Foreign Exposure: The Social Climber Abroad

FOREIGN EXPOSURE: THE SOCIAL CLIMBER ABROAD is a continuation of the adventures of Mimi Schulman, first introduced in The Rise and Fall of a 10th Grade Social Climber and then appearing again in All Q, No A: More Tales of a 10th-Grade Social Climber. The first two books were hilariously excellent, favorites of mine, so I had high expectations for this book--and I was not disappointed! It's another hilariously written adventure full of awesome characters (though I missed my favorite characters from New York City while Mimi was in Europe). Mimi at first sets off to spend the summer with her mother, but her time in Berlin is not what she expects. She wasn't looking forward to being forced to learn German, but it's better than her mother's new plans--she's gotten Mimi a babysitting job. Mimi is going to babysit for evil eight-year-old twins whose mother is a demanding, overbearing woman much like Mimi's own mother. Mimi has no time to herself, no time to enjoy the city at all, and, when her mother refuses to listen, she escapes it. Mimi runs off to London, looking forward to spending the rest of her summer with Lily Morton, one of her best friends from New York. At first, London seems better than she could ever dream: she's got Lily around instead of her mother, she's staying with a wonderful family in their gigantic house, she's in an exciting city, and she's got a job at a popular celebrity magazine. Of course, nothing goes as well as planned, and nothing is as easy as it seems for Mimi. I especially missed Sam Greckman in this story; he makes only brief appearances, and he's my favorite character from the first two books! All of the characters, are, of course, wonderfully written, though. Despite the absence of my favorite characters, Mimi's adventures in Europe are entertaining, and, as usual, left me wanting more from the brilliant duo of Lauren Mechling and Laura Moser! Reviewed by: Jocelyn Pearce