mimi is soon off to London without even telling her mom. In London Mimi works at a magazine and gets the time of her life. But this happy time does not last forever...

I think this was a really interesting book because it described the life of Mimi really well and the emotions that she portrayed were greatly shown. Although this was a really interesting book, I feel like it wasn't really extraordinary because there was nothing interesting in the plot that made me go "OH!" and it seemed like any other book about an upper east side girl.

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good, but it was definitely a fluff read.

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the first two. The London action kind of dragged, especially without the presence of most of the New York girls.

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing sequel!

[Susan Treat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book

[kt · Rating 3 out of 5]

see my review of this book at:
http://feministreview.blogspot.com/se...

[Alina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sequel