Because of Anya [Paperback]

Margaret Peterson Haddix (Author)

Book Description

Ten-year-old girls don't wear wigs.

So why is Anya wearing one? That's what Keely wants to know. But when Anya's wig falls off in front of the whole class, Keely realizes what she really wants is to help Anya, even though she's not sure how -- and even though it means she'll have to do something she's afraid of: stand up to her friends.

As for Anya, she just wants her hair to grow back, but no one can tell her whether it ever will. How can she learn to accept her disease when she can't even look in the mirror?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Haddix (Among the Hidden) returns with a short but often informative tale of ordinary girls facing exceptional circumstances. "Could someone be beautiful with ugly hair? Or-no hair?" wonders 10-year old Anya as she confronts her image in her bedroom mirror. When the first small bald patch shows up on Anya's head, it seems like a small thing, but as the bald patches grow and her hair falls out in clumps, she's diagnosed with an auto-immune disease. At first she thinks. "Whatever alopecia areata was couldn't be too bad, because it was such a pretty name.... It should be one of the ladies in King Arthur's court." All too soon, however, she's wearing a wig, and her classmates Keely, Stef, Tonya and Nicole are wondering if she has cancer. Then the unthinkable occurs: her wig falls off during gym, seemingly pulled off by Stef, the most popular (and bossiest) girl in school. The humiliation is almost too much to bear but Keely, usually only too happy to follow Stef's lead, reaches out to her classmate; Anya gains the courage to accept her condition and the joys of unexpected friendship. Haddix successfully chooses two viewpoints, Anya's (victim) and Keely's (observer), to examine the effects of alopecia, but she oversimplifies Anya's and Keely's relationships to the other girls. The examination of the disease and its accompanying medical information, while useful, takes too much precedence over the development of the friendship. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

School Library Journal A poignant story of discovery.

Kirkus Reviews The author's sympathetic but not simplistic insight will engage readers.

Denver Post & Rocky Mountain News Haddix's story is straightforward and compassionate without being preachy or maudlin.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (April 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689869932
• ISBN-13: 978-0689869938
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #337,214 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I grew up on a farm outside Washington Court House, Ohio. As a kid, I liked to read a lot, and was also involved in 4-H, various bands and choirs (I played flute and piano), church youth group, the school newspaper, and a quiz-bowl type team. I was pretty disastrous as an athlete, although I did run track one year in high school. After graduating from Miami University (of Ohio), I worked as a newspaper copy editor in Fort Wayne, Indiana; a newspaper reporter in Indianapolis; and a part-time community college instructor and freelance writer in Danville, Illinois, before my first book was published. I've moved around a lot as an adult, having also lived in Luxembourg (during a college semester abroad) and in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania. Several years ago, I moved back to Ohio with my husband and kids; we now live in Columbus, Ohio. My husband trains investigative journalists, and my kids are in high school, so there's always a lot going on around our house.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I can relate..., June 16, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Because of Anya (Hardcover)

I can totally relate to this book. I have this disease, and I cried through the entire thing. I felt every single emotion described, and I think it's great for kids to read to raise awareness.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bald Child, April 23, 2007

By 

A. Luciano (Lowell, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Because of Anya (Paperback)

Anya, a fourth-grader, has a rare but not very serious medical condition that causes all of her hair to fall out. She doesn't want anyone to know, so after Christmas she returns to school wearing a wig that was designed to look exactly like her hair used to look. Anya is terrified at the thought that someone will find out she is bald.

Keely is an insecure girl in Anya's class. She hangs around with Stef, the most popular girl in their class, and she usually does whatever Stef wants her to do. Stef has noticed something funny about Anya's hair and suspects that she is wearing a wig. She wants Keely to tug on it to find out for sure, and to find out what is wrong with her. Keely is convinced that Anya must have cancer or some other awful disease, and she doesn't want to make things any worse for the girl. For the first time she can remember, Keely doesn't do exactly what Stef wants.

But somehow everyone finds out anyway, and Anya is mortified that her secret is out. Is there anything Keely can do to make her feel better?

I liked that Anya had a condition that wasn't potentially fatal; it caused disigurement but no pain and no death. This kept the focus on her humiliation and helplessness instead of putting the focus on a fight to survive.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Because of Anya, March 8, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Because of Anya (Paperback)

Have you ever had a problem that just wouldn't go away? Anya did, she has alopecia areata. Alopecia areata is a rare disease that means that you're allergic to your own hair. Steph, a mean girl in school, and her crew think that she has cancer. Absolutely nothing will stand in their way of finding out the well known question, why is Anya wearing a wig? In Because of Anya, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, Anya finds out the hard way what it is like to have no hair. When Keely, Steph's friend, tries to talk to Anya, Anya does not know why, but she tries in every way possible to not let her secret get out to anyone. Will it go to far? Will the secret get out? If so, how? What will they think of her? Find out by reading the absolutely amazing book by Margaret Peterson Haddix, Because of Anya.