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A review by eve_polvay11
The Whole Story of Half a Girl by Veera Hiranandani
4.0
“For everything that reminds me of who I am, there's always something reminding me of who I'm not.”
This book was exceptional. It took a good look at what identity means as well as the effect your family has on it. This book touches on many middle grade taboo topics such as questioning your religion, biracial culture, mental health, and much more.
I though the segregation at the lunch tables was portrayed realistically. Unfortunately, many schools are segregated by race as was seen with the popular white girls like Kate and Jessica and with Alisha, the black girl from a disadvantaged community.
As a child of a catholic mom and a Jewish dad, I could relate to many of the internal struggles Sonia faced. I struggled with why my parents had chosen to raise me as a catholic instead of Jewish, and whether that effected my dad in negative ways. I often wonder if I would have turned out differently if I was raised in my dad's religion or if I had the liberty to choose for myself.
I was not expecting this book to be middle grade when I first started, but I found it to be a refreshing break from the many YA tropes that have been filling my recent reads. I was delighted to see the representation of marginalized groups and going into an examination of what it meant to be part of those groups and stuck in between. Albeit, the reflection was a bit surface level, but elementary and middle schoolers probably wouldn't have been able to understand otherwise.
I found Sonia's relationship with Kate and her family to be an interesting one. I was puzzled at first at why the author seemed to be portraying Kate's mom as worse than she actually is. It's implied that she's a shopaholic, and maybe she's a little shallow, but she also has a lot of other redeeming qualities; Kate's mother certainly isn't anti-semitic, which is implied by Sonia's mother's reaction. This was until I figured out that the author was trying to show that Sonia's can be judgmental and inclined to prejudice also. I fear the point may have been too subtle for younger readers who may think Jackie is a bad person while in reality both are mothers are just complex.
I feel that it is important that these topics are introduced to readers of this age because while I did mention many of them were taboo in middle grade, they're often avoided in today's society also.
This book was exceptional. It took a good look at what identity means as well as the effect your family has on it. This book touches on many middle grade taboo topics such as questioning your religion, biracial culture, mental health, and much more.
I though the segregation at the lunch tables was portrayed realistically. Unfortunately, many schools are segregated by race as was seen with the popular white girls like Kate and Jessica and with Alisha, the black girl from a disadvantaged community.
As a child of a catholic mom and a Jewish dad, I could relate to many of the internal struggles Sonia faced. I struggled with why my parents had chosen to raise me as a catholic instead of Jewish, and whether that effected my dad in negative ways. I often wonder if I would have turned out differently if I was raised in my dad's religion or if I had the liberty to choose for myself.
I was not expecting this book to be middle grade when I first started, but I found it to be a refreshing break from the many YA tropes that have been filling my recent reads. I was delighted to see the representation of marginalized groups and going into an examination of what it meant to be part of those groups and stuck in between. Albeit, the reflection was a bit surface level, but elementary and middle schoolers probably wouldn't have been able to understand otherwise.
I found Sonia's relationship with Kate and her family to be an interesting one. I was puzzled at first at why the author seemed to be portraying Kate's mom as worse than she actually is. It's implied that she's a shopaholic, and maybe she's a little shallow, but she also has a lot of other redeeming qualities; Kate's mother certainly isn't anti-semitic, which is implied by Sonia's mother's reaction. This was until I figured out that the author was trying to show that Sonia's can be judgmental and inclined to prejudice also. I fear the point may have been too subtle for younger readers who may think Jackie is a bad person while in reality both are mothers are just complex.
I feel that it is important that these topics are introduced to readers of this age because while I did mention many of them were taboo in middle grade, they're often avoided in today's society also.