2018 School Spending Survey Report
Gr 9 Up—Charlie Dean and John Thomas-Smith live on the wrong side of the tracks, but they both want to attend the private and exclusive Green Pastures Academy of Art and Applied Design. Their local public high school is so poorly funded that all nonessential classes, including art, have been eliminated from the curriculum. But every year, Green Pastures sponsors an emerging talents scholarship worth one year's tuition to its exclusive academy for the winner of a discipline-specific competition. This year, Charlie Dean is in luck. The competition focuses on fashion design, her specialty and lifelong obsession. John, however, is into metalwork, but this being his junior year and last chance to enter, he's fudging his way into the competition just to get his foot in the door. Juby has created two compelling, multidimensional narrators whom readers will laugh with and cry for as they vie for the coveted prize. Charlie Dean is a master at turning the sow's ear that life has dealt her into a unique silk purse, while John is so consumed by anger at his circumstances that he fails to appreciate the many blessings laid at his doorstep. The cleverly deceptive title, cover art, and opening pages belie the strength of the protagonists' personalities as well as the tragic elements that have shaped their lives and define the story.
VERDICT An excellent purchase for YA.—Cary Frostick, formerly at Mary Riley Styles Public Library, Falls Church, VA
From the world of artsy teens in small-town British Columbia first introduced in Juby's The Truth Commission (rev. 3/15) comes another sly, boldly narrated contemporary tale. Two public high school students--relentlessly optimistic Charlie Dean and acerbic John Thomas-Smith--are vying for a scholarship to Green Pastures Academy of Art and Applied Design in the fashion design program. Charlie's fashion obsession has always helped her cope with her parents' substance abuse; now she is an impeccably dressed, comically over-prepared candidate. John, a gifted metalworker whose only hope of attending art school is this scholarship, plans to slip into Green Pastures on the fashion track and then switch to metal arts. Alternating entries from Charlie's and John's fashion diaries detail preparations for the climactic fashion show. Charlie's voice dominates--"Want to be a hedge fund manager? Wear a beautifully tailored suit, even if you have to wear a fast-food uniform over it," she suggests. "Dressing for your dreams makes them 75 to 85 percent more likely to come true!"--but John's dry misanthropy provides relief from Charlie's manic perkiness. Even fashion-phobic readers will be caught up in both the giddy apprehension of artistic competition and the thought-provoking creative questions that arise from it. Does passion necessarily beget talent? Can an artistic bent transcend medium? This is whip-smart coming-of-age comedy with memorable characters, welcome diversity in representation of race, ability, and sexual orientation, and lots to say about talent, ambition...and haute couture. jessica tackett macdonald
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