Wednesday, December 3, 2008

North of Beautiful: Starred Review, Publishers Weekly!!

Joy! My editor, Alvina Ling, and her assistant editor, Connie Hsu, have been taking such good care of me. Awaiting at my door when my kiddos and I arrived home was an enormous box of books for them and a fantastic, perfect CD for me (Pink, SO WHAT!).

And then this morning, Alvina sent me news that North of Beautiful just got a starred review in Publishers Weekly! Thanks to Lisa Yee who emailed me immediately after...which was perfect happenstance since I had just opened a packet from Scholastic and there was the galley of her forthcoming ABSOLUTELY MAYBE. I was already screaming with delight as it was.

(PICTURE A BRIGHT RED STAR HERE. hee) North of Beautiful Justina Chen Headley. Little, Brown, $16.99 (384p) ISBN 978-0-316-02505-8

Laced with metaphors about maps and treasure, Headley’s (Girl Overboard) finely crafted novel traces a teen’s uncharted quest to find beauty. Two things block Terra’s happiness: a port-wine stain on her face and her verbally abusive father, a failed cartographer who views her as ugly and belittles the collages she creates. A car accident brings her together with Jacob, an Asian-born adoptee with unconventional ideas. Besides introducing her to new pursuits like geocaching, a treasure-hunting game using GPS, Jacob ends up traveling with her when they have an opportunity to visit China together with their mothers. The trip, far-reaching on many different levels, gives Terra a chance to rethink the past and re-map her goals. Taking readers to America’s Northwest, then to China and back again, the author confidently addresses very large, slippery questions about the meaning of art, travel, love and of course beauty. All of her characters hold secrets; finding them out will be as rewarding as Terra’s discoveries of caches. Ages 12–up. (Feb.)

12 comments:

  1. Congratulations on a very well-deserved (and hard-to-get) star!!

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  2. This is so cool Justina! What a glowing review. Sounds like they love North of Beautiful as much as I did. Congratulations!

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  3. Congratulations on your awesome reviews! Your book Girl Overboard is one of my favorite YA's. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of North of Beautiful. Alas, your editor is one of my dream editors. I hope happy moments keep coming your way.

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  4. Wonderful news! The first of many - it is a beautiful and true book. Readers are going to love it!

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  5. Congratulations, Justina! I can't wait to read it!! :)

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  6. Oh Justina I'm so thrilled for you! Congratulations on this stunning news. I can't wait to read NORTH OF BEAUTIFUL!

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  7. Justina, such a sweet and deserved star for you. And I got chills reading of how your ReaderGirlz friends were there for you at the airport.

    That's friendship. That's goodness.

    Congratulations.

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  8. What a beautiful review! So deserved!

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  9. I just finished an ARC of North of Beautiful. Very fine novel. I especially appreciated the questioning of "what is beauty" and the map/search metaphor.

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