Review: A warmly entertaining coming of age story – with spice!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 10, 2013
Julie Krantz pops onto the young adult (read Middle School age bracket) literature scene with a book that belies the fact that this is her debut novel. STELLA BELLAROSA is a well developed story, richly populated with characters with whom we immediately can identify, and she understands the locale in which she places her tale of coming of age so well that the book has a scent of memories from an Italian kitchen built in. She has the courage to speak the language of the inhabitants of Little Italy in New York without ever becoming a parodist. It simply flows as naturally as sauce over pasta.She has created two significant main characters Stella (of the title) and her best friend Pin Pin and through these characters she shares those friable teenage years with events and attitudes both negative - poverty, crime and prejudice – and positive (family, fun and friendship).  And to open the curtain on what will be an adventure she places the following as her opening lines: ‘Little Italy, New York -So where was that little birdie when I needed him? You know, the one who flits around your brain screeching ‘don’t do this, don’t do that’ at the most annoying times? Because he sure wasn’t there this morning, chirping ‘don’t get out of bed if you know what’s good for you, knucklehead!’ So I shot up as soon as I heard Papa yelling, and smacked into the crappiest day of my whole stupid teenage life. “YO, STELLA! You gettin’ ready or what? I don’t want no more late slips ’round here!”  From this delicious entrée the flavor of what to follow is suggested. Pin Pin steals a wallet, Stella thinks she should return it so they head out of Little Italy into the worrisome atmosphere of Manhattan. Both are desperate to find a way out from the financial and cultural issues that burden them – including finding the means to step out of their own station in life and attend a posh girls school in the Catskills. Problems mount, parents react, but Stella with Pin Pin overcomes hurdles that would trip up a less ingenious young mind. And all of this is woven together in ItaloAmericano lingo that is at once hilarious and touching.For a first novel Krantz has pulled off a tasty little tale that likely will appeal to adults as much (if not more) than to the directed audience of teens. Books like this – funny, challenging, and beautifully scripted – are what will salvage our young people away from their tweeting and chattering online. Refreshing! Grady Harp, November 13