Clearly, these Blondes, my Blondes, were a whole lot more complicated then they looked.
When I began reading Teresa Toten's Me:) and the Blondes I thought I knew exactly what I was getting into but, it proved me wrong. Funny enough, that's exactly the point of the book.
Pink cover. Smiley face. One lunch bag representing what it means to be different in a school full of bland boring similarities. I thought this would be your stereotypical, run-of-the-mill, Mean Girls-esque tale about a young woman who's gone to a million different schools and figures out the "rules" of becoming popular (i.e. attach yourself to the blondes). At first Sophie Kandinsky feels this way but as she gets to know the blondes she discovers they are not, in fact, interchangeable pod people. They all have dramas equal to her own, including bulimia and a secret family history. Sophie comes to understand how everyone struggles just as hard to get by.
Sophie has not had an easy go of it. It’s the 1970s, she is Bulgarian-Canadian and her father has been wrongly imprisoned. Her mother, an obvious immigrant (her accent is rendered phonetically by Sophie in the book) , attempts to live her life as a single parent and wife of a convicted felon. Sophia watches her mother fall to pieces after each weekly call from her father and somehow has to make a go of it at school while holding everything together at home, working a part-time job at Mike's soda fountain, playing varsity basketball and trying to avoid letting the truth about her life seep into the high school rumour mill.
The book examines the ways we hide behind secrets but also how we can overcome these barrier by forming open and trusting bonds with others. Me:) and the Blondes is a coming of age story replete with all the awkward girl moments: first make out, first tampon, embarassing parents, the rules of slow dancing. Toten's book is recommended for 12-16 year old girls encountering the same sorts of firsts. It will make you laugh but it will also make you think and that's always a good combination (for dating or reading).
Pink cover. Smiley face. One lunch bag representing what it means to be different in a school full of bland boring similarities. I thought this would be your stereotypical, run-of-the-mill, Mean Girls-esque tale about a young woman who's gone to a million different schools and figures out the "rules" of becoming popular (i.e. attach yourself to the blondes). At first Sophie Kandinsky feels this way but as she gets to know the blondes she discovers they are not, in fact, interchangeable pod people. They all have dramas equal to her own, including bulimia and a secret family history. Sophie comes to understand how everyone struggles just as hard to get by.
Sophie has not had an easy go of it. It’s the 1970s, she is Bulgarian-Canadian and her father has been wrongly imprisoned. Her mother, an obvious immigrant (her accent is rendered phonetically by Sophie in the book) , attempts to live her life as a single parent and wife of a convicted felon. Sophia watches her mother fall to pieces after each weekly call from her father and somehow has to make a go of it at school while holding everything together at home, working a part-time job at Mike's soda fountain, playing varsity basketball and trying to avoid letting the truth about her life seep into the high school rumour mill.
The book examines the ways we hide behind secrets but also how we can overcome these barrier by forming open and trusting bonds with others. Me:) and the Blondes is a coming of age story replete with all the awkward girl moments: first make out, first tampon, embarassing parents, the rules of slow dancing. Toten's book is recommended for 12-16 year old girls encountering the same sorts of firsts. It will make you laugh but it will also make you think and that's always a good combination (for dating or reading).
The details: Toten, Teresa. Me and the Blondes. Toronto: Puffin Canada, 2006.
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