On Camera: The Story of a Child Actor

An engrossing collaboration, this is a photoessay introduction to the experiences of a child-actor named Philip, age 8. With a sort of ""day-in-the-life'' immediacy, the Hewetts follow Philip and his family as he pursues a busy schedule of acting classes, auditions, visits to his agent, working with a children's repertory theater, a job on a commercial and, of course, school. The highlight of the book is Philip's audition for and securing the young lead in the TV production of Beverly Cleary's The Mouse and the Motorcycle. The black-and-white photos and text are informative, and the narrative is smooth, lively and suspenseful. Similar in tone to Jill Krementz's A Very Young . . . books, this one shows that hard work and determination are constants in an actor's lifeeven for a child. Ages 7-10. (October)