CELEBRITY READ
Supermodel Tyra Banks first novel Modelland is a fantasy novel set in a modelling academy. The summary says: " No one gets in without being asked. And with her untamable hair, large forehead, and gawky body, Tookie De La Creme isn't expecting an invitation. Modelland - the exclusive, mysterious place on top of the mountain - never dares to make an appearance in her dreams. But someone has plans for Tookie. Before she can blink her mismatched eyes, Tookie finds herself in the very place every girl in the world obsesses about. And three unlikely girls have joined her. Only seven extraordinary young women become Intoxibellas each year. Famous. Worshipped. Magical. What happens to those who don't make it? Well, no one really speaks of that. Some things are better left unsaid. Thrown into a world where she doesn't seem to belong, Tookie glimpses a future that could be hers - if she survives the beastly Catwalk Corridor and terrifying Thigh-High Boot Camp. Or could it? Dark rumours like silken threads swirl around the question of why Tookie and her new friends were selected . . . and the shadows around Modelland hide sinister secrets." Modelland is out in September. Banks is working on the next book in the teen series.
The Tyra Banks empire rolls on. The supermodel and host of America's Next Top Model is set to write a three-book young adult fantasy series for Delacorte Press. The first book Modelland is due out mid 2011 and tells the story of a teen girl who is accepted into an academy for Intoxibellas - the most exceptional models known to humankind. "It's for all the girls and guys who want a lot more FANTASY in their lives ... and some fierceness and magic, romance and mystery, crazy and wild adventures, and yeah, some danger too," Banks writes on her website. "I think Modelland is going to really touch the dreamer in all of us, whether you're aged anywhere from 8 to 80. Every girl in the world wants to go there because it's where 'Intoxibellas' are trained. Intoxibellas are drop-dead beautiful, kick-butt fierce and, yeah, maybe they have some powers too. . . . The story follows a teen girl and her friends who find themselves magically transported to Modelland, even though they're really not supposed to be there."