SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: A MILLION VIEWS
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.aaronstarmer.com/
CITY: Hoboken
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 363
http://us.macmillan.com/theriverman/AaronStarmer
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1976, in CA; married Catharine Wells; children: two daughters.
EDUCATION:Drew University, B.A. (English), 1998; New York University, M.A. (cinema studies), 2000.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and editor. Longitude Books (online publisher), website editor, 1999-2007; Micato Safaris, operations director, 2007-09, school sponsorship program coordinator of America Share (nonprofit), 2009; freelance author beginning 2009.
AVOCATIONS:Running.
WRITINGS
Contributor to Mountain Man Dance Moves: The McSweeney’s Book of Lists, 2006, and The Unofficial Guide to New York City, Wiley, 2010.
The “Riverman” novels were adapted for audiobook, read by Graham Halsted and others, Recorded Books, 2014-16; Spontaneous was adapted into a film.
SIDELIGHTS
Aaron Starmer turned to writing after earning an advanced degree in cinema studies and working as web editor for an online publisher specializing in travel books for the international set. Addressing an adolescent audience allowed Starmer to indulge both his wit and his imagination, and critics and readers alike have responded with enthusiasm. His middle-grade novel Dweeb: Burgers, Beasts, and Brainwashed Bullies was praised for its quirky humor, and his futuristic young-adult novel The Only Ones posits a near-future wherein the few people remaining on Earth have unique gifts that contribute to a new but still uniquely human society. An ambitious undertaking, Starmer’s “Riverman Trilogy” delves into fantasy while contemplating the organic interface between reality and imagined worlds. Still another series, titled “Locker 37,” offers middle-grade readers madcap, hilarious storylines.
Enlivened by Andy Rash’s illustrations and set in New Jersey, Dweeb introduces five bright but socially inept eighth graders: Bijay, Denton, Eddie, Elijah, and Wendell. When the time for standardized testing comes around, the five classmates are trapped in the school basement by their school’s vice principal. In order to understand why, they must join forces and escape from their subterranean prison. Plans to develop super-teen DNA and efforts to transform the school lunchroom into a fast-food heaven also figure in Starmer’s quirky tale, which School Library Journal critic Robin Henry recommended as a “fun … break from the often-heavy realistic fiction” written for the middle-grade age group. In Booklist, Andrew Medlar noted the wry humor in Starmer’s story, predicting that “there are undoubtedly those who will find companionship and commiseration” in the “dweebishness” of the story’s unusual heroes.
In Spontaneous, Starmer captures the world view of many twenty-first-century teens in his novel about high-school senior Mara Carlyle. Worries about college and annoying parents and her upcoming calculus exam are suddenly sidelined when Katelyn, one of Mara’s classmates literally explodes during class. Katelyn’s fate is shocking, but then another teen self-destructs, and then another. When this series of unpleasant deaths attracts the attention of the F.B.I., the threat is localized to Mara’s New Jersey town and quarantine is enforced. Raised to expect the end of the world, Mara takes things in stride, and she narrates her experiences living with the ever-present fear of spontaneous combustion in what Michael Cart characterized in Booklist as an “achingly honest, darkly humorous, and occasionally acerbic voice.” An absurdist novel with a “bloody, madcap premise,” according to a Publishers Weekly critic, Spontaneous inspires readers to contemplate something far more serious and relevant, however: “how much … is out of our control, and how important it is to seize whatever time we’re given.”
Starmer begins his “Riverman” trilogy in The Riverman, as twelve-year-old Alisdair Cleary is chosen to write his neighbor Fiona’s biography. An imaginative child, Fiona claims that she can travel to a parallel fantasy world called Aquavania, where she has met someone scary called the Riverman. Alistair thinks that Fiona’s story is actually a metaphor that allows her to deal with something bad she has experienced in real life, but then she disappears. As he sets out to discover the truth, a tragedy involving his friend Charlie Dyer is set in motion. Writing in Booklist, Sarah Bean Thompson predicted that Starmer’s “magical tale is sure to please readers of urban fantasy,” and School Library Journal critic Sara Lissa Paulson suggested of The Riverman that “those ready to explore darker realities will devour this book.”
When Alisdair returns in The Whisper, his effort to locate Fiona have led him to Aquavania, and it is here where all manner of imaginary worlds are interconnected. As he travels from world to world in search of his friend, he is befriended by several talking birds and gains a helpful guide named Polly. Within these dreamlike kingdoms, which are oddly unstable, he learns that within the collected fantasies are terrors as well. While suspecting that Charlie’s involvement in his quest may have been self-serving, Alisdair also realizes that Fiona’s fear of the Riverman was well-founded. This soul-stealing creature—which is also called the Whisper—consumes the souls of those who create vivid fantasy worlds, and they have no interest in returning to their reality. Calling Alisdair “a timid hero who learns to trust his intuition,” a Kirkus Reviews writer added that the second “Riverman” novel answers many questions raised in the first. As readers learn the truth about Fiona and Alisdair, they are drawn into a “cautionary tale,” noted Paulson in School Library Journal; in The Whisper, Starmer “explores the dark nature of lies … and the surprising pain of truth” as well as contemplating the complex emotions underlying all fantasies, the critic noted.
Although Alisdair has returned home by the time readers rejoin him in The Storyteller, his experiences in Aquavania have melded with tragedy and rendered him mute. With Charlie still missing and Charlie’s brother Kyle shot, Alisdair’s fourteen-year-old sister, Kerrigan, is determined to learn the truth. She uses a diary to record her discoveries and she eventually gains her brother’s help. Kerri learns to harness the power of Aquavania by telling stories, and her “pithy, insightful, irreverent, and vulnerable diary” becomes an effective vehicle for Starmer’s “intense, thoughtful, and satisfying” series conclusion, according to a Kirkus Reviews writer. Praising the “Riverman” trilogy as an “original and uniquely satisfying” choice for fans of Orson Scott Card and Madeleine L’Engle, Tara Kron added in School Library Journal that this thought-provoking saga “challenges traditionally reiterated narrative devices by never dealing in absolutes and not tying things off into neat bows.”
Starmer opens his “Locker 37” middle-grade series with The Magic Eraser. On the first day of school, fourth-grader Carson Cooper finds a cryptic note from a student in a previous year who explains that a magical locker at the school will provide an answer for any problem. Since Carson has an unfortunate stain on his pants, he seeks out the locker, finding the magic eraser of the book’s title. The eraser works, but perhaps too well. As the plot advances, numerous solutions turn out to cause even bigger problems. Reviewing the book in School Library Journal, Monisha Blair lauded its “short chapters and large print” as being well suited for reluctant readers. A Kirkus Reviews critic offered more fulsome praise, hailing the storyapos;s “wonderful, imaginative, magical hilarity” and calling The Magic Eraser a “laugh-out-loud tour de force.”
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The fourth book in the “Locker 37” series, The Interdimensional Fish Sticks, illustrated by Courtney La Forest, finds fourth-grader Bryce Dodd in his Halloween costume at Hopewell Elementary hoping to impress the girl he likes, Keisha, but the teacher makes him take it off. He goes to the magical Locker 37 and eats a fish stick that transports him to series of successively weird parallel universes.
Starmer’s Meme is described as a psychological revenge thriller for the internet age. Set in Vermont, teenager Cole is paranoid, getting out of control, collecting guns, and threatening his ex-girlfriend, Meeka, and her friends, who devise a plan to protect themselves. They kill Cole and bury him along with four old phones that each contains a recording of their confession, so none of them can betray the group with what they’ve done. However, a meme of one of the confessions appears on social media, exposing the group. Did one of them betray the others, or is Cole not as dead as they thought? A writer in Publishers Weekly pointed out the commentary on white privilege, toxic masculinity, and loneliness, as well as some loose ends in the plot, nevertheless, “a tense, revolving first-person narrative propels the reader through an absorbing scheme-gone-wrong mystery.” In Kirkus Reviews, a critic described the struggle of self-serving, unsympathetic characters in “this taut psychological thriller about the dangers of the internet and the alt-right movement.”
Personal growth and the value of friendship mark Starmer’s A Million Views, in which 12-year-old loner Brewster Gaines wants nothing more than to get a million views on his homemade videos that he shoots himself and posts on YouTube. He gets no help from his indifferent teacher and absent parents, and he doesn’t believe he needs friends to succeed. But then he uncharacteristically asks classmate Carly Lee to help him make his latest 10-second video. But production gets out of hand when she brings in her privileged friend Rosa as producer who provides the video a huge budget. Then come a cast and crew, a production manager, a diva actor, cosplayers, special effects, and even the making of a fancy trailer. Control freak Brewster eventually realizes there’s nothing wrong in asking for help if he hopes to achieve a million views.
In an interview with Cherokee Crum online at YA and Kids! Books Central, Starmer explained his inspiration for the book: “When I was kid, I was obsessed with making movies. I had the passion and I had a camcorder. Only problem was, I didn’t have enough friends who shared that passion. … By writing A Million Views, I wanted to indulge in the fantasy of seeing what would happen if those friends not only shared that passion, but took it to a whole other level. So that’s what happens to the main character, Brewster. And in the process, he finds a family among these friends, which is something he desperately needs.”
“Gentle humor buoys personal growth in this character-driven novel of filmmaking and found family,” according to a Publishers Weekly writer, who added that the wryly narrated story is filled with believable characters and in-depth look at the filmmaking process. A Kirkus Reviews contributor remarked that “The humor is sharp, the story is well paced,” the band of misfits are memorable, and the story is “A well-rounded, heartfelt tale of creativity and family.” Despite the story’s slow set-up and one-dimensional characters defined only by their roles in the production, readers “may enjoy the snappy dialogue and the insider’s look at how movies are made,” said Lindsay Loup in School Library Journal.
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BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, October 15, 2009, Andrew Medlar, review of Dweeb: Burgers, Beasts, and Brainwashed Bullies, p. 64; February 1, 2014, Sarah Bean Thompson, review of The Riverman, p. 65; July 1, 2016, Michael Cart, review of Spontaneous, p. 55.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, January, 2010, Karen Coats, review of Dweeb, p. 219.
Horn Book Guide, fall, 2014, Susan Graham, review of The Riverman, p. 92; fall, 2015, Betty Carterm, review of The Whisper, p. 103.
Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2009, review of Dweeb; February 1, 2014, review of The Riverman; December 15, 2014, review of The Whisper; December 15, 2015, review of The Storyteller; April 15, 2020, review of The Magic Eraser; July 15, 2020, review of Meme; August 15, 2022, review of A Million Views.
Publishers Weekly, June 6, 2016, review of Spontaneous, p. 86; August 3, 2020, review of Meme, p. 61; August 8, 2022, review of A Million Views, p. 64.
School Library Journal, November, 2009, Robin Henry, review of Dweeb, p. 122; March 1, 2014, Sara Lissa Paulson, review of The Riverman, p. 149; February, 2015, Sara Lissa Paulson, reviews of The Whisper, p. 94; February, 2016, Tara Kron, review of The Storyteller, p. 86; August, 2016, Mahnaz Dar, review of Spontaneous, p. 116; June, 2020, Monisha Blair, review of The Magic Eraser, p. 65; November 2022, Lindsay Loup, review of A Million Views, p. 60.
Voice of Youth Advocates, December, 2014, Barbara Johnson, review of The Whisper, p. 84; February, 2016, Shana Morales, review of The Storyteller, p. 77; August, 2016, Elisabeth W. Rauch, review of Spontaneous, p. 80.
ONLINE
Aaron Starmer website, http://www.aaronstarmer.com (October 5, 2020).
BookPage, http://www.bookpage.com/ (April 1, 2014), Sharon Verbeten, review of The Riverman.*
YA and Kids! Books Central, https://www.yabookscentral.com/ (October 4, 2022), Cherokee Crum, “Interview with Aaron Starmer.”
THE BASICS...
Aaron Starmer was born in northern California and raised in the suburbs of Syracuse, New York. Before pursuing writing full-time, he worked in New York City for over ten years as an editor for a travel bookseller and as an operations director for an African safari company. His middle grade and young adult novels have been translated into multiple foreign languages and have appeared on best of the year lists from Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, New York Public Library, YALSA, Bank Street College of Education, Chicago Public Library and School Library Journal. He lives in Vermont with his wife and two daughters.
Aaron Starmers work fluctuates between travel writing and childrens writing and theres never a dull moment with either.
Just a few days before Starmer talked to The Reporter to promote his new book, The Only Ones, he spent time in the Galapagos Islands, reviewing the exotic vacation destination. But when hes not working on freelance travel writing gigs, hes in his Hoboken home working on new fiction projects. Starmer, who has a masters degree from New York University in cinema studies, lives with his wife.
Read more: Hudson Reporter - The last kids left on earth Local resident reflects on career new book
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Young Adult Fantasy
New Books
October 2022
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A Million Views
Series
Riverman Trilogy
1. The Riverman (2014)
2. The Whisper (2015)
3. The Storyteller (2016)
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Locker 37
1. The Magic Eraser (2020)
2. The Rewindable Clock (2020)
3. The Ridiculous and Wonderful Rainbow Hat (2020)
4. The Interdimensional Fish Sticks (2021)
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Novels
Dweeb (2009)
The Only Ones (2011)
Spontaneous (2016)
Meme (2020)
A Million Views (2022)
Today we are very excited to share an interview with Author Aaron Starmer (A Million Views)!
Meet the Author: Aaron Starmer
Aaron Starmer was born in northern California and raised in the suburbs of Syracuse, New York. Before pursuing writing full-time, he worked in New York City for over ten years as an editor for a travel bookseller and as an operations director for an African safari company. His middle grade and young adult novels have been translated into multiple languages and have appeared on best of the year lists from Time magazine, the Wall Street Journal, New York Public Library, YALSA, Bank Street College of Education, Chicago Public Library, and School Library Journal. His novel Spontaneous was recently made into a film. He lives in Vermont with his wife and two daughters.
Website * Twitter * Instagram * Facebook
About the Book: A Million Views
Brewster Gaines loves everything about making videos. The planning, the filming, the editing, and especially the feeling of watching his YouTube views tick up and up. So what if he doesn’t have friends to film with or parents who are home every night for dinner? He’s got a phone and a tripod and a lofty goal:
A million views.
But when he enlists the acting chops of charismatic new kid Carly for a ten-second video, he gets more than he bargained for. Her intimidating friend Rosa soon steps in with funding to produce an epic fantasy trailer, and before long, their tiny team is adding cast and crew. What started as a simple shoot mutates into a full-fledged movie production, complete with method-acting cosplayers, special effects, and a monster made out of a go-kart. That’s when Brewster realizes that getting to a million views may be harder than he ever imagined . . .
~Author Chat~
YABC: What gave you the inspiration to write this book?
When I was kid, I was obsessed with making movies. I had the passion and I had a camcorder. Only problem was, I didn’t have enough friends who shared that passion. So I could never get any major productions off the ground. By writing A MILLION VIEWS, I wanted to indulge in the fantasy of seeing what would happen if those friends not only shared that passion, but took it to a whole other level. So that’s what happens to the main character, Brewster. And in the process, he finds a family among these friends, which is something he desperately needs.
When I was in the middle of writing A MILLION VIEWS, I was lucky enough to have one of my novels, SPONTANEOUS, adapted into a film. I visited the set for a few days, and after I saw the cast and crew working so tirelessly toward a common goal (which was all launched by a silly idea of mine!) I was convinced that the story I was telling could be a powerful one, as well as a lot of fun. I hope it’s both.
YABC: Who is your favorite character in the book?
Probably Izzy, who’s essentially the “line producer” in A MILLION VIEWS. That means she’s the kid on set who’s making everything run smoothly. She’s smart, hard-working, resourceful, funny, and optimistic, exactly the type of person you want in that job. And she doesn’t back down from anyone.
YABC: Which came first, the title or the novel?
The title. Or at least the idea. When kids today are making TikTok or YouTube videos, they’re probably telling themselves that they’re doing it for the clout. The likes. The views. (At least a million of them, preferably.) While that might seem different from the motivations I had when I was a kid making movies, it really isn’t. It’s always been about being acknowledged and appreciated. That’s something we all want. And it’s a worthy theme for a book, I think.
YABC: What scene in the book are you most proud of, and why?
Without giving away any spoilers, it’s probably the scene where Brewster comes to terms with some hard truths about his family. And he realizes that even though he’s not feeling the way he’s “supposed” to feel, that’s okay.
YABC: Thinking way back to the beginning, what’s the most important thing you’ve learned as a writer from then to now?
To trust my instincts. If what I’m writing excites me, then it’s going to excite certain readers. Maybe not everyone, but that’s fine. Writing for everyone is a waste of time. By indulging in certain idiosyncratic ideas, I can speak more closely to particular readers. That’s ultimately what I want when I’m reading a book, so it should always be what I’m focused on when I’m writing one.
YABC: What do you like most about the cover of the book?
I just adore how Chris Danger, the artist behind the cover, took my descriptions of the characters and various scenes/props and effortlessly wove them together. I’m still finding little easter eggs in the background that delight me.
YABC: What new release book are you looking most forward to in 2022?
I think it just came out, but Amy Sarig (A.S.) King’s new middle grade novel, ATTACK OF THE BLACK RECTANGLES, is one I really want to read, especially since it’s about an issue that’s of great urgency right now: censorship and book banning.
YABC: What’s a book you’ve recently read and loved?
It’s at least five years old, and everyone has probably already read it, but I only recently read Tiffany Jackson’s ALLEGEDLY. I would guess she probably had a lot of fun writing it, because it’s so involving and so delightfully devious. I look forward to reading more of her stuff.
YABC: What’s up next for you?
I’ve got a series of mysteries for younger kids coming out next year, and I have a few projects I’m in the middle of (both middle grade and YA) that will hopefully see the light of day in the next couple years.
YABC: Which was the most difficult or emotional scene to narrate?
Probably the one that describes the first screening of Brewster and his friends’ movie trailer. I’d spent an entire book describing the filming process, but now I had to describe the thing itself. I decided it was best to focus on a different perspective. And I’ll just leave it at that.
YABC: Which character gave you the most trouble when writing your latest book?
The main character, Brewster. In the beginning, he’s prickly. A bit anti-social. And that can immediately be a turn-off to readers. So I had to make sure his passion shone through. Because it’s hard not to be invested in a character when they’re really passionate about something. And as the book goes on, he becomes more endearing. Or, at least, that was the goal. We shall see…
YABC: What is the main message or lesson you would like your reader to remember from this book?
Family takes many forms, and as you grow older, you can be in control of what that means.
YABC: What would you say is your superpower?
Picking ripe avocados and knowing the perfect size Tupperware for leftovers.
YABC: Is there an organization or cause that is close to your heart?
Because of perpetual existential concerns, cancer research and environmental non-profits are always at the top of my list. But since I’m thinking about book censorship at that moment, I would ask that everyone be vocal (and vote) on a local level so we can stop the epidemic of book banning and censorship in this country.
YABC: What advice do you have for new writers?
Be patient. Be generous to other writers. And be open to criticism.
YABC: Is there anything that you would like to add?
I just want to encourage kids to support each other. It sounds like broad advice, but simply voicing encouragement and being there for your peers is what will help you all succeed in the long run. Sometimes we’re all too quiet and too timid in this regard. Myself included.
Aaron Starmer was born in northern California and raised in the suburbs of Syracuse, New York. Before pursuing writing full-time, he worked in New York City for over ten years as an editor for a travel bookseller and as an operations director for an African safari company. His middle grade and young adult novels have been translated into multiple foreign languages and have appeared on best of the year lists from Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, New York Public Library, YALSA, Bank Street College of Education, Chicago Public Library and School Library Journal. He lives in Vermont with his wife and two daughters.
Aaron Starmer
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Aaron Starmer (born 1976 in northern California) is an American author of young adult fiction novels, known for The Riverman Trilogy and Spontaneous.[1] As of June 2016, he was working on another novel, entitled Meme. In 2016, it was reported that Awesomeness Films had bought the rights to adapt Spontaneous into a movie of the same name, which was released in 2020.[2] He has also co-authored a book about camping along with Catharine Wells and Timothy Starmer.[3] Also in 2016, Starmer appeared at the annual Texas Book Festival.[4]
Contents
1 Biography
2 Reception
3 Books
4 References
5 External links
Biography
Starmer was born in northern California and raised in suburban Syracuse, New York, where he graduated from Fayetteville–Manlius High School.[5] He received a B.A. degree from Drew University and a Master of Arts degree from New York University. A longtime resident of Hoboken, New Jersey, he now lives in a former schoolhouse in northern Vermont with his wife and daughter.[6]
Reception
The Wall Street Journal named The Riverman, the first book of the Riverman Trilogy, one of the best books of 2014.[7] Brian Truitt, writing for USA Today, gave Spontaneous 3 out of 4 stars, writing that "...Starmer’s originality and well-paced plot give needed life to a story filled with random death."[8]
A Publishers Weekly reviewer lauded that Stramer, through Meme, "crafts a neo-noir-flavored revenge thriller that stabs at the heart of 21st-century isolation".[9][10]
Books
The Best in Tent Camping: New York State (Menasha Ridge Press, 2007)
Dweeb (Delacorte Press/Yearling Books, 2009)
The Only Ones (Delacorte/Yearling, 2011)
The Riverman Trilogy, which consists of the following three books:
The Riverman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2014)
The Whisper (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2015)
The Storyteller (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2016)
Spontaneous (Penguin Random House, 2016)
Meme (2020)[11]
The Locker 37 Series (Penguin Workshop)[12]
LOCKER 37: THE MAGIC ERASER (2020)
LOCKER 37: THE REWINDABLE CLOCK (2020)
LOCKER 37: THE RIDICULOUS AND WONDERFUL RAINBOW HAT (2020)
LOCKER 37: THE INTERDIMENSIONAL FISH STICKS (2020)
A Million Views (Penguin Workshop, 2022)[13]
October 30, 2022
‘A Million Views’: Aaron Starmer’s new middle grade novel about friendship
Author Aaron Starmer and the cover to his new book A Million Views.
Author Aaron Starmer and the cover to his new book A Million Views.
A new middle grade novel by Aaron Starmer, Waterbury Center, tells a heart-warming story of friendship and the pitfalls of navigating sixth grade. In “A Million Views,” 12-year-old Brewster Gaines prefers making videos for his YouTube channel to hanging out with other kids his age, none of whom seem to really get him. He feels lonely in his family, too, which always seems too busy for him. While other kids have family dinners every night, he’s used to eating Subway sandwiches alone in his room while working on his latest video.
But when Brewster sets a goal of filming a viral video that reaches a million views, he realizes he can’t do it alone. What begins as a 10-second clip featuring new girl Carly Lee quickly turns into an elaborate movie production with a crew of seven outsiders coming together over a common goal.
Skateboarding new girl and sudden ‘diva’ Carly, along with bossy producer Rosa, who’s funding the project, cosplayer Godfrey and his sister Izzy, special effects/animation whiz Harriet, hanger-on and ‘grunt’ Liam and the creative genius behind it all, Brewster, learn just as much about teamwork as they do about making movies. Brewster learns how to let go of some of his control and how to be a leader.
“Find a way” quickly becomes the crew’s mantra as they realize just how complicated making an epic fantasy movie trailer can be. With exploding aliens and battles between good and evil, the project becomes more about having fun with their new friends than going viral. The friends face obstacles along the way, including a strict teacher catching them in the act of filming in class, a dwindling budget, and, for Brewster, trouble at home. While the future of his family feels uncertain, he learns friendship can help him get through anything.
Set in an unnamed Vermont town, the novel references familiar Vermont locations and features Vermonters will recognize, including Higher Ground, Bread and Puppet Theater, creemees, witch windows and the reservoir. It also shows how hard it can be to be a new kid in a small town.
Starmer has written a dozen middle grade and young adult novels, including “Spontaneous,” which was recently made into a feature film. His latest middle grade novel, “A Million Views,” is available now from Penguin Workshop, an imprint of Penguin Random House. It’s a fun read for middle grade readers (elementary/middle school) and teaches how to be true to yourself, as well as the importance of friendship.
Aaron Starmer. Penguin Workshop, $17.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-593-38693-4
Gentle humor buoys personal growth in this character-driven novel of filmmaking and found family by Starmer (the Locker 37 series). Twelve-year-old Vermonter Brewster Gaines, serial loner and aspiring director, yearns to go viral with the You-Tube videos he creates. After a rare moment of cooperation with a classmate, skater Carly Lee, results in solid content, he realizes that it has the potential to garner his desired "million views"--if only it had the appropriate resources. Then Carly's privileged friend Rosa signs on as producer, ushering in a growing squad of collaborators, and the project is granted a $5,000 budget, adeadline, and a new life as trailer for yet-unmade film Carly Lee and the Land of Shadows. To the discomfort of control-conscious Brewster, the team grows to include costume-savvy Godfrey Tarkington and his production manager sister Isolde, half-Tanzanian special effects whiz Harriet Joseph, and eager assistant Liam Wentworth. Wryly narrated in the third person and filled with believable, intriguing characters, the narrative twines an in-depth look at the filmmaking process with a rift brewing in Brewster's largely detached family, astutely developing the filmmaker's relationship with his quietly supportive nonbinary sibling and his increasingly tight-knit crew. Most characters default to white. Ages 10-up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Oct.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"A Million Views." Publishers Weekly, vol. 269, no. 33, 8 Aug. 2022, p. 64. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A715674345/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=70971226. Accessed 20 Dec. 2022.
Starmer, Aaron A MILLION VIEWS Penguin Workshop (Children's None) $17.99 10, 4 ISBN: 978-0-593-38693-4
A tween filmmaker rallies classmates to create the next viral sensation.
Brewster Gaines loves movies. He may not have friends or an attentive teacher or even loving parents who are home every night, but at least Brewster has the movies. His quest to create a viral sensation dominates his every waking moment. When Brewster enlists energetic, photogenic new kid Carly for his latest 10-second video, he sets in motion a chain of events that lead the pair of tween filmmakers to join forces with a quintet of fellow young artists who band together to produce a trailer for an epic fantasy film. A simple day shoot turns into a weeklong endeavor with a budget, method actors, special effects, and craft services. They evolve into a group of friends, and as Brewster observes his new buddies relate to their families, he comes to understand his own has a handful of shortcomings he never before considered. Starmer skillfully explores his band of misfits: Every one of the seven tweens gets subtle character shadings that make for a memorably engaging group of characters. The humor is sharp, the story is well paced, and any reader who ever hoped to go viral will find plenty to enjoy here. The characters read as default White in the text; the cover art indicates some racial diversity.
A well-rounded, heartfelt tale of creativity and family. (Fiction. 9-14)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Starmer, Aaron: A MILLION VIEWS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A713722618/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c21735a3. Accessed 20 Dec. 2022.
STARMER, Aaron. A Million Views. 304p. Penguin Workshop. Oct. 2022. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9780593386934.
Gr 4-6--Twelve-year-old Brewster Gaines is an aspiring YouTube star. While he doesn't really have friends or a close-knit family, he does have his phone, a dated MacBook, and "a willingness to try." With every short video he creates and posts, he dreams of reaching a million views, though he's never come close. When two classmates approach him with an idea to film a trailer for a movie yet to be created, Brewster is confused, frustrated, and excited. As the breadth of the project becomes evident, more classmates are added to the movie-making crew. Unfortunately, these one-dimensional characters are defined almost exclusively by their roles in the production. There's the aspiring movie star who must be kept happy; the theatrical family that loves cosplay; the stand-offish producer who's funding the project; and so on. Brewster's older sibling, Jade, identifies as nonbinary, and while it's a welcome inclusion, it's unfortunate that Jade is not a fully fleshed-out character. As the plot progresses, Brewster comes to understand more about friendship and the workings of his own family. VERDICT Readers who can make it past the slow set-up may enjoy the snappy dialogue and the insider's look at how movies are made. An additional purchase.--Lindsay Loup
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Loup, Lindsay. "STARMER, Aaron. A Million Views." School Library Journal, vol. 68, no. 11, Nov. 2022, p. 60. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A724886667/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=dc744727. Accessed 20 Dec. 2022.
Meme
Aaron Starmer. Dutton, $17.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-7352-3192-4
Starmer (Spontaneous) crafts a neo-noirflavored revenge thriller that stabs at the heart of 21st-century isolation. Mutdered by ex-girlfriend Meeka and her three teenage compattiots, Cole lies buried in a 100-acre Vermont backyard. After Cole began threatening violence against his former flame and her friends, Meeka, together with Holly, Logan, and Grayson, did what they felt was necessary to keep themselves safe. Though the three filmed their confession ("He had access to guns. He was great at hiding things") on longunused phones now entombed alongside Cole, things unravel quickly when a meme makes the rounds at school--one featuring a photograph that could only have come from one of the devices. Is one of the group trying to torture the others, or is Cole not as dead as assumed? Starmer swipes at what white privilege, toxic masculinity, and lonely anger can produce in the internet's dark corners; though a few ends remain loose and the social commentary isn't always incisive, a tense, tevolving first-person narrative propels the reader through an absorbing scheme-gone-wrong mystery. Ages 14--up. Agent: Michael Bourret. Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Sept.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 PWxyz, LLC
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"Meme." Publishers Weekly, vol. 267, no. 31, 3 Aug. 2020, p. 61. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A632374826/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e932ae3f. Accessed 20 Dec. 2022.
Starmer, Aaron MEME Dutton (Teen None) $17.99 9, 8 ISBN: 978-0-7352-3192-4
Four high school seniors take matters into their own hands when one of their friends becomes dangerously unhinged.
It starts with bad-boy Cole’s murder and secret burial in a grave that will soon be covered by Vermont’s winter snow. This is the final step in Logan, Meeka, Holly, and Grayson’s solution to Cole’s increasingly violent threats toward his ex-girlfriend, Meeka. The friends believe that killing Cole was the only way to stay safe, to prevent something terrible from happening to them or others. And to ensure none of them would betray the rest, they record a video confession on old phones they were no longer using which they bury with Cole. But a few days later their faces are all over social media, plastered on a new meme based on a screenshot from their video confession. But how was the picture leaked if their phones are as dead and buried as Cole? Did one of them betray the group, or is Cole somehow still alive? Self-serving, unsympathetic characters struggle with suspicion, paranoia, and guilt throughout this taut psychological thriller about the dangers of the internet and the alt-right movement, but the attempt to engage with a promising thematic core is as superficial as the overall character development. All characters are assumed White apart from Meeka, who is adopted and ambiguously cued as a person of color.
An unconvincing, skin-deep psychological thriller. (Thriller. 14-18)
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"Starmer, Aaron: MEME." Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2020, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A629261296/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b6407d20. Accessed 20 Dec. 2022.