Sean Rosen Is Not for Sale

March 1, 2014
A fledgling screenwriter, podcast creator and potential entertainment-industry innovator, 13-year-old Sean is full of ideas. Similar in format to Sean's first appearance (I Represent Sean Rosen, 2013), which detailed Sean's exploits as he fielded studio offers on his screenplay, this sequel continues his adventures with the Hollywood industry. Sean is determined to gain the attention of Hank Hollywood, his moniker for the chairman of an influential entertainment company. However, an attempt to pique Hank's interest in Sean's secret, clever new concept for the industry yields unexpected results. Sean is soon mired in a studio bidding war and becomes the target of intrigue as a mysterious third party investigates his activities. Amid the Hollywood drama, Sean must contend with friends' dating dilemmas, a near first kiss and a calamitous petsitting job. Baron adeptly conveys Sean's perspicacity in his droll first-person narrative. Sean's experiences with the stratagems of the Hollywood executives and revelations about his grandfather's misdeeds help Sean define his feelings about trust and friendship. When a surprise visitor arrives at Sean's school retreat, readers can be confident that his new maturity will enable Sean to cope with the bittersweet truth delivered by an industry expert. Readers will relish his bravado, wit and creativity as Sean emerges from his encounters wiser yet still determined to follow his dreams. (Fiction. 11-14)

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April 1, 2014

Gr 5 Up-Sean Rosen is back. After his first bid to sell his big idea was unsuccessful, he and his fictional agent Dan Welch are working to get his screenplay submitted to a major production company. Since his last attempt to sell the project, some of the players in Hollywood have changed jobs and are now engaged in a bidding war. While all of this plays out, Sean decides to take a trip to visit his grandmother in an effort to finish writing the script for A Week with Your Grandparents himself. When he gets home, he finds the stakes have been raised and really doesn't know whom to trust. To complicate matters, Sean has to juggle his friendships and schoolwork and take care of the neighbor's dog. While he is away on his school camping trip, however, the truth finally comes out and Sean's deceptions unravel. The protagonist's creativity shines through each chapter. When he discovers a family history of deception, though, it really gives him an opportunity to rethink what he's doing and the lies he's been telling. This is a fitting second installment to a delightful series and it leaves the story wide open for a third volume.-Wayne R. Cherry, Jr., First Baptist Academy Library, Houston, TX

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2014
After declining a Hollywood studio's offer to buy his movie idea (because they wouldn't let him write it himself), thirteen-year-old Sean (I Represent Sean Rosen) starts working on the screenplay. But temptation to sell looms as his fictional "manager" triggers a bidding war between studios. Sean's narration is consistently clever and humorous, but extraneous moments make this sequel's plot feel unfocused.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)