de la Cruz, Melissa (2005). Fresh off the Boat. NY: Harper Collins. ISBN: 0060545402. 256 pages.
Four months after her family moved from the Phillipines to San Francisco, 14-year-old Vincenza is still trying to adjust to her new surroundings. In the Phillipines, her family was among the wealthiest in Manila and Vincenza was popular and happy; in San Francisco, Vincenza shares a small house with her mother, father and little sister, makes an hour commute to go to a private school that accepted her as a scholarship student and is an outcast among her privileged classmates. When she makes the acquaintence of another new girl--a French import who seems to revel in her outsider status--V's life starts to open up (though not as much as she'd like) and she learns a few secret truths about her family. Melissa de la Cruz is the "brains" behind "The Au Pairs" series and has written breezy articles for a number of women's magazines, one of which was turned into a book, How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less. With this kind of literary background, you can probably imagine what FOB is like: light, a little trendy and funny in a chick-lit kind of way. Though not likely to earn the Pulitzer, this is a fast, undemanding read for younger YAs. |
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