Customer Reviews

Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall

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Imagine a fluorescent orange dodgeball. A dodgeball doesn't do a lot of damage...or does it? Now picture it hurling toward you at rapid speed, and you are glued to the floor, unable to move. Then you're hit, falling to the ground and blacking out. You think you are dead, but you're not, since you're at your favorite mall where you spent most of your time over the years. You have a chance so you can see some choices you made to lead to the mall. This is what happened to Tessa Reynolds, who is the main character in Heaven Looks a Lot like the Mall, by Wendy Mass, which was published just one month ago. Here is the opening paragraph to the novel:

"For fifty cents and a Gobstopper,
I lifted my shirt for the neighborhood boys.
My oldest brother Matt caught us
and chased the boys with a Wiffle bat.
Word got around, and at nine years old
I became the girl
other girls' moms
didn't want them to play with."

This book is unusual because it is written in verse. Normally that would be a story that I'd think it was boring, but this is written and a very simple, easy to follow way. I thought of this like going from elementary school to middle school. Elementary school was okay, but still enjoyable. Middle school is new, different, and more exciting. When I read the first few chapters, I paid attention to the verse often. After a while, I got caught up into the plot, and forgot about the format, written in verse.

"Nail Boy starts taking each object
out of the bag and lining them up
on the counter.

"A white fluffy teddy bear with a red bow around the neck..."
"A box of assorted crayons..."
"A roll of toilet paper..."

"Before me is an odd assortment of my stuff,
most of which I haven't seen or thought of
in years. `What's so special
about these particular things?'

"He holds up the bag. `I'm giving you a chance
to visit the choices you made. The choices
that led you here and-`

`I'm here because someone
fired a dodgeball at my head.'"

This passage shows Tessa discovering the bag of items she bought from the mall. The author's creativity connected the items in the bag to choices Tessa made up to the present. At first, the objects are obscure and innocuous, but Tessa, as well as the readers, soon find their significance. She finds that each item is also related to a store in the mall and to an event in her life. Another reason I loved this book is because of the chapter titles, which related the items with the store Tessa bought it from. Also, on the cover, the author used actual store fonts for the words! Even if the ending in much anticipated and the theme was obvious, I still enjoyed this book so much. Wendy Mass does a wonderful job making the readers feel for Tessa, even id she's not always the most likable person.
In the end, Tessa reevaluated her life when she woke up from her coma from all her mistakes and right actions, knew she should become a better person. She also answered her Big Question, which was "why didn't I duck when the ball came at me?" Tessa knew that there are consequences for her actions, and that she would now live her life differently, yet better.

I strongly recommend this book
because of the chapter titles, the
verse forms, the connections
of ordinary objects, but
most of all,
it's so funny!

It's your choice to
duck when a dodgeball
is hurling towards you,
or do nothing
at
all.

When 16-year-old Tessa sees the orange dodgeball flying at her from across her high school gym, it never even occurs to her to duck. Soon after, she finds herself floating towards heaven, which looks just like the mall where her parents work and where she has spent a good deal of her life.

She is led to the Lost and Found, where she is given a bag of items: items that she has taken home from the mall during her lifetime, and each item takes her on a journey to her past. She relives several memories, many of which she'd rather forget, and she realizes that it is up to her to sort through her life up until the moment the dodgeball hits her and finally answer the most important question of all.

I really enjoyed HEAVEN LOOKS A LOT LIKE THE MALL, and would definitely recommend it, especially to fans of stories like A CHRISTMAS CAROL. It is written in verse, but if that's not your thing, don't let it stop you! About a quarter of the way through the story I stopped noticing the verse because I was so engrossed in the story, and Wendy Mass does a wonderful job making the reader feel for Tessa, even if she's not always the most likeable person.

Whether you're looking for a fun summer read, an interesting verse novel, or a deeper story about life and death, you shouldn't miss HEAVEN LOOKS A LOT LIKE THE MALL.

Reviewed by: Andie Z.

Are you in the market for a great read? Well, if you are, then look no further than Heaven is A Lot like the Mall by Wendy Mass. This newly released fictional novel takes the reader on a near death experience with the main character Tess. Tess is a high school junior who has really been letting good life experiences pass her by, and in the process, has failed to figure out who she truly is as a person. In the tradition of Dickens' Christmas Carol, Tess has to maneuver her way through heaven's mall to remember and uncover the meaning of her life thus far with only a bag full of objects and a boy with a gruesome head injury for guidance. This book was nonstop read as I wanted to know what each item in Tess' shopping bag represented. It was also fun to relate to some of Tess' memories; like a first hair cut, making and losing friends, and shopping for prom dresses. Mass' poetic style also made the book a quick read, but not necessarily an easy one. The reader really had an opportunity to dig beneath the surface and try to understand the lessons life teaches. For readers who enjoy a deeper meaning to a story, but also one depicted with a great style and sense of humor, than Tess and her celestial mall is the book for you!

HEAVEN LOOKS A LOT LIKE THE MALL is a terrific novel-in-verse about a teen girl who gets hit by a dodgeball and injured and finds her life (at the mall!) flashing before her eyes. My 7th grade girls recommended this one to me, and I loved it just as much as they did!

"Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall" is written in verse. The story is told by Tessa, who is in gym class when hit brutally to the head by a dodgeball. She falls into a coma and finds herself in so-called 'heaven', which is very similar to the mall. She's taken back through time and sees past memories of her doing things like stealing and cheating on tests.
This book is absolutely stunning. I love how Mass makes the story humorous and clever while telling stories of Tessa. Teens will definitely enjoy "Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall".

The only author I know who writes in verse is Sonya Sones, but I haven't read anything by her in a long time, so it's interesting to pick up something poetically styled.

When Tessa gets knocked out by a dodge-ball in gym class, she finds herself in Heaven, which looks a lot like her mall. She drifts in and out of the mall, not knowing whether she's dead or in a coma. Nail Boy, who's supposed to be her guide through Mall Heaven, suddenly appears in her reality/coma state and unplugs the oxygen tank. That's when Tessa gets a chance too look at how her life has been since her birth, the things she's done, and the choices she's made.

It's A Christmas Carol kind of topic where the main character is a pretty unlikable person and has done some bad things in the past. And don't forget the Ghost of the Past, who's the one that takes the main character through her early years and lets her see what happened that turned things around. Even though it's not an original storyline, I simply loved it. Who doesn't like revisiting the past and looking at all the wrongs you've made and wishing you could make it all better with a time machine? I think about the time machine practically ten times a day where I try to envision how the "perfect scenario" could have been played out.

I can't say much about the verse because I'm not much of a poetry person, but even I know it flows. It still maintains the essentials of a good book, but more condensed so that nothing is just a "detail" anymore, but a line that connects everything. You still get the Tessa's opinionated voice and a bit of her attitude. If written in novel format, I probably wouldn't have liked at as much as I do now. The character is pretty blunt and straightforward, so it's suitable to match the character with verse.

Although the beginning is kind of awkward, because it seems weird that Tessa actually sees herself getting knocked out by a dodge ball and then floats to Heaven, and it says she doesn't really notice herself. I don't know--that doesn't make sense to me. But, once the book shifts to Tessa's past, it gets so much better. The author does an amazing job of getting the reader to sympathize with the character, and making sure that readers REALLY understand why everything is the way it is. Just like that guy who turned Mr. Scrooge into a good man at the end. You get the gist. Just that this is less elderly, more teenager-y with angst and real-life situations mixed with bad decision-making.

This is divided in three sections: Tessa's elementary school days, middle school, and high school. My favorite section is probably elementary school and middle school. Every chapter--with a store's name, like Sephora, etc.--details why Tessa is the girl she is today, and it's so heartbreaking/incredibly funny to read because of the things she's done in the past. Most people don't remember what they're like as kids, but I'm sure none of us were angels. And that's Tessa. She's lied, she's stolen, she's smoked, and etc. During the entire time I was reading the book, my heart just went out to the girl. She's made so many mistakes, but it's not the kind that makes you say, "God, what a stupid thing to do." It's the kind that makes you say, "I know why you did it. I probably would have done the same thing." Because given the situation, the age, and how you've been raised (with a mother who's constantly criticizing how you look and eat, who wouldn't go nuts with lies and rebellion?) you really would have done it without another thought. That's what makes this book so heartbreaking: sometimes, you wish you could have stuck to your moral thoughts and done the right thing, but most of the time, you end up doing the complete opposite. Not because you're a hateful person, but because it's so hard to be right all the time. The author has really captured Tessa's character. If I put myself in her shoes, there's a 90% chance that I'd react the same way as her. I might not have smoked, but I would've stolen Rick's eggs to get that A, and I would've pretended I didn't know anything when I broke the green crayon. But who knows? Maybe that's exactly what I did back when I was 6, 7, 8 years old.

Wendy Mass is an exceptional YA author. Even if she's not on the bestselling list, all of her novels have been great. She likes to write about things that aren't of the norm, which is so refreshing that you can't help but love and learn from her books. And authors, like actors, should always test themselves with challenges. (First the topic of synesthesia in her debut novel, then her Leap Year plot with multiple POVs, and now, something in verse.) This book took her two years to complete because of the verse, so I'm hoping her next imaginative tale won't take nearly as long.

this book is filled with many stories and life changing experiences of a young girl. when an unexpected twist occurs and tessa falls off a rope in gym class. I thought it was really cool how the author put all these different memories and flashbacks of tessa's life while she was infact in the mall re-living her past. Some of her memories include her first kiss and her very fisrt tank top at abercrombie. i loved this book and recommend itfor anyone who could go for a good laugh.

Wendy Mass is an amazing author, and this book is yet another piece of evidence to prove this. I love the way this book was able to capture little stories, like little pieces of life, and put them into every-day objects. These objects were then analyzed in the book to find out the true story behind each seamingly worthless object. A very well written, compelling read. Two thumbs up!

When Tessa saw that bright orange dodgeball flying toward her it never clicked in her head to duck. Soon enough she finds her self in heaven which actually looks like a mall that she is very familiar with. When she gets to heaven she is lead to the lost and found and finds items that she has brought home from the mall in her past. Whether she remembers them or not they all have meaning.

Wendy Mass does a wonderful job capturing her audience. It is almost exactly like high school. She really reels in the reader with her flavor of writing. At first I noticed that the novel is written in verses but then I forgot all about it because I was so into the book.

I would recommend this book to any one who enjoys a nice easy read but a juicy book. I think teenage girls would enjoy this book the most. It is definitly a book that anyone would be able to read and enjoy. Just pick it up and give it a try.

I just finished reading "Heaven Looks a Lot like The Mall" and it was very funny. I liked how you learned about everything that she had brought in the mall and that it had a special purpose. Like the light blue prom dress, everything had a meaning. Well I hope Heaven does look like the mall cause I could wear stuff thats like a 24,000 fur coat from Saks and never have to pay for it. But I think the "Mall Manager"(a.k.a GOD!!) would probably stop me!!