''Modelland'' is a young adult novel written by model
Tyra Banks
Tyra Lynne Banks (born December 4, 1973), also known as BanX, is an American television personality, model, producer, writer, and actress. Born in Inglewood, California, she began her career as a model at the age of 15, and was the first Africa ...
and
ghostwriter
A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often h ...
Michael Salort, published in 2011.
Plot summary
A young, awkward-looking girl by the name of Tookie De La Crème is invited to attend the legendary boarding school Modelland for a chance to join the Intoxibellas, the most celebrated models in all the world. Along the way she meets a plus-sized girl named Dylan, a girl named Shiraz, and an albino girl named Piper. Together they form a strong bond as they face the trials and tribulations of Modelland and endeavor to find the truth about why they were all accepted to it...and why a mysterious impostor seems to want nothing more than for them to be gone.
Reception
''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...
'' considered the book "overlong", "
campy
Camp is an aesthetic style and sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its bad taste and ironic value. Camp aesthetics disrupt many of modernism's notions of what art is and what can be classified as high art by inverting aes ...
and warped", and a "nonstop barrage of surrealism and wackiness", but conceded that it could serve as a
guilty pleasure
A guilty pleasure is something, such as a film, a television program, or a piece of music, that one enjoys despite understanding that it is not generally held in high regard, or is seen as unusual or weird. For example, a person may secretly like ...
America's Next Top Model
''America's Next Top Model'' (abbreviated ''ANTM'' and ''Top Model'') is an American reality television series and interactive competition in which a number of aspiring models compete for the title of "America's Next Top Model" and a chance to b ...
'', but criticized the book's "inner conflict of (...) purpose", and described it as "tacky, predictable and superficial" and "exhausting" to read,Modelland: Inside the Creative Mind of Tyra Banks by John Fischer, at '' Stony Brook Press''; published April 7, 2013; retrieved July 16, 2016 while ''
the Georgia Straight
''The Georgia Straight'' is a free Canadian weekly news and entertainment newspaper published in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Overstory Media Group. Often known simply as ''The Straight'', it is delivered to newsboxes, post-secondary schools, ...
the Georgia Straight
''The Georgia Straight'' is a free Canadian weekly news and entertainment newspaper published in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Overstory Media Group. Often known simply as ''The Straight'', it is delivered to newsboxes, post-secondary schools, ...
''; published September 29, 2011; retrieved July 16, 2016 ''
Bitch
Bitch may refer to:
* A female dog or other canine
* Bitch (slang), a vulgar slur for a human female
Bitch or bitches may also refer to:
Arts and media Film and television
* ''The Bitch'' (film), a 1979 film starring Joan Collins
* ''Bitc ...
'' noted that although ''Modelland'' "promotes self-esteem and confidence in girls, it is less than empowering since it is all to a depressing
consumerist
''Consumerist'' (also known as ''The Consumerist'') was a non-profit consumer affairs website owned by Consumer Media LLC, a subsidiary of '' Consumer Reports'', with content created by a team of full-time reporters and editors. The site's foc ...
end", calling it "a nonsensical, nightmarish,
acid trip
A psychedelic experience (known colloquially as a trip) is a temporary altered state of consciousness induced by the consumption of a psychedelic substance (most commonly LSD, mescaline, psilocybin mushrooms, or DMT). For example, an acid tri ...
that seemed like it would never end" with "more made-up words and terms than a
Klingon
The Klingons ( ; Klingon: ''tlhIngan'' ) are a fictional species in the science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''.
Developed by screenwriter Gene L. Coon in 1967 for the original ''Star Trek'' (''TOS'') series, Klingons were swarthy humanoids c ...
Banks has said that the inspiration for ''Modelland'' happened one day while she was driving down on a street in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. She had been thinking about why supermodels are "super" and the idea of ''Modelland'' came to mind.
She wrote on her website, talking about the idea for the book:
"I’m always dreaming up ideas, like when the words “modeling boarding school” floated into my head while I was driving on the FDR highway in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. I wrote them down in a little notepad and, five years, thousands of pages and dozens of writing getaways later, I finally get to call myself the author of ''Modelland.''"
References in Other Media
In ''America's Next Top Model'' (season 17), Banks instructs the four remaining contestants in episode "Tyson Beckford" to perform as characters in the novel, in a short film based on the book, with part 1 of the film broadcast in that episode, part 2 was broadcast in the season finale.
In May 2021, Conor Lastowka and
Michael J. Nelson
Michael John Nelson (born October 11, 1964) is an American comedian and writer, most known for his work on the television series '' Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K''). Nelson was the head writer of the series for most of the show's origi ...
selected this as their next book for analysis on the podcast ''
372 Pages We'll Never Get Back
''372 Pages We'll Never Get Back'' is a podcast series created by Michael J. Nelson (of '' Mystery Science Theater 3000'' and ''RiffTrax'' fame) and Conor Lastowka (author of ''The Pole Vault Champion of the Universe'' and writer for ''RiffTrax'') ...
'', a podcast dedicated to books the hosts do not expect to like.
Sequel
''Modelland'' is the first installment of a proposed trilogy. However, no news has come out about a sequel.