The New Normal

February 4, 2013
“I was sixteen and being hunted by a drug dealer. My hair was falling out and my sisters were dead and my parents were broken and there wasn’t a goddamn thing I could do about any of it.” Tamar has a lot going on ever since her younger twin sisters were killed a few months ago, but Little (Prick: Confessions of a Tattoo Artist), in her first book for teens, prevents Tamar’s situation from feeling melodramatic, always keeping her story grounded. Readers will sense that realism from the very first page, when Tamar flatly describes her hair loss’s progress from her pubic region to her extremities, eyelashes, and the rest of her body: Tamar tells it like it is from start to finish. There’s a lot of plot, but it moves quickly, with Tamar seeking a job and a role in the school play, finding romance, trying to negotiate her parents’ grief, and getting involved in a fight at school. But Tamar is so relatable and genuine that readers will be invested in her attempts to surmount the challenges that pile up. Ages 12–up.

February 15, 2013
A low-key portrait of grief and endurance. Tamar is smart, jaded, blunt and 16. On top of the usual indignities of high school life, she must cope with losing all of the hair on her body, a side effect of stress following the death of her younger sisters in a car accident. As her shellshocked parents spiral inward (her mother retreats to yoga, her father to beer), Tamar experiences a succession of further humiliations--sexual harassment, bullying, threats of violence--while trying to make sense of her fractured family life. Roy, her fellow chess-club MVP, is the only constant in her life. It's enough to make anyone stay in bed all day, but with dogged persistence, Tamar confronts her demons, real and imagined, and eventually finds her footing. A few early subplots (acupuncture, drug dealing) that ultimately lead nowhere weaken the narrative, and readers accustomed to spunky heroines might find it frustrating when Tamar, swamped by yet another wave of maltreatment, does not defend herself more vociferously. But Tamar's wisecracking first-person voice adeptly conveys the complexity and grit of her emotional life as she learns to stand up for herself. Readers who tough it out with her on the journey will be rewarded by the destination. (Fiction. 14 & up)

COPYRIGHT(2013) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2013

Gr 9 Up-Tamar is an indefatigable, scrappy 16-year-old who is coping with the death of her younger twin sisters. The stress causes her to lose her hair, and her parents to lose themselves-her mom to yoga and her dad to beer and television. The twins "died riding in cars with boys. Stupid, drunken boys." The bright spot in this novel is Tamar. One cannot help but root for her to survive the challenges in her life. The problem is that they never let up-she faces drug dealers, sexual harassment, being robbed at gunpoint, getting a prom date and being stood up, and being bullied-and that is not the whole list. Some of these incidents are plotlines that are never completed- acupuncture is introduced at the start of the volume and never mentioned again until it is neatly abandoned at the end of the book. The especially cruel bullying scene is not fully developed either. Still, readers remain connected to this feisty, capable teen and just want for her to be happy. It is her friend, Roy, from the chess club and her involvement in the school play that keep her from sinking. Through sheer tenacity and a love of life, she saves herself and, in the process, her family. A quick read that delivers a happy ending.-Joanne K. Cecere, Monroe-Woodbury High School, Central Valley, NY

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.