Caught In The Web

How I Survived Middle School #9

by Nancy E. Krulik

For use in schools and libraries only. Jenny's friends start their own webcast and it becomes an instant hit at Joyce Kilmer Middle School. Of course the Pops have to get in on the action, so they start their own rival show. Suddenly, a webcast ratings war is raging! Things heat up as the two

Genres: Childrens, Middle Grade

112 pages, Hardcover

About the author

Nancy Krulik is the author of more than 100 books for children and young adults, including three New York Times bestsellers. She is best known, however, for being the author and creator of the Katie Kazoo Switcheroo book series, which has brought her to the attention of second, third, and fourth graders nationwide.

Nancy has also written extensively for teens and is well known as a biographer of Hollywood's hottest young stars. Her knowledge of the details of celebrities lives has made her a desired guest on several entertainment shows on the E! network as well as on Extra and Access Hollywood. She can be seen there talking about the secret lives of such celebs as Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Hilary Duff, and Frankie Muniz. Nancy has also been a guest on radio broadcasts nationwide discussing the superstars she has researched over the years.

As the author of several teen and preteen advice books, including Grosset and Dunlap's Prom!: The Complete Guide to a Truly Spectacular Night, Nancy has been interviewed by several prominent magazines including Cosmo Girl, Teen, Teen People, Seventeen, and Teen Celebrity. She has also been the celebrity guest for three Teen People chat presentations. Nancy has recently begun to delve into the teen novel market, writing four romances for young adults, all of which will be published between 2004 and 2005.

Nancy currently lives in Manhattan with her husband, composer Daniel Burwasser, their two children, Amanda and Ian, and a crazed cockerspaniel named Pepper .

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was good but the other books are way better! Also, this book ended too quickly. I wanted to know more and the book just randomly ended.

[Christine (KizzieReads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jenny is really starting to stand up for herself against Addie and I love it. The characters are growing and there are still some major morals to these books, which I think more kids need to read now a days.

[Alycia Perez]

The first part deals with three close friends : Jenny McAfee ( the heroine ) , Felicia and Rachel .They're at Jenny's home spending the rainy day watching videos of their childhood ( when they were 8 years old) . In one video, about their 3rd grade sleepover , they suddenly recognized Addie , Jenny's old best friend who decided to give up the group to join a new one called the POPS . Jenny tried several times to integrate this exclusive group of best friends but they didn't accept her , she bought new clothes , she behaved differently : with out success . Since the beginning the relationships between the two groups are very bad , they don't like each other . The tone of the book is given and a mini war is declared .


Jenny and her friends are at the school cafeteria talking about TV shows . Suddenly , they come up with the idea of producing their own webcast for the middle school audience . I will be a way to compete with POPS : these girls who don’t behave well speak rudely and more fun of people . They chose Chloe’s basement : it will be their webcast’s studio . Marc will be the director , l Liza the set designer , Chloe the on air talent as Jenny , she will prepare the promotional flayers .The group decide to meet after school in order to organize the webcast .


All the friends are at Chloe's basement and they try to find a decoration with all sorts of designed . Then, they decide the program of their webcast underground . Chloe will sing the twins ( Caroline and Marilyn ) will do their mirror act , Josh is tae kwon doe demonstration , as for Jenny , she will announce the activities the student council has planed . Only Chloe doesn't like the webcast's name , she want to change it and her friend think she is a spoiled girl .To react to their accusation , Chloe makes a test that shows to her friends that she is a normal girl . AT the end , she finally accepts the name of the webcast :" the webcast underground ".


The friends decide to meet them cells each friday night at 8:00 PM . Chloe has already prepared flyers to inform the student's Middle School about webcast . But , there are problems within the group . Sam doesn't get on well with his parents who still treat as a kid and Marilyn one of the twins is sick . The group tries to find an other solution to replace the twins' shows . Finally Marilyn will present alone a fashion and design show : for example she will teach people how to design cool flip- flops.


Jenny entered to the Middle School , she had plenty of flyers to hand out when she was suddenly asked questions about the webcast show by a girl called Sandy Wind : Sandy was in fact one of the POPS girls .After that , Jenny tried to talk to different students of the Middle School to gather informations about the needs of different clubs .When she finished her inquiry , she went as usual to the student council meeting . And she also decided to help Marilyn who was completely lost because she still didn't know how to realize flip-flops correctly . Once , she finished to give her advice , she decided to go home not too late as she promised it to her mother .


All the team was stressed , nervous and excited : it was Friday night the day of their first webcast show . First Chloe opened the show with a famous song , she was followed by Marilyn who started her flip-flops demonstration : she made it perfectly . And then it was Jenny's turn with her news program called " the book drive time" , her passage was followed by Felicia and Rachel's show. The webcast was successful , it had a big audience , all the team was congratulated when they return at school on Monday morning : they were all good on this Friday night . But this wasn't Addie's point of view : she found the webcast boring and not very interesting : according to her , it was an "un-talent show" . As member of the POPS Addie and her group were jealous of all the attention paid to this webcast and decide to react and to unveil their surprise to the audience.


Jenny didn't find the POPS webcast very interesting but it was not the case of all the Middle School girls who wanted to look like them . A mini war started between the two parts : Jenny and her friends tried to organize a new program which could get more audience than this of the POPS . The different acts were even better than they had been on the first show : a new thing in this webcast , the possibility for the kids at the Joyce Kilmer Middle School to send videos of their songs and be selected by the cast of the webcast underground to appear on next week's webcast . This idea got lot of success because half the school wanted to be a singer and sent videos to the group : Jenny's and her friends decided to meet themselves to listen to those videos and to choose the final five. According to Jenny's friends , their idea was the best one and the POPS would have difficulties to find something original to face them .


The POPS decided to attack with an announce which proposed to re-look Middle School teenagers who needed it the most . After this , Addie and Jenny met themselves at the bus stop : Addie tried to make a fool of her old friend telling her that she was old fashioned and that even her new friends were ashamed of her . Jenny was shocked by Addie's words and had difficulties to concentrate herself to listen to videos and to choose the five potential finalists for the next webcast . Jenny and her friend watched different videos and had problems at the hour of selecting their talents . They decided then to choose three on-air judges for Friday’s final. Jenny wanted to test her friends ' sincerity and proposed them to be one of these judges . After some hesitations they finally accepted Jenny's proposition .


The two camps didn't give up the fight : each group wanted to be more popular and to get more viewers than the other one . They both decided to advertise their show : the POPS with pink t-shirts , in which they were written on the front the words " style doctor " and on the back " school style thursday night" . As Jenny and her friends , they choose a huge banner taped to the wall of the school building , in which every body could read " webcast underground , who will be the schools new singing sensation ? ( find out friday night at 8:00 PM!) " . The pops who didn't give up easily even tried to know by different means who were the 5 finalists , the 5 singers chosen for the webcast underground . Jenny didn't reveal anything and wanted to keep the secret till friday's night . All Jenny's friends were shocked by Addie's attitude and behavior : they had difficulties to understand how she became .



Jenny's friends are all very stressed after the episode at the cafeteria : everybody was waiting for their webcast underground show. A problem happened just before the show : Chloe's MP3 player had mysteriously disappeared and with out it , the five finalists couldn't sing . But , fortunately the webcast underground had ben saved thank to Sam's help who proposed to play every song the singers performed : she was an excellent pianist and her talent was recognized by all her friends . The show was a success and Jenny's presentation was very appreciated by every body . But the best surprise of the night was when the group finally found Chloe's MP3 it was the end of the show and every body was agree to say that even in case of troubles Jenny's friends were always the best .

[Sinigdhab · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jenny is a sophisticated and, smart person. She goes to a great school and, has an awesome crew of friends. Her parent’s love and, care for her. One of Jenny’s greatest accomplishments is being the class president. What a nice life! What could go wrong? Well, guess who gets in the way! The schools meanest, vainest, rudest and most popular girls. The “Pops”.
They hate Jenny more than anybody else. One day, Jenny’s friend, Victor comes up with an idea to make an Internet webcast. When Jenny and her friends start earning fame after hundreds love their webcast. The Pops get jealous and, decide to do the same thing. The Pops make their own Internet webcast at the same time and days as Jenny’s webcast. The Pops want a competition now!
Which webcast will the school watch? Will Jenny and her crew quit their webcast? Only one way to find out….read “Caught On The Web” by, Nancy Krulik
I recommend this book to people because, it teaches, what braveness and, friendship really is. This is a dramatic book and, will lead you to your destined path.
I learned quite a lot from this book. Now, I believe that sometimes you need to take chances and not let those people get in your way! This book is awesome, I love this! ☺

[Holland6bb · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a really fun book to read when your in grade six because you can know what will happen when you enter high school. After reading this book I know what will happen when I get into high school if ever I pass my grade six I will know what to do for the years and i will know tricks only because I read these books my big sister read these books and she is in secondary 1 and she uses some tricks and it work. The had good vocabulary and a lot of features I really liked this book.

[Baljit Hayer]

A girl named jenny and her friend are strting a webshow when the POPS AKA the populars bud in with their web show then jenny's team and the pops compite to find out witch is the best web show

[Autumn Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a good book!

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty interesting

[Lina]

I think this is an amazing book. I really like this book it is funny and I like all the charters they are awesome expect the pops group they are so mean to people I really don't

[Mlh346comcast.net]

J PBK K Series: How I Survived Middle School Friends work together to create a weekly variety show on the web.

[Ligs · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

It was so good... I enjoyed it so much that I cant put this book down when I was in elementary

[Amy J · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was fun to learn how to make a webcast with a ton of humor.