A review by bickie
A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass

3.0

Interesting coming-of-age story set against the back-drop of learning about and coping with synesthesia, a condition which the protagonist experiences as seeing colors with loud sounds as well as associating colors with letters, numbers, and words. She grapples with missing her recently-deceased grandfather, friction with her long-time best friend, parents who think she is making up her synesthesia, boys, a being the middle child in a quirky family. Overall, the book has a pleasing tone, and it is interesting to learn more about synesthesia, even though it is not really about that; it's about a girl in middle school who deals with typical middle school things as well as the synesthesia. Best suited for 5th and up, though there is one part in which the protagonist spends all of her savings on two sessions of acupuncture to have what could be considered to be hallucinogenic experiences. She makes up a medical reason to go, evades her parents, and lies to a classmate in order to go. While the actual actions are not dangerous, it is the kind of behavior a drug or alcohol user would have. She decides the experience is too overwhelming to continue it (providing a convenient reason to not have to deal with addiction-type of behavior issues in the book), but it is a good discussion point.