Catching The Crown:The Source for Pageant Competition
The only up-to-date pageant guidebook on the market written by a former Miss USA.
“Catching the Crown” is available now at www.amazon.com.
After her successful reign as Miss USA 1994, Lu uses her extensive experience as a titleholder, pageant coach, and judge to help you understand the complex world of pageants. Catching the Crown: The Source for Pageant Competition covers everything from preparation, to the big night of competition. Lu even includes personal stories, and pictures from her exciting year as Miss USA. She had the dream, conquered it, and now shows you how to “Catch the Crown.”
What People Are Saying…
“As a former Miss USA, I can say Lu’s book Catching the Crown was an immense help to me. It was the perfect way to get first hand advice on how to win a pageant. It’s an easy read, and motivates you to WIN! I highly recommend it.”
– Kandace Krueger Matthews, MISS USA 2001
“I was there the night Lu won. Her poise, personality, elegance, and beauty were so impressive there was no doubt in my mind. Read her book Catching the Crown, and find out her secrets to success in the pageant world.”
– Dayanara Torres, MISS UNIVERSE 1993
“If you want to win a pageant, you must read Catching the Crown. Lu shows you easy, and proven ways to get the judges to pick you as the winner.”
– Carl Dunn, CEO, Pageantry Magazine
“Lu’s advice is inspirational, practical, detailed, and concise. Catching the Crown should be in your career kit.”
– Gerdeen Dyer, Journalist, founder of www.pageant.com
A PNB review
Reviewed by Cilla Rokni
OK, so the PNB guidelines say a reviewer is supposed to judge a book “strictly on its merits.” She’s not supposed to care about who wrote it. But the fact that the author of this book is Lu Parker — not Roseanne or Richard Simmons or Newt Gingrich — made a big difference to me. Ms. Parker is a former Miss USA, a former finalist at Miss Universe. If I were going to take anybody’s advice about pageant competition, it would be hers.
She imparts her advice very ably. This is a straightforward, well-organized, practical manual, written in the style of a sympathetic big sister. The material is presented chronologically, with sections about becoming a beauty queen, being a beauty queen and adjusting to life as a former beauty queen.
For handy reference, there are scores of individual topics, marked with prominent headings. And there is an excellent table of contents, so you can quickly find out such things as how to fill out an application, how to organize your time and how to cover your rear end (literally).
The only thing missing from “Catching the Crown” is some really nasty pageant gossip. Surely a woman who has been where Ms. Parker has been could tell some riveting stories, and I would die to hear every one of them. Who was the hottest guy she met? Who was the most treacherous woman? But throughout the book, Ms. Parker advises girls to act prudently and speak carefully, and she follows her own advice. She’s a lady, and ladies don’t write catty books.
If I were an aspiring beauty queen, this book would be in my bag, or maybe under my pillow. Actually, I have no interest in competing, but “Catching the Crown” gave me new insight into what makes pageant women tick. And now that I’ve read her book, I can’t help liking Lu Parker. As beautiful as she is, I like her!
Cilla Rokni is a free-lance writer and sometime PNB staffer. She has promised to review Newt Gingrich’s pageant book, if he ever writes one.
