Redwood and Ponytail
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4.0 • 10 Ratings
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
Kate and Tam meet, and both of their worlds tip sideways. At first, Tam figures Kate is your stereotypical cheerleader; Kate sees Tam as another tall jock. And the more they keep running into each other, the more they surprise each other. Beneath Kate's sleek ponytail and perfect façade, Tam sees a goofy, sensitive, lonely girl. And Tam's so much more than a volleyball player, Kate realizes: She's everything Kate wishes she could be. It's complicated. Except it's not. When Kate and Tam meet, they fall in like. It's as simple as that. But not everybody sees it that way. This novel in verse about two girls discovering their feelings for each other is a universal story of finding a way to be comfortable in your own skin.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Holt (Knockout) once again offers keen insight into the social pressures and vulnerabilities of middle schoolers in this novel in verse, which traces the mutual attraction between two seventh grade girls. "Tall as a palm tree" Tam, a jock, is sometimes mistaken for a boy; "with her "perfect/ swinging/ ponytail," Kate resembles "every clich d cheerleader." Despite their differences, though, they establish a friendship that evolves into something deeper. Conflicts arise when Kate's friends and social-status-obsessed mother disapprove of Tam, and she fears that people will see her as "twisted up,/ not right" because she is gay. Ultimately, she must choose between molding herself into the girl her mother wants her to be and following her own path. The girls' interior monologues, sometimes merging on the page, sometimes visually set apart, effectively show their shared feelings and contrasting perspectives, and the voices of three onlooking students function as a Greek chorus, highlighting transitions in the girls' relationship. In a story thoughtfully formed and eloquently executed, Holt offers affirmation and hope to readers struggling to fit in. Ages 10 14.)
