JUST BE GORGEOUS

by Barbara Wersba ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1988

Wersba brings freshness of characterization and incident to a love story about a gift who has everything but hope--and a boy whose hope is his only possession. At 16, Heidi Rosenbloom is neither willing nor able to live up to either of her divorced parents' differing expectations, but she has no expectations of herself with which to replace them. Wandering along Broadway, she meets Jeffrey Collins, who is dancing in the street to support himself until he gets his hoped-for show-biz break. An unlikely friendship springs up between the sheltered Heidi, who is used to comfortable circumstances, and this cheerful orphan who doesn't even know his parents; it blossoms into love as Heidi's belief in Jeff's future gives him support, while his esteem for her as a valuable person gives her courage to find her direction. The inevitable parting, while heartbreaking, is fall of hope. Love between self-proclaimed misfits is common in YA fiction; what distinguishes this is the understanding with which Heidi tells her story--even extending to a new appreciation of the parents whose feelings she has previously ignored. Delicately written, but powerful; hard to put down and hard to forget.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 160

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1988

Categories: CHILDREN'S