Choice Book Report 4

I read the book "Watching Me" by Lauren Barnholdt. This book was about a girl named Ally. Ally is about to go into her freshman year at Syracuse College in New York. Life seemed perfect. Her best friend Grant was going to be going to school with her. Plus she had a basketball star boyfriend. The only problem was that her boyfriend Corey was going to college all the way in Miami, Florida. She really needs a distraction from Corey. Lucky for her, this year is a special year for freshman at Syracuse College. The reason is that they all have a chance to be on the reality show "In the House." The show is about when they get a group of about six freshman at a college and put them in a house together. Ally really wants to get on the show, so she goes to the try outs for it. The night after she auditioned, the producers called back saying that Ally got in. It took some convincing of her parents, but she ended up doing it.
When Ally gets to the house she meets all of her roommates. There is James, the “white gangster.” Simone, the “shy one.” Jasmine, the “exotic one.” And then there’s Drew, the “preppy guy.” She almost immediately gets along with all of the people in the house, except James. She doesn’t like his player ways. She especially gets along with Drew. She tries to keep her distance though because of her boyfriend Corey.
Ally is feeling really lonely. She feels like no one will talk to her because of the camera that has to follow her everywhere to film the show. Everyone is watching her all the time and she doesn’t like it. Her only escape from the cameras is when she goes to class because they aren’t allowed to film in there. One of the classes she takes is photography. On her first day in that class they have to practice putting film in the dark room so the pictures can develop. Ally is terrified of the dark. So when it was her turn to feed the film in the canister she drops it. When she hasn’t come out for a while the teacher checks in on her and humiliates her in front of the whole class! But because of this a girl named Katie comforts Ally and they become friends. Ally doesn’t know if Katie is really her friend or is using her to be on the show. Either way she doesn’t care. She feels so lonely right now that she would be okay if Katie was just using her to get some publicity.
The rest of the book is just about complications with her boyfriend, friends, school, and just life in general. Read the book to find out what happens!

The main character in Watch Me is a girl named Ally. Three words I would use to describe Ally is dependent, vulnerable, and confident.
The reason why I would describe Ally as dependent is because she can’t do anything alone. It’s like she had to have someone by her at all times. Like when she had to do a photography project for school she wouldn’t do it unless her friend Grant went with her to do it. She even said it herself in the book that she didn’t even like going to the bathroom at school alone and always had to have a girl go with her. Even if she didn’t like the girl! Also she couldn’t feed the film in the reel in the dark room without Drew helping her step by step. It is proven in the book that Ally is not very independent and is always seeking help and attention from others, so that’s why I think she is dependent versus independent.
I would also describe Ally as vulnerable because with her boyfriend Corey gone, she is starting to develop feeling for Drew. Every time she is near him she talks about how badly she wants to kiss him. I think that would all be different if Corey were at her college. She is vulnerable because she cant last two months being away from Corey with out trying to kiss another guy. I think that that proves that Ally is vulnerable and wants somebody to love her.
The last word I would describe Ally as is confident. She says in the book when she “knows” she is looking cute. And for every project that she does she is confident that she will be getting a good grade because she spent a lot of time on it. I think Ally is confident also because when she was trying out for “In the House” she said that confidence is key to the producers. And at the auditions when one girl was bugging her, she went and told her what she was doing that was bugging Ally. Ally thought that she wasn’t going to get on the show because of it, but she did it anyway with her esteem high. I think that proves that Ally is confident because she doesn’t care what other people think.