My Not-So-Still Life

April 11, 2011
Alice and Jewel, the main characters from Gallagher's The Opposite of Invisible (2009), become bit players in this story about 16-year-old Vanessa, an artist (and Jewel's ex) who feels stifled by high school life: "I want to break completely free. I want to be out of bounds, out where it's all color and everything's beautiful, even when it's a mess." And Vanessa creates her share of messes. She adores her best friends Holly and Nick, but alienates both of them, trying to force a connection between Holly and her crush, while pressing Nick, who's gay, to be more confident about his sexuality. More bad decisions follow as Vanessa gets involved with an older skateboarder and attempts to make a statement with public art. For all the trappings of the outsider indie artist that Vanessa flaunts (pink hair, fishnet stockings, miniskirts, job at an art supply store), she's actually quite insecure, naïve, andâgaspânormal underneath. That is perhaps where Gallagher's story is most successful: demonstrating that even the most outwardly confident teens often still have a lot of growing up to do. Ages 14âup.

May 1, 2011

A self-proclaimed artist learns lessons about friendship, thoughtfulness and the importance of having something to say.

Restless, exuberant and brightly colored in pink hair and rainbow eye shadow, Vanessa knows she's not like the other "zombie kids" at her Seattle high school. Living with her Grampie and her dockworker mother, who settled down after becoming pregnant with her as a teenager, Vanessa longs for freedom and adulthood and assumes those around her do too (she constantly insists her mother should go on more dates, for instance). Readers instantly see the hurt she causes, despite her justifications, when Vanessa crosses boundaries to give the people in her life what she thinks they want—outing her gay best friend or spilling the beans to her shy musician friend Holly's crush. Her desire for new, transformative experiences is clear as she falls in with an older artist crowd and makes dubious, impulsive choices involving an older boy, a fake ID and a pinup calendar. The device of an art teacher helping her realize deeper truths about herself and her art feels familiar, and the insinuation that dyeing one's hair pink is merely a ploy for attention seems more like an adult's assumption than a teen's experience.

An adequate portrait of an art-obsessed teen, but, unlike Vanessa, it doesn't stand out. (Fiction. 12-14)

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September 1, 2011

Gr 7 Up-High school sophomore Vanessa is in a rush to grow up. She fashions herself as the "artistic rebel girl," frequently coloring her hair, wearing a colored bracelet to reflect her daily mood, and selecting clothes that express her inner creativity. She considers the world her canvas and has no use for instruction, let alone convention. Superimposed on her immature perspective is the well-grounded behavior of her two best friends, Nick and Holly. When Vanessa nabs a job at a funky art-supply store where, in her impressionable mind, other cool artists work, she quickly falls into a relationship with a young man a few years older than she whose source of income is fake IDs, and she finds herself promising to pose for his creative outlet-a pinup calendar. As her infatuation with the group at Palette increases, she becomes careless and insensitive toward her friends and her family. Her impetuous actions steer her toward social and emotional screwups and, in her willful zest to be free and expressive, she mucks up more than she creates. Much of Vanessa's narrative is the energized chatter of an overzealous teen, but readers will soon catch on that she's a well-intentioned girl struggling against the protection of those who try to guide and teach her. Ultimately, this theme is perhaps a bit heavy-handed, and the character development is disappointing. If you're looking for a strong novel that represents the passion, idiosyncrasies, and foibles of an artist, choose Gary Paulsen's The Monument (Delacorte, 1991).-Alison Follos, North Country School, Lake Placid, NY

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