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Seeing Emily. by Joyce Lee Wong. 2007. Abrams. 288 pages. ISBN: 9780810992580

Emily is a Chinese-American  teenager who is an artist, a good student, and a hard worker in her parents' Chinese restaurant. Though her immigrant parents don't approve of her dating, wearing lipstick, or defying their rules, when Emily meets Nick, she begins trying on different identities and getting a feel for life as Nick's girlfriend. She likes how it feels when he kisses her, until she realizes Nick only sees her ethnicity, not who she truly is. 

The book jacket makes it sound like this is a story about a prim and proper young woman who throws caution to the wind and becomes a rebel in order to impress her boyfriend. The story inside the cover is quite different. This is not a wild romance, or a tale of teenage rebellion. Rather, it is a story about identity, and about coming of age as one's true self. At the start of the book, Emily is struggling to create an "interior self-portrait" for her art class. She is meant to draw an interior space that represents who she is, but everything she draws comes out darker than she expects. As the story progresses, Emily explores that darker side of her personality, not as a meaningless demonstration of her independence in the face of strict parents,  but as a personal journey of discovery. Emily ends up exactly where she belongs, in the end, but not until she has satisfied her curiosity about those sides of her personality she has not yet uncovered.  

I appreciate the subtlely of Wong's style. She addresses many issues in the three sections that comprise Emily's story, but she doesn't draw clear conclusions for the reader. Nick's behavior toward Emily - and his father's reception of her - are certainly examples of pretty egregious racism, but the author lets the reader figure that out based on context clues. She lets us understand, from Nick's words and Emily's reaction to them, that she is uncomfortable in the relationship, and that his behavior is unacceptable, but she doesn't give a lecture to the reader. This kind of open-endedness makes this a great book for discussion about cultural identity, and about the subtleties of human relationships that sometimes make it hard for girls to realize when they're in a bad one. Some readers might be turned off by the uncertainty of not being told what to think about various events. Myself, I had some trouble with the ending, which, while happy, does not tie things up that neatly or satisfyingly. Still, I can't imagine a different ending working better. Wong remains true to her style all the way through her book, and what emerges is a portrait of one girl doing her best to grow up into the person she is meant to be. 

Seeing Emily will appeal to female young adult readers from all backgrounds, especially those who feel at odds with their parents' ideals, and those who have been in relationships with boys who don't really see their true selves. It would also make a great addition to high school poetry lessons. There is a lot of beautiful figurative language throughout the book that would provide interesting opportunities for analysis, while also allowing students to enjoy a relevant and interesting story.

I borrowed Seeing Emily from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Like Bug Juice on a Burger. by Julie Sternberg. April 2, 2013. Amulet Books. 176 pages. ISBN: 9781419701900

This short novel in verse is the sequel to Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie. Eleanor, now fully adjusted to life with a new babysitter, has been given an unexpected treat by her grandmother - the opportunity to go to sleep-away camp at Camp Wallamwahpuck, where her mother went as a little girl. Eleanor has heard from her friend Katie that camp is all about eating candy, riding horses, and jumping on a floating trampoline, so it comes as a bit of a shock when her camp experience is somewhat different. The food is gross, and candy is forbidden. There is a floating trampoline, but Eleanor has to wear a life jacket if she wants to go anywhere near it. Even nighttime sounds upset Eleanor. All she wants is to go home! But through her friendship with a girl named Joplin, and her connection to a goat she has secretly named Cornelius, Eleanor learns that though she might not love camp, maybe she can still make the best of it.


Like the first book about Eleanor, this story focuses on the complicated emotions kids sometimes experience in new situations. Though it might sound like Eleanor is a pessimist, the story is not a depressing meditation on the woes of going to camp. Rather, it is an exploration of healthy ways to handle unfamiliar and uncomfortable situations. Especially noteworthy is the way the adults in Eleanor's life take her feelings seriously, but also give her little boosts of encouragement to help her get through the difficulties she faces at camp. Kids are comforted when they know they have supportive adults to turn to, and this book is a great reminder that kids are never alone with their feelings of frustration or confusion, and that there is usually something to be gained from every new experience, no matter how unpleasant it seems.


Julie Sternberg does a nice job of getting inside the nine-year-old mind. The passages describing Eleanor's humiliation about being in the lowest swimming category of anyone in her cabin reminded me of similar experiences from my own summer as a nine-year-old camper who could not swim. Sternberg understands how little things can seem big to a child, and her story manages to validate the feelings of kids in those situations, and to provide advice on how best to survive them.


Though it is a sequel, Like Bug Juice on a Burger will stands on its own. Nervous new campers who sympathize with Eleanor might also enjoy Justin Case: Shells, Smells, and the Horrible Flip-Flops of Doom by Rachel Vail and Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters by Lenore Look. Eleanor is also sure to become a new friend to readers who love Clementine. Like Bug Juice on a Burger is a great follow-up to Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie, and I hope we'll see Eleanor conquer more of her fears in future stories!

I received a digital ARC of Like Bug Juice on a Burger from Amulet Books via NetGalley. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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My Summer of Pink and Green. by Lisa Greenwald. March 2013. Amulet Books. 272 pages. ISBN: 9781419704130

In My Summer of Pink and Green, the sequel to 2009’s My Life in Pink and Green, Lucy Desberg’s family finally begins work on the eco-spa that will attract new business to their aging pharmacy. Lucy is excited, mostly because the eco-spa was her idea, and she is anxious to expand her business as a makeup artist. Unfortunately, what no one has told Lucy is that the family is bringing in a consultant to oversee the spa’s grand opening, and that Lucy’s main role in the entire process will be to hang out with Bevin, the annoying daughter of the business’s chief investor. Lucy also has other things to deal with - her sister came home from college with a new boyfriend, her best friend, Sunny, is all wrapped up in her new boyfriend to the point that she can’t talk about anything else, and Sunny’s brother, Yamir, on whom Lucy has a crush, seems to like Lucy one minute and forget she exists the next. It’s going to be a long summer!

My feelings about Lisa Greenwald’s books have run the gamut over the past few years. I loved Sweet Treats and Secret Crushes, but felt lukewarm about Reel Life Starring Us. My Life in Pink and Green fell squarely in the middle of the spectrum, and now My Summer of Pink and Green is leaning more closely to the love I felt for Sweet Treats and Secret Crushes. I read the first book about Lucy not long ago, right after I received the digital ARC of this book from NetGalley, so Lucy has been fresh in my mind, and I like where this second book takes her character.

Lucy is a go-getter and an optimist, and it is undoubtedly her determination that saves the family from financial ruin in the first book. I completely understood her indignation, therefore, when most of her responsibilities are taken away in this sequel. I think the entire story explores something interesting that we don’t get to see very often in children’s literature. What happens to kids like Lucy who take on a lot of adult responsibilities when the adults in their lives get it together and don’t need their help anymore? Of course, Lucy should be a child and hang out with Bevin and have fun. Any adult reading this book will easily see that the responsibilities placed on Lucy’s shoulders were perhaps not fair to her, but how does that same situation feel to a child who felt so needed and now feels left out? Lucy’s family is very much in a time of transition, and this book deals so realistically and authentically with the emotions a child might feel.

This book also deals with a lot of other common tween problems - boys, best friends, and cruelty. What I like about Greenwald’s handling of these subjects is that Lucy plays the role of both good guy and bad guy. She’s not blameless in the rift between herself and Sunny or herself and Yamir, nor is she completely kind and friendly to Bevin all the time. She’s a normal kid learning to navigate not just new family dynamics, but new developments in her friendships as well.

My Summer of Pink and Green will appeal first and foremost to readers who have read the first book and want to know how things turn out for Lucy and the eco-spa. It’s also a good read for fans of Leslie Margolis’s series of earnest middle school tales beginning with Boys Are Dogs, and readers who have enjoyed Every Soul a Star and other books by Wendy Mass.

I received a digital ARC of My Summer of Pink and Green from Amulet Books via NetGalley.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Fake Mustache. by Tom Angleberger. April 1, 2012. Amulet Books. 208 pages. ISBN: 9781419701

From the author of The Strange Case of Origami Yoda and Darth Paper Strikes Back comes an even stranger story. Fake Mustache is, as the subtitle tell us, the story of “How Jodie O'Rodeo and Her Wonder Horse (and Some Nerdy Kid) Saved the U.S. Presidential Election from a Mad Genius Criminal Mastermind.” “Some Nerdy Kid” is Lenny Flem, Jr., the main character of the story, whose best friend, Casper, buys a fake mustache and uses it to brainwash the entire country into committing robberies, allowing him to buy a company, and permitting him to run for president. Only Lenny, who knows the mustache is fake because he watched Casper buy it, is immune to the brainwashing, but Casper knows he’s onto him and will stop at nothing to keep him from foiling Casper’s plans for world domination. With the help of TV star Jodie O’Rodeo, Lenny must find a way to escape the henchmen Casper has on his tail and unmask his friend as the fraud he really is.

Though Tom Angleberger seems to share a similar sense of humor with authors like Andrew Clements and Louis Sachar, this book is by far the most surreal and unusual any of the three has written. The Origami Yoda books dabble in the bizarre, but stick mostly to realism. This book deviates from reality almost immediately and just keeps revealing new layers of wackiness. And it is fantastic. Lenny is the ultimate underdog, forced to become a hero by virtue of the fact that everyone else around him has been brainwashed. Jodie O’Rodeo is instantly recognizable as a take-off on the plethora of Disney channel personalities, especially Hannah Montana, but she’s more than just a pretty face, even if there is a tiny hint of romance between her and Lenny. Ultimately, what works the best is the fact that every aspect of this story is driven by the actions of kids. The villain and heroes are all kids, and adults become victims and pawns in Casper’s plot, but they’re no help at all when it comes to saving the day. Sometimes the absence of adults in children’s books can be annoying, especially when it becomes an obvious gimmick to further the plot, but in this case, the lack of adult involvement serves to empower Lenny, who might otherwise never have the chance to become a hero.

This book is sure to be a hit with kids who have enjoyed the Origami Yoda books, and those who like their reading material to make them laugh. It’s also kind of a fun tie-in for the upcoming Presidential election, even if doesn’t have much to do with the actual election process. The short chapters will help even reluctant readers stick with the story, and I think girls and boys will both find plenty to enjoy as the adventure unfolds. But, as Levar Burton always said, you don’t have to take my word for it. Colby Sharp has compiled a list of his students’ responses to the book over at his blog. Judging from these responses, it looks like another hit for Tom Angleberger! I recommend borrowing this zany book from your local library as soon as possible. In the meantime, check out the trailer below for a sneak peek:

I borrowed Fake Mustache from my local public library. 
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The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook. by Joanne Rocklin. April 1, 2012. Amulet Books. 240 pages. ISBN:  9781419701924

Oona and her five-year-old brother Fred are still mourning the loss of their father, who died of cancer, when their cat, Zook (named for his love of zucchini) also falls ill. Determined to protect her brother from any more sadness, Oona tells him that cats have nine lives, and Zook is only on his fifth. Continuing a tradition begun by their father, Oona begins using rebuses to tell Fred stories about Zook's other lives. In the meantime, Oona struggles to deal with the fact that she may have stolen Zook, and from none other than the man her mother has just begun dating.

I am not a cat person, but I loved One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street so much that I knew I wanted to read Joanne Rocklin's next book, regardless of the subject matter. The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook, like Orange Street, demonstrates Rocklin's unique way with language that sets her books apart from other contemporary middle grade novels. In Orange Street, it was her use of different points of view that made the story so strong and emotional. Here, the use of memories and stories add emotional depth to what turns out to be much more than a sad pet story. In fact, thanks to Oona's spirited and uplifting narrative voice, this book didn't make me very sad at all. Even when Oona faces difficulties, her optimism and desire to help her brother buoyed my spirits and kept me looking on the bright side, rather than wallowing in melodrama.

Another strength of this book is the strong sense of setting. The alley where Oona and Fred first find Zook, the pizza restaurant where they sometimes work, and the animal hospital where Zook is a patient are all conveyed with such colorful details that I could imagine them vividly. Place isn't necessarily central to the story, as it was in Orange Street, but being immersed in Oona's world made her that much more credible as a character, and that much more interesting to read about.

I did struggle at times to keep track of all that was happening in the story. This book takes on a lot for just one novel - loss of a parent, illness of a pet, memory, friendship, storytelling, learning to read, sibling relationships, parents going on dates - and at times, it felt like too much. It took me a while to get an understanding of what the real story was, and even then, I felt distracted by Oona's stories. But what I did think was maybe the most clever thing about the entire book was the subtle ways in which Oona's stories were influenced by the events happening around her. Each story that she tells to Fred exists not in isolation, but as a product of Oona's state of mind at the time of the telling. I think the fact that the details of her stories obviously parallel people and events from her life really saves the storytelling framework of the book from becoming a gimmick and ties the entire book together in a very satisfying way.

It would be hard for any book to match One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street in my estimation, since it spoke to me on so many levels and is so beautifully crafted, but The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook was not a disappointment by any means. It's a great book for cat lovers, girls with little brothers, any child who has lost a parent, and especially classrooms learning about storytelling. It's hard

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