- Dreams of Significant Girls, by Cristina Garcia (Simon & Schuster, 238 pages) $20
FANS of The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants series will love this story of three teens from wildly different backgrounds who become roommates at an exclusive summer camp in Switzerland.
The story takes place over the summers of 1971 to 1973 and each girl in turn provides her particular viewpoint.
Vivian is a chubby Cuban-Jewish girl from New York City. Ingrid is tall, intimidating and bohemian and Shirin is a pampered Iranian princess with an aptitude for mathematics. It seems unlikely that the three will form any sort of bond and the summer begins fairly inauspiciously.
Vivian and Shirin are not too unhappy to be at camp but Ingrid is a rebel who has been sent to camp because of her parents' reaction to her portfolio of "deeply disturbing drawings." She is also the boy-crazy member of the trio and soon embarks on midnight escapades including an inappropriate sexual encounter.
Vivian and Shirin are both entertained and shocked by Ingrid's wayward actions and a rift develops between Ingrid and Shirin. Vivian tries to mend relations between the two and in a moment of insanity offers to hypnotize both of them. Shirin has a violent reaction resulting in a midnight act of vandalism which is blamed on Ingrid. Ingrid is dismissed from the school and the first summer ends on a sad note.
Shirin's family offers to pay all expenses for her roommates the next summer to make amends for the problems and the group bonds over rebellion, boys and horses.
By the final summer the three are inseparable and share their sometimes wonderful, sometimes sad and sometimes horrible family experiences.
There are some funny episodes in this story - one involves Shirin's unexpected prowess at blowing smoke rings after accepting an illicit cigarette from Ingrid.
Mostly, there are bittersweet moments dealing with growing up in different cultures and Ingrid's desperate attempt to "find" herself.
The friendship between the girls is genuine and deftly portrayed.
Older teens looking for an entertaining book which offers a great cross-cultural take on emerging maturity will like this title.
Some other teen books about friendship between girls are as follows:
- Bass Ackwards and Belly Up by Liz Croft,
- Being Bindy by Alyssa Brugman,
- Chicks with Sticks by Elizabeth Lenhard (and sequels),
- The Daughters by Joanna Philbin (and sequels),
- Confessions of a Tripleshot Betty by Jody Elizabeth Gehrman,
- Crushworthy by Sara Lawrence,
- Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern,
- Looks by Madeleine George,
- My Worst Best Friend by Dyan Sheldon,
- Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson (and sequels),
- The Poison Poppies by Lily Archer,
- Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants by Ann Brashares (and sequels), and
- Ttfn by Lauren Myracle.
Fran Ashdown is the children's librarian at the Capilano branch of the North Vancouver District Library. She likes to read about friends and school because for a while she lived too far away from civilization to go to school or have friends! For more library information check out their website at www. nvdpl.ca.
