MMGM- Worldwide Crush

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Nilsen, Kristin. Worldwide Crush
July 11, 2023 by SparkPress
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Seventh grader Millie has an enormous crush on the pop singer Rory Calhoun, who is fifteen. She knows all the lyrics to his songs, follows him on social media, and keeps a notebook of random facts about him. She knows it's unrealistic to think that someday he might be her boyfriend, but... is it? In the interviews in the Teen Talk magazines she reads, he mentions that it is so hard to find a girl with whom he can really connnect, and the share so many interests! She even writes "Mrs. Rory Calhoun" on her notebook until her friend Shauna points out that "Nobody changes their name anymore" and "nobody uses 'Mrs.' anymore...It's nobody's business if you're married or not." (I love you, Shauna, and you are 100% correct!) Millie is also busy helping take care of her young brother Billy, who has just started kindergarten, and dealing with her grandmother, Cheryl, who is living with the familky while her retirement condo is being renovated. When Rory announces that he will be doing a US tour, it's all anyone at school can talk about, and when it turns out that he will actually be coming to Minneapolis, Millie and Shauna KNOW that the have to go to the concert. Millie has it all planned out. Tickets go on sale at ten in the morning when she is at school, but she gives her mother very strict instructions to buy the tickets right at ten. Of course, her mother has an emergency at work (she's a nurse), and by the time the two try to buy tickets, they are sold out. Millie is crushed. Eventually, her mother manages to get tickets, but Rory cancels the engagement because his mother has a horrible anxiety attack. When he feels he needs to cancel the entire tour to go back home to Bodega Bay, California, Millie can't believe her luck. She has convinced her family that she is really interested in whales, and they have booked a beach house in Rory's home town at the same time that he is there! Not only that, but when she and her mother are in town, they see Rory in a store, and pretend that he is Millie's brother to keep him away from people who are not respecting his privacy. In return, he sends them tickets to his private concert, and Millie gets several moments with her idol. Will she grow up and become a marine biologist so she can live on the beach with Rory? Probably not, but the author, who based this book on her own crush on Shaun Cassidy in the 1970s, leaves us with the feeling that maybe it's not as long a shot as we had all previously thought. 

Strengths: This makes some very good points about the purpose of teen crushes, and addresses the fact that the intensity of the emotions is very, very real. There are not a lot of books that deal with the intense draw of celebrities; the only book I can think of is the ten year old This is What Happy Looks like by Jennifer E. Smith, and that wasn't as detailed as Worldwide Crush. This would make a great mother-daughter (or grandmother-granddaughter!) book club choice! There are plenty of Easter eggs sprinkled throughout, the the names of classmates (Randi Gibb, Cassidy David); Millie's family lives on Laura Lane in Walnut Grove Estates, and there's a delightful attempt by Millie to read The Hobbit because Rory says it's his favorite book. 
Weaknesses: Millie goes with her mother to a church for a You, Me, and Puberty class that is rather cringey. I didn't enjoy those sorts of scenes when I was in middle school, although I think that my students will probably find it less cringey than I did! 
What I really think: Since my I took my own daughter to a David Cassidy concert when she was in middle school, and she cried hysterically after going up to the stage and touching his hand when he sang Cherish... yeah. This happens. I think many of us, if we delve into our long repressed pasts, have similar stories about day dreams we had about celebrities. After all, wouldn't Lance Kerwin have made a great Gilbert Blythe in a made for television movie where Anne was played by... me? Definitely trying to find a prebind of this, and may go ahead and buy it in paperback, since my readers who love Nelson's WISH books will adore this. 

The author doesn't seem to have a Twitter account, but is on Instagram with the fabulous Pop Culture Preservation Society (https://www.instagram.com/popculturepreservationsociety) and has a podcast that looks very fascinating!