You’ve heard of helicopter parents. From the beginning, Jessica’s parents hover so close you can feel the wind off the rotary blades. No wonder she’s so desperate to escape.
Susan is headed into the wilds of New York and her parents are right to be concerned. However, rather than give her the usual advice of being wary of strangers and staying away from panhandlers, their advice tends more to being polite to EVERYBODY and hoarding toilet paper. Elijah’s mother is worse. She actually wants to accompany Elijah to New York, an idea that is anathema to any teenager eager to escape the parental reins.
These beginnings manage to convey the familiar sensations adolescents feel when they’re parting from their parents. It’s not forever but it can feel that way to the parents. However, such an ending is also a beginning for the offspring. While Jessica and Elijah are from very different backgrounds, their emotions are remarkably alike. Excitement, dread, anticipation and gut-churning nervousness are exactly what we’d expect in this situation and the author delivers. We get to know Jessica, Elijah and their respective parents in just a few short pages and that is a terrific set up for the odd situation in which they find themselves.
Most YA novels are so firmly set in the viewpoint of the adolescents that they form limited appeal to adult readers. However, Jessica and Elijah’s problems are placing them within the milieus of adult concerns. Jessica has the smarts to get into various colleges but not the funds. However, on paper, her family is considered too “rich” to be eligible for scholarships and they have no referrals that might make up the slack. So she needs the money from the internship. Elijah’s father wants to squeeze him into the family business, a cross he chafes at carrying. He also suffers the additional burden of old-fashioned Korean tradition—the expectation of putting family and the family honor above all things. Elijah apparently hasn’t quite come up to snuff.
So these two adolescents are just starting off into the working world and must learn to make their way within it. The farcical situation they find themselves in later—a screwup worthy of a Preston Sturges film—only emphasizes what these two must do to survive and thrive on their own terms while not ticking off the maters and paters. It’s an impressive beginning and I found myself smiling and eager to know more…or at least bathe in that new car smell.
Susan is headed into the wilds of New York and her parents are right to be concerned. However, rather than give her the usual advice of being wary of strangers and staying away from panhandlers, their advice tends more to being polite to EVERYBODY and hoarding toilet paper. Elijah’s mother is worse. She actually wants to accompany Elijah to New York, an idea that is anathema to any teenager eager to escape the parental reins.
These beginnings manage to convey the familiar sensations adolescents feel when they’re parting from their parents. It’s not forever but it can feel that way to the parents. However, such an ending is also a beginning for the offspring. While Jessica and Elijah are from very different backgrounds, their emotions are remarkably alike. Excitement, dread, anticipation and gut-churning nervousness are exactly what we’d expect in this situation and the author delivers. We get to know Jessica, Elijah and their respective parents in just a few short pages and that is a terrific set up for the odd situation in which they find themselves.
Most YA novels are so firmly set in the viewpoint of the adolescents that they form limited appeal to adult readers. However, Jessica and Elijah’s problems are placing them within the milieus of adult concerns. Jessica has the smarts to get into various colleges but not the funds. However, on paper, her family is considered too “rich” to be eligible for scholarships and they have no referrals that might make up the slack. So she needs the money from the internship. Elijah’s father wants to squeeze him into the family business, a cross he chafes at carrying. He also suffers the additional burden of old-fashioned Korean tradition—the expectation of putting family and the family honor above all things. Elijah apparently hasn’t quite come up to snuff.
So these two adolescents are just starting off into the working world and must learn to make their way within it. The farcical situation they find themselves in later—a screwup worthy of a Preston Sturges film—only emphasizes what these two must do to survive and thrive on their own terms while not ticking off the maters and paters. It’s an impressive beginning and I found myself smiling and eager to know more…or at least bathe in that new car smell.