Richie's Picks: Great Books for Children and Young Adults

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"My so-called parents hate my boyfriend, Shrimp. I'm not sure they even
believe he is my boyfriend. They take one look at his five-foot-five,
surfer-shirt-wearin', baggy-jeans-slouchin', Pop Tart-eatin',
spiked-hair-head self and you can just see confusion firebombs exploding in
their heads, like they are thinking, Oh no, Cyd Charisse, that young man is
not your homes.

"Dig this: He is."

GINGERBREAD is the exuberant and delightful story of Cyd Charisse. (Her
namesake was the beautiful dancer/actress from Singing in the Rain fame.)
Cyd Charisse is called by her full name so as not to be confused with her
stepfather Sid. (Her '"society wife" mother is named Nancy.) Anyway, Cyd
Charisse has been booted out of boarding school for getting caught in bed
with her blue-blood jock boyfriend. In addition to sex, Cyd Charisse had
become involved with alcohol, drugs, and shoplifting for the sake of
maintaining her "dream" relationship with the big man on campus.

Now she is spending the summer back in San Fran, living with her family, but
hanging with Shrimp. She met him while they were both doing mandatory
community service at a nursing home. Shrimp lives with his brother, a young
specialty coffee mogul named Java the Hut.

Her best friend is Sugar Pie, a wise old lady who resides at the nursing home.

Cyd Charisse has only met her biological father once. It was at an airport
when she was five, and he bought her the doll she named Gingerbread, who is
still her constant companion as well as her alter ego.

Cyd Charisse's world caves in once again when she is grounded indefinitely
for staying out too late at Shrimp's. After making everyone miserable, she
is shipped off to "Real Dad's" in New York.

This was one of those read ten pages, go back and start reading it aloud
because it's too much fun not to share books. The eventual reconciliation
between Cyd Charisse and Nancy is a bit saccharine, but otherwise it is the
first winner I've discovered among the early Spring advance copies.

Richie Partington
Richie's Picks