The French Impressionist

Gr 7 Up-When she is 15, Rosemary fakes her way into an exchange program for aspiring artists in southern France. After submitting plagiarized works of art and documents that falsify her level of understanding of the French language, she is accepted. She's even duped her family; her overbearing, overprotective mother thinks that her daughter is just flying away to Phoenix. After she settles into her new host family's home, Rosemary has to figure out her next move. She claims to have laryngitis to avoid speaking in her not-so-fluent French, but how long can that last? Then a family from Texas befriends her host parents, and their attractive teenage son also happens to suspect that Rosemary isn't who she says she is. Rosemary has only ever attended an all-girls school, and she doesn't know how to act around guys, so her awkwardness adds to her difficulties. Her host mom, Sylvie, also becomes suspicious after she and Rosemary spend an afternoon painting and Rosemary's pieces lack the same feeling and skill as her program submissions. The plot stretches believability: Could Rosemary truly have boarded an international flight rather than a domestic one and spent the entire summer abroad without being detected? In addition, Rosemary experiences communication challenges that make it difficult for her to speak with ease in any language, and while it's refreshing that this doesn't define her, it's an element that isn't always easily integrated into the story. What works best here is the author's ability to evoke the feeling of being in France, with descriptions of the rooms, smells, and sounds, all adding to the artistic themes of impressions and impressionism.