Dreams of Significant Girls

Starred review from May 30, 2011
In this standout coming-of-age novel beginning in 1971, García (I Wanna Be Your Shoebox) hones the voices of three characters from vastly different backgrounds who forge transformative friendships over three summers in an exclusive Swiss school. As the rebellious, sexually adventurous, and acerbic 15-year-old Ingrid observes, "Whoever thought that Switzerland was the epicenter of neutrality never spent time in a fancy girls' boarding school there." Together, Ingrid; studious Shirin, from a well-born Iranian family; and Cuban-born Vivien navigate romantic entanglements, test boundaries, uncover budding passions (Vivien is a burgeoning chef, while Ingrid discovers a talent for photography), and help each other through crises. The girls' personal awakenings feel organic, and the narrative handles mature themes well, including abortion, family connections to Nazis, and sexual awakenings. García's boarding school setting feels vibrantly alive, an international home away from home that readers should find as magical as do the protagonists. The structureâin three books, each with an epilogueâfeels a bit neatly packaged, but the power of sisterhood and female friendships shine. Ages 12âup.

July 1, 2011

Gr 10 Up-At a posh Swiss summer boarding school in 1971, three very different girls share their problems and dreams: Ingrid, a wild, sexually liberated Midwesterner; Vivian, a Jewish Cuban-American aspiring chef; and Shirrin, an Iranian noblewoman and mathematical genius. Writing in turn, their characters are fully developed and believable. Each voice is wholly individual, as are their disparate approaches to the impending freedoms and perils of adulthood. Loosely analogous to Ann Brashares's "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" (Delacorte) and Zoey Dean's "A-List" series (Little, Brown), this title is more mature and subtle than merely a rich-chick friendship story. The glamour element is tempered by the historical and European context, as is the feminist approach to sexuality-a major element of the novel, including oral sex, equestrian orgasms, masturbation, and abortion. There's a touching side story as well, involving the pasts of Ingrid's former-Nazi father and Vivian's Warsaw Ghetto-survivor dad. With its 1970s patina and 1983 epilogue (post Iranian Revolution, crafted to increase readers' concerns about Shirrin), the novel reads like an adult book being marketed to teens. Despite the occasionally far-fetched situations and rather flat supporting cast, this is nonetheless a title that many mature young women will appreciate.-Rhona Campbell, formerly at Washington, DC Public Library

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2011

Three girls with completely different styles, interests and upbringings initially clash during a ritzy summer boarding-school program in Switzerland before becoming the best of friends.

This cross-cultural story, which is narrated in short takes by each of the three protagonists in turn, is set during the summers of 1971, 1972 and 1973, with an epilogue ten years later. The book begins when the three girls—Vivien, a plump Jewish and Catholic Cuban, Shirin, a psychologically delicate high-born Iranian, and Ingrid, a wild, artistic Canadian girl of German extraction—are 14. The novel follows their romantic, scholastic, career-focused and personal adventures, charting their psychological progress as they transform from girl to woman. Once the three protagonists become friends, they provide each other with comfort, criticism and support, and the rolling first-person narration gives readers multiple perspectives on their lives. Although the girls talk about their devotion to each other, the biggest flaw in the story is that they seem so incompatible that readers will have a hard time buying into the frisson of their friendship. Moreover, despite the specificity of the time period and assorted historical references, the flavor of the era is never effectively conveyed and seems to have been selected to facilitate a big but unnecessary coincidence near the end of the story.

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July 1, 2011
Grades 10-1 Vivien is a Jewish Cuban from New York, aspiring to become a professional chef. Shirin is an Iranian princess, trying to reconcile her family's expectations with her love for mathematics. Ingrid is from Canada, the artistic daughter of a former Nazi soldier and a rebel in every way. The only thing the trio has in common is being thrown together as roommates for a month at an affluent Swiss boarding school, where they discover that friendship has nothing to do with ethnicity and everything to do with empathy. Over the course of three summers in the early 1970s, they experience grief and victory, abuse and accusation, and discover their own paths even as they stay connected in a widening circle. This beautifully written bildungsroman alternates between the three girls' voices and gives the reader an appreciation for the various historical and cultural challenges each girl faces. The struggle for significance will appeal to thoughtful readers, and the luxuriant setting will make this easy to sell to fans of both Gemma Doyle and The Gossip Girls.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)