Rose Sees Red

Author: Castellucci, Cecil

Edition: 1

Number Of Pages: 208

Details:

Partly based on the author's own experiences at the famous Manhattan high school for the performing arts, this novel explores friendship, freedom, and the art of challenging convention. Set in New York in the 1980s, this story of two ballet dancers (one American, one Russian) recounts the unforgettable night they spend in the city, and celebrates the friendship they form despite their cultural and political differences. From School Library Journal Gr 7-10–Rose wears all black, drinks her coffee black, and views the world as black during her friendless fall semester of ninth grade. She only feels truly alive when she dances, but dancing doesn't come easily in New York City's high-pressure High School of Performing Arts. It's 1982, with political tensions between the U.S. and USSR running rampant. When her neighbor whom she has never spoken to, a Russian teen named Yrena, sneaks into her bedroom window, Rose embarks on an adventure that not only brings new friendships, but also opens her eyes to the world around her and to the value of her own talents. The protagonist is a complexly layered character who suffers from crippling sensitivity, and her difficulty feeling at home in her body will resonate with teens. She is honest, funny, and completely authentic, and it is magical to see her dark world bloom with color. Her former best friend is similarly well drawn; Castellucci depicts Daisy's unbelievable meanness and manipulation, and the pain it causes Rose, without giving their story a happy ending. Unfortunately, the 1980s setting is unclear in the early chapters, and some youngsters might feel at sea when Reagan-era politics pops up in a novel that feels contemporary. Aspects of the plot seem undeveloped, such as Yrena's near-imprisonment in her own home. However, the prose is poetic and rich. Advanced readers will glide and pirouette through this delightful novel. Jess deCourcy Hinds, Bard High School Early College Queens, Long Island City, NY © Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. From Booklist Bronx teen Rose, defined by friendlessness and ballet, is moping alone as usual one Friday night when the girl who lives in the Russian-inhabited apartment complex next door sneaks through her window. Yrena wants to experience normal American teen life, and Rose impulsively decides that she might be able to show her. They head to a party downtown and make friends with some unattainably cool kids from Rose's performing-arts school as they embark on that timeless teen rite of passage: the all-night caper, fueled by exhilaratingly ignoring the trouble they'll be in tomorrow (though, admittedly, it being the Cold War and having the KGB and CIA involved make their particular trouble a little hotter). Castellucci (Beige and The Plain Janes, both 2007) works with her familiar raw materials of artsy outsider kids and the group dynamics of teen friendship. She really doesn't have an un-hip strand in her writer DNA and proves that even a story set in 1982 with its legwarmers and Reagan-bashing can still feel fresh. Grades 9-12. --Ian Chipman

About the Author:

Cecil Castellucci grew up in New York City and is the author of the young adult novels Rose Sees Red, Boy Proof, The Queen of Cool, and Beige, as well as the comic books The Plain Janes and Janes in Love. Currently, Cecil Castellucci lives in Los Angeles. You can learn more about her at www.misscecil.com and via her blog, castellucci.livejournal.com....

EAN: 9780545060790

Release Date: 01-08-2010

Languages: English

Item Note: Great shape- pages are unmarked and sharp.Has a remainder mark. Hardcover Used - Like New Ships fast! 20101st Edition

Item Condition: UsedLikeNew

Binding: Hardcover