Red
Gr 8 Up-When you live in a town that was founded as a refuge for misunderstood redheads, well, you better be a ginger. Felicity St. John, popular junior at Scarletville High School and nominee for this year's Miss Scarlet pageant, lives in fear that her deepest secret will be revealed. Her copper locks are really a dye job-she's naturally strawberry blonde. With a mother who is a past Miss Scarlet, the truth is just unacceptable and so Felicity has been going to the top-secret Rouge-o-Rama salon to get her hair colored since she was two years old. As the pageant approaches, though, Felicity finds she doesn't really care about winning. Her devotion to her mother's obsession with having her daughter follow in her footsteps is truly tested when someone begins to blackmail Felicity, threatening to let everyone know she's a fake. Soon she finds herself acting completely out of character, doing things that could cost her her friends and boyfriend, all just to protect a secret that she's starting to be tired of keeping. At first Cherry's novel may seem to have a somewhat silly premise, but underneath the "ginger" focus, there is a really strong commentary on superficiality and social standing. Readers will find themselves questioning the distribution of power based on appearance and the lengths that people will go to in order to protect their deepest secrets. Inner strength and self-acceptance are also strong themes that run throughout the book. While readers may giggle their way through this fast-paced tale, they will also find themselves thinking about it.-Jessica Miller, West Springfield Public Library, MAα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.