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4.17 AVERAGE
4.17 AVERAGE
2.5 stars
While the premise, writing, and characters were all fantastic, this book dragged HARD. Unless you have some intense love for Shakespeare and/or drama, you're going to be bored, and I worry that my students will be bored reading all about the play, which took up a bulk of the story.
While the premise, writing, and characters were all fantastic, this book dragged HARD. Unless you have some intense love for Shakespeare and/or drama, you're going to be bored, and I worry that my students will be bored reading all about the play, which took up a bulk of the story.
This is a super sweet crush story. I can't wait to booktalk it!
I read this book for a kind of obscure seminar class this semester at school. I didn't expect to like the book as much as I did, but it really grabbed my attention. Barbara Dee deals with a lot of complicated coming-of-age issues in a very warm, undramatic way that's really refreshing considering the way authors and screenwriters have so often treated LGBT characters in the past. The story is also very entertaining, and Mattie's cycles of self-doubt and self-discovery kept me engaged throughout the novel and even brought me back to the best and worst moments of my own adolescence. As a 20-year-old straight man reading this for a class, I was surprised by how easily I could relate to the characters, especially Mattie, Tessa and Lucy. I especially enjoyed the dynamic, realistic characters Dee creates, the maternal relationship subplot, and the clever, tactfully presented comparison between a young person's coming out story and the story of Romeo and Juliet. I would definitely recommend this book to middle grades readers, and even to older readers looking for an easy but engaging and heartwarming read.
Eighth-grader Mattie is struggling through the school year. Unlike her friends, Tessa and Lucy, she is not invited to Willow’s party. In an act of rebellion, Mattie disguises herself as Darth Vader and decides to attend anyway. Even though the night ends in disaster, Mattie begins to realize that she enjoyed her time with a girl, Gemma, more so than if she was with a boy. Mattie begins to spend more time with Gemma as they are cast together in the school’s production of Romeo and Juliet. Although Mattie initially tries out for the part of Paris, she eventually finds herself as Romeo with Gemma as Juliet. The play as well as the upcoming Valentine’s Day dance forces Mattie to reconcile the unease she feels about her sexuality and decide whether or not to come out to her friends and Gemma.
With heartfelt, realistic characters, Star-Crossed is a well-written and engaging romance for fourth to eighth grade readers. Even though the characters are thirteen and fourteen, the vocabulary and LGBT and friendship themes are designed for upper elementary school-aged students into the middle grades, not quite yet transgressing into the young adult arena. With a complete cast of tween characters--Willow as your typical mean girl, popular boys who are trying so hard to be jocks, emphatically, frazzled teachers, and caring yet angsty family members—Star-Crossed poignantly and accurately depicts solid relationships worthy of LGBT realistic fiction. Mattie is just a girl with a sweet crush, and she is portrayed as an intelligent, strong (although confused) lead. Fall in love with Mattie who dresses as literary characters for Halloween, Tessa who uses hilarious Shakespearean insults when she is mad, and Mr. Torres, a charming English teacher who refers to his students as “humans.” Dee takes on gender roles, love, friendship, and family in this cozy read.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing/Aladdin for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.
With heartfelt, realistic characters, Star-Crossed is a well-written and engaging romance for fourth to eighth grade readers. Even though the characters are thirteen and fourteen, the vocabulary and LGBT and friendship themes are designed for upper elementary school-aged students into the middle grades, not quite yet transgressing into the young adult arena. With a complete cast of tween characters--Willow as your typical mean girl, popular boys who are trying so hard to be jocks, emphatically, frazzled teachers, and caring yet angsty family members—Star-Crossed poignantly and accurately depicts solid relationships worthy of LGBT realistic fiction. Mattie is just a girl with a sweet crush, and she is portrayed as an intelligent, strong (although confused) lead. Fall in love with Mattie who dresses as literary characters for Halloween, Tessa who uses hilarious Shakespearean insults when she is mad, and Mr. Torres, a charming English teacher who refers to his students as “humans.” Dee takes on gender roles, love, friendship, and family in this cozy read.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing/Aladdin for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.
ADORABLE. I loved this from the start! Mattie is a wonderful lead and I thought the voice was pitch perfect. It felt appropriately middle grade without feeling young. It's a liiittle heavy on the Shakespeare and feels rushed at the end, but those are my only complaints. Star-Crossed is seriously adorable and fun and I liked the depiction of 8th grade and their R&J play, and Gemma! Mattie doesn't use labels in this book but it's clear that she's figuring herself out and it warmed my heart, watching her begin to trust herself and her friends/family. I loved her relationship with her siblings. I'll be interested to see what other reviewers think of the rep but I thought it was lovely. A quick read worth your time with a seriously cute cover!
This was a sweet little book for 6th grade through 9th grade girls!
A girl coming to grips with her feelings and how kids can easily shape themselves in the image of what they think they should be and the general dramas of 8th grade.
There were a few things I felt that were mentioned as a driving force of the plot but then ultimately left untouched... had I not known that this book was about Mattie starting to fall for a girl and how that would make her feel, I think I would have been more annoyed at the unanswered questions that were brought up as major plot points at the beginning of the story. I get that it is from the perspective of Mattie so we may never get answers to certain questions but I felt like there was a little too much open-ended...
-Does Gemma really understand how Mattie feels at the end? Is she really saying, "okay I want to try to be your girlfriend" when she says, "okay its a date."
-Why did the "popular" girl exclude Mattie specifically and why does she seem to have it out for her in general? As the character Gemma said, "She's just not your friend" about not inviting her. This would make sense if Mattie's two best friends were also excluded from the parties or that there was an established friendship between her friends and this girl that Mattie did not have, but it seems that she has singled out Mattie. With no other mention of anyone else being "left-out", what has changed that this girl has singled her out? Also she seems to take it personally that she's Romeo, why? It's not like the popular girl is Juliet, nor is she in any major scenes with Romeo... and it's not like she'd be in the audience and get to gawk at him? Also she's the only one who once again seems to be out of sorts about this.
- Something that isn't essential but would have been nice to make clear is... whether every 8th grader was involved in this play in some capacity... were they all given a task or could students opt out? (This seemed important considering that the first Romeo's friends were always there to distract him, were they not involved in the play at all or tasked with something like scenery? It would make sense them not be invested if they weren't involved at all.)
-Also, why do the characters keep saying she's spacey or acting strange? The character does not give any signs herself that something major has changed in her life to be outwardly different towards her surroundings. It sounds like she's always just gone through the motions. At first it seems like it's because of the boy or the party, but ultimately it seems like she's only interested in those aspects because of those influencing her around her. Also, once these aspects have been dropped they still call her spacey. It would be different if she started becoming spacey when she started crushing on Gemma, but otherwise this just seems forced.
And though it's not really an unanswered question, I have to mention that there was groundwork for dysfunctional/neglectful family. Speaking specifically that it's highly inappropriate for a mother to call her child's friend to find out what is going on with her daughter. The mother seems to be distant herself, she should open up the airways of communication with her child directly not go behind her back. Unless there was other examples of Mattie being a bad child there is no reason for it to be "okay" that her parent called her friends. (Also if Mattie's sister is as close with her mother as she says, then why not ask the sister to speak with her? Or even have the father talk to her? And why all the fights between the sister and the mother if everything is good? Shouldn't that have calmed down once she went off to college. It seems like it's the mother's own fault for talking over and assuming things about Mattie and not listening to her child... I know for other people this might not be a big deal but having had many people close to me with very manipulative and psychologically abusive families, I would hate for this book to reiterate that these things are okay because these are a few signs of dysfunction/manipulation/neglect.)
Otherwise cute story for budding feelings and 8th grade drama.
A girl coming to grips with her feelings and how kids can easily shape themselves in the image of what they think they should be and the general dramas of 8th grade.
There were a few things I felt that were mentioned as a driving force of the plot but then ultimately left untouched... had I not known that this book was about Mattie starting to fall for a girl and how that would make her feel, I think I would have been more annoyed at the unanswered questions that were brought up as major plot points at the beginning of the story. I get that it is from the perspective of Mattie so we may never get answers to certain questions but I felt like there was a little too much open-ended...
-Does Gemma really understand how Mattie feels at the end? Is she really saying, "okay I want to try to be your girlfriend" when she says, "okay its a date."
-Why did the "popular" girl exclude Mattie specifically and why does she seem to have it out for her in general? As the character Gemma said, "She's just not your friend" about not inviting her. This would make sense if Mattie's two best friends were also excluded from the parties or that there was an established friendship between her friends and this girl that Mattie did not have, but it seems that she has singled out Mattie. With no other mention of anyone else being "left-out", what has changed that this girl has singled her out? Also she seems to take it personally that she's Romeo, why? It's not like the popular girl is Juliet, nor is she in any major scenes with Romeo... and it's not like she'd be in the audience and get to gawk at him? Also she's the only one who once again seems to be out of sorts about this.
- Something that isn't essential but would have been nice to make clear is... whether every 8th grader was involved in this play in some capacity... were they all given a task or could students opt out? (This seemed important considering that the first Romeo's friends were always there to distract him, were they not involved in the play at all or tasked with something like scenery? It would make sense them not be invested if they weren't involved at all.)
-Also, why do the characters keep saying she's spacey or acting strange? The character does not give any signs herself that something major has changed in her life to be outwardly different towards her surroundings. It sounds like she's always just gone through the motions. At first it seems like it's because of the boy or the party, but ultimately it seems like she's only interested in those aspects because of those influencing her around her. Also, once these aspects have been dropped they still call her spacey. It would be different if she started becoming spacey when she started crushing on Gemma, but otherwise this just seems forced.
And though it's not really an unanswered question, I have to mention that there was groundwork for dysfunctional/neglectful family. Speaking specifically that it's highly inappropriate for a mother to call her child's friend to find out what is going on with her daughter. The mother seems to be distant herself, she should open up the airways of communication with her child directly not go behind her back. Unless there was other examples of Mattie being a bad child there is no reason for it to be "okay" that her parent called her friends. (Also if Mattie's sister is as close with her mother as she says, then why not ask the sister to speak with her? Or even have the father talk to her? And why all the fights between the sister and the mother if everything is good? Shouldn't that have calmed down once she went off to college. It seems like it's the mother's own fault for talking over and assuming things about Mattie and not listening to her child... I know for other people this might not be a big deal but having had many people close to me with very manipulative and psychologically abusive families, I would hate for this book to reiterate that these things are okay because these are a few signs of dysfunction/manipulation/neglect.)
Otherwise cute story for budding feelings and 8th grade drama.
4.75. Beautiful middle grade book about a girl discovering romantic feelings. I love the ending and how Shakespeare was interwoven throughout.
Mattie gets selected to perform as Romeo in her 8th grade school play. She questions her feelings and the idea of “who she’s supposed to like”.