Like Mandarin

Gr 9 Up—Growing up in the badlands of Wyoming, Grace Carpenter, 14, has longed for some way to escape the dullness of small-town life. Her mother, who long ago gave up her own dreams, is obsessed with child beauty pageants and focuses her attention on Grace's younger sister, Taffeta. In school, Grace has skipped a grade, making her even more of an outsider. She sees her chance for an escape of sorts when beautiful bad girl Mandarin Ramey, 17, is paired with her for a school service project. The two begin an intense friendship and spend hours discussing their plans to run off to California. However, Grace also becomes increasingly aware of how troubled the older girl is. She discovers that Mandarin lied when telling a gruesome story of how her mother committed suicide; in fact, Mandarin's mother is alive and writes letters that her daughter refuses to read. Even more distressing, at a local beer bash, Mandarin betrays Grace by setting her up in a situation that nearly leads to rape. As the novel concludes, both Mandarin and Grace find unexpected ways of resolving their relationships with their mothers and coming to terms with their dreams of escape. Hubbard uses beautifully evocative language, and the details of the badlands setting are perfectly realized. Even minor characters are complex and believable, but most compelling are Grace and Mandarin. The portrayal of the complexities and tensions of friendships between teenaged girls is spot on, as is the depiction of Grace's growing realization of female sexual power through her obsession with being like Mandarin. This excellent novel is a must for high school collections.—Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ