For most of us in school, we can look back at one particular assignment that a teacher gave and remember the stress that surrounded its completion. For Joesph Calderaro it is the 1500 word family heritage paper assigned by his social studies teacher at the end of his 8th grade year. The real issue for Joseph is that he is adopted, so he doesn't really know his heritage. While Korean on the outside, he has been raise in an Italian home. But it is this paper forces him to take closer look at what family really means. In the end, he comes to the conclusion that he is an ethnic sandwich.
What is so great about this book is that it is filled with the everyday challenges of being a middle school: wanting to ask the cool popular girl to the Final Farewell dance; trying to distance yourself from your parents; being embarrassed by your family; hanging out with your friends; trying to impress everyone that you come into contact with... yet Joseph does it in a honest and entertaining way. You can't help but, laugh and think... "Yeah, I've been there." Because even if you aren't adopted, middle school is still the time when you being to really get to know yourself, and so ultimately we all face the same challenges as Joseph just in slightly different ways.
Something else that impresses me about the book is that while Joseph is going through his own struggle of finding himself; it is parrelled by the journey is dad is taking. His dad loves books and reading, yet finds himself in a job that he has done out of duty. The side plot of his dad finally deciding that he needed a change and goes back to school is just as important as the what Joseph goes through.
Warning: you will get hungry reading this book. The author fills the book with great imagery and a lot of food figurative language.
"The world is your supersized soda waiting to be guzzled, right?" (1)
"Rain sprinkled on my face like salt on french fries." (40)
"... my backpack was soaked and my hair looked like black spaghetti." (41)
" The air felt soupy as I ran up the driveway after school." (194)
There are other fabulous English elements. Joseph as a reoccuring dream. There are quotes from literature. Tons of smilies and metaphors, and even some well placed alliteration. As a former English teacher, I love it. While I think that the cover of the book targets a female audience, I think with male narrator makes it a little more readable for a middle school guy. It would be a great book to read aloud in a class.
This is Rose Kent's first novel. Have you read it? Please let us know what you think!
