“Like Vanessa” by Tami Charles
Publishing Date: March 13, 2018
Genre: Middle Grade, Children’s, Fiction
Page Length: 288 pages (electronic review edition)
Synopsis:
In this semi-autobiographical debut novel set in 1983, Vanessa Martin’s real-life reality of living with family in public housing in Newark, New Jersey is a far cry from the glamorous Miss America stage. She struggles with an incarcerated mother she barely remembers, a grandfather dealing with addiction and her own battle with self-confidence. But when a new teacher at school coordinates a beauty pageant and convinces Vanessa to enter, Vanessa’s view of her own world begins to change. Vanessa discovers that her own self-worth is more than the scores of her talent performance and her interview answers, and that she doesn’t need a crown to be comfortable in her own skin and see her own true beauty. (description from Goodreads)
Review:
Like Vanessa is a middle school grad novel about a girl named Vanessa. She feels trapped in her own world and has dreams to be like Vanessa Williams, the first black woman to win Miss America. She spends her days at school trying to stay unnoticed and confides her feelings in her diary called Darlene. Though she lives with family she feels slightly disconnected with them and longs for her mother who left and has never returned. The book has a smooth and almost lyrical narrative. Each section/chapter starts off with a diary entry from Vanessa, and then verse/poem such as this:
Every night, I’m gonna whisper this poem to the wind. And just maybe those words will turn into reality. Make me beautiful. Free me from the darkness that makes the outside world see me as less than pretty . Take me back to the place where I was once happy. Because here in this jungle, there ain’t nothing but weeds and tears and dreams trapped beneath the asphalt.
Vanessa reads a lot of Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou and its feel reflected not only in her diary, but throughout the narrative.
Vanessa’s story of winning the pageant is not only a journey of self discovery of the woman she wants to become but also a journey of self-love. She shows us that it’s not always easy to love yourself since people have a tendency to pick out all of their faults. She also shows readers to cherish what gifts you have. It’s a heartwarming book sometimes tinged with sadness but it left me feeling wholesome.
I loved the overall theme of the story, how realistic the characters are and how smoothly the plot progresses. It gives readers a message about beauty standards:
You can’t buy beauty or pray for it to come in the form of what you see on the television screen. Beauty is just something you gotta be.
I normally don’t like verse within a novel but I felt it really added to the general writing style and narrative. The author does a great job of creating a richly diverse book with a strong narrative. I love how she took her own experiences of participating in pageant shows as source material and based characters off of people she knew. It made the story more personal.
Final Verdict:
FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
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That cover is absolutely stunning! I have not seen this one before. I absolutely love middle grade books that are empowering for young girls or focuses on important topics like body-positivity. I’m so happy books like this exist!
Me too. I agree that it’s an important topic. Self-love is a good message for any age group. I need to read more middle grade books like this!
Thank you for your review!
Thank you Tami! I had a great time reading the novel!
What a gorgeous cover! 🙂 This one sounds really good, and it’s got a blurb by Rita Williams-Garcia, who’s works I love. Marking it for the tbr, great review! 🙂
Thanks Bina! It’s a lovely story with a great message. Hope you enjoy it if you chose to read it!