A Song for Bijou

December 17, 2012
In this modern-day Romeo and Juliet romance, Farrar (Rules to Rock By) contrasts the cultures of two neighborhoods and two students in Brooklyn, N.Y. Seventh-grader Alex Schrader is smitten when he first lays eyes on Bijou Doucet, the “beautiful girl with butterfly braids” who survived the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and now attends a nearby school. Courting Bijou proves problematic for Alex since Bijou’s strict uncle won’t let her leave the house unescorted—it takes creative strategizing, help from mutual friends, and breaking household rules for the two to get together. For Alex, getting to know Bijou and the music and culture of her community firsthand are worth the risk; Bijou is less sure. Inevitably, trouble brews when the couple are caught lying to their guardians, and a mean prank carried out by Alex’s nemesis also threatens to curtail the blossoming friendship. Although the novel’s celebratory conclusion is a little farfetched, Alex and Bijou’s narrative voices are distinct and authentic. Readers will admire his heroic traits and sympathize with her conflicting loyalties. Ages 10–14.

January 15, 2013
Surviving middle school and puberty is an age-old challenge that video cameras and YouTube have only complicated, as vividly demonstrated in this enjoyable, seriocomic tale of new love, culture clash, adolescent social stratification and friendship. His obsession with girls has already driven a wedge between seventh-grader Alex Schrader and nerdy pals Nomura and Ira (beware geeks with video cameras) at their Brooklyn, boys-only parochial school. Still, when Alex is smitten with a beautiful Haitian student at their sister school, his loyal, inexperienced posse offers aid and (dubious) advice. Bijou Doucet, who lived through Haiti's horrific earthquake three years earlier, has more on her plate: life with her childless uncle and aunt in a new country whose adolescent culture Bijou's expected to ignore. No academic superstar (he didn't know Haiti was in the West Indies) and burdened with a cello-playing older sister, easygoing Alex cheerfully admits to being talent-free. But love leads him to unexpected places: to Flatbush and Haitian rara music, to discover a talent for drumming, to examine unquestioned values and priorities. Meanwhile, classmates threatened by the disruption of the social pecking order take action. Though Alex's voice is stronger, co-narrator Bijou is sensitively drawn. Farrar handles race and the complexities of interracial relationships by implication, through Alex's discovery of the vibrant, new (to him) world just blocks away. A solid, timely effort. (author's note) (Fiction. 12-15)

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February 1, 2013

Gr 5-8-Alex never cared very much about girls. Sure he has had them as friends, and has attended the dances where the St. Christopher boys mix and mingle with the St. Catherine's girls. But then he sees beautiful Bijou. She survived the earthquake in Haiti and now, three years later, has moved to New York to live with her aunt and uncle, and her uncle holds to old Haitian traditions of family and propriety. Bijou is to go to school and be a good girl. She isn't to talk to boys who are not related to her. When she and Alex meet, nothing goes as either of them expects. They face the clash of the two cultures and deal with bullies, a video scandal, and major misunderstandings. Bijou deals with multiple themes. There is the awkwardness of first love in middle school, learning about different cultures, the importance of staying loyal to friends even when a girlfriend enters the picture, and remaining true to yourself and what you believe. Even so, the story is well crafted, and the alternating points of view between Bijou and Alex keep it interesting. The bullies are accurate in their cruelty, and the dynamics among the characters are well done. Great for discussion.-Melyssa Kenney, Parkville High School, Baltimore, MD

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