North of Beautiful [Paperback]

Justina Chen Headley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 17, 2010

As he continued to stare, I wanted to point to my cheek and remind him, But you were the one who wanted this, remember? You're the one who asked-and I repeat-Why not fix your face?

It's hard not to notice Terra Cooper.

She's tall, blond, and has an enviable body. But with one turn of her cheek, all people notice is her unmistakably "flawed" face. Terra secretly plans to leave her stifling small town in the Northwest and escape to an East Coast college, but gets pushed off-course by her controlling father. When an unexpected collision puts Terra directly in Jacob's path, the handsome but quirky Goth boy immediately challenges her assumptions about herself and her life, and she is forced in yet another direction. With her carefully laid plans disrupted, will Terra be able to find her true path?

Written in lively, artful prose, award-winning author Justina Chen Headley has woven together a powerful novel about a fractured family, falling in love, travel, and the meaning of true beauty.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up—Terra's body is very nearly perfect, except for the port-wine birthmark on her left cheek, which several surgeries have failed to remove. It is the teen's final semester of high school and she looks forward to college where she can study art and escape from her bullying, verbally abusive father. Over the Christmas holidays, Terra and her mother get into a car accident and meet Jacob, a Goth Chinese boy with a cleft lip, and his adoptive mother. The women immediately strike up a supportive friendship, while Terra and Jacob grow close. When Terra's brother, who lives in Shanghai, sends her and her mother tickets to visit, and Jacob's mother wants to try to track down Jacob's birth mother, they decide to travel together. But what about Erik, Terra's enamored but slightly clueless boyfriend? Headley's ambitious novel is written in a beautifully crafted style that flows seamlessly. The pace is somewhat bogged down in the first half but it quickens when the characters travel to China, where Jacob, Terra, and their mothers begin to confront their insecurities. Terra and Jacob are flawed, complex, and memorable characters. The message that true beauty and strength come from within is dominant, but this is also a moving and satisfying story in its own right.—Amy J. Chow, The Brearley School, New York City
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Sixteen-year-old Terra seems to be a typical high-achieving high-school student. Under her heavy makeup, though, she hides a port-wine colored birthmark on her cheek that makes her feel like an outsider. During yet another attempt to remove the birthmark, Terra runs into Jacob, a gorgeous Goth with a cleft-palette scar. That encounter initiates a transformation in both Terra and her subservient mother. Headley has written an exquisite book that explores the difference between physical and true beauty as Terra and her mother travel from Washington state to China, and from the home of a shame-faced, cruel cartographer into the presence of an adventurous, strong woman and her insightful teenage son. Headley uses map metaphors throughout, even in the activity, geocaching, which helps bond Terra and Jacob in both Washington and China. She also uses Terra’s artistic medium, collage, as a literary device to create layer upon layer of experiences and insights into a artfully written journey of self-discovery, self-actualization, and love. With every carefully chosen word, well-crafted sentence, and fully developed character, Headley maps out a wholly satisfying reading experience that takes readers from terra nullis to terra firma. Grades 9-12. --Frances Bradburn --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (February 17, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316025062
• ISBN-13: 978-0316025065
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #582,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a YA author. My debut novel, NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH (AND A FEW WHITE LIES), won the 2007 Asian Pacific American Award for Literature. My next YA novel, GIRL OVERBOARD, is Junior Library Guild Premier Selection. I also have a picture book, THE PATCH.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best YA books I have ever read, March 7, 2009

By 

Deborah "Books, Movies and Chinese Food" (Fairfax, VA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: North of Beautiful (Hardcover)

The first thing that came to mind after I finished this book was, Wow why haven't I read any books by this author before? This story was such a wonderful read that I couldn't stop once I got started. It wasn't just a YA novel, it was a story that anyone could read, enjoy, and learn from. Terra is a character that will stay with you forever. You felt her pain, as she has to live with this mark on her face, and how she tries to hide it in the beginning to the point where no one knows about it anymore except her and her family. Her struggle with accepting herself is the basis of the book, and the reader is taken along for the heart wrenching yet soul finding ride. Her mother's story is equally as powerful as Terra watches her mother break out of the shell created by Terra's father. Oh man, I really hated Terra's father. Seriously, while I was reading this book I was hoping that he would be killed or something equally as horrible by the end of the book. It's one of the few times where I have felt so strongly against a character. Any kind of abuse is horrible but verbal abuse can be even more painful than physical. There are no bruises or broken bones, but your spirit and soul can be destroyed by words even more than fists. He had to go down as one of the most hated characters for me ever.

I really enjoyed all the geography bits and the geocaching scenes throughout the book. My fiance is a geographical analyst, so all this stuff is right up his alley. I also loved the scenes in China as I would love to visit the country one day. But as like Jacob, I would probably get the same reactions he received, where people assumed he was the one who spoke the language simply because he looked like everyone else. The descriptions of the city made me feel like I was really there. The scene that stuck out to me the most was when Terra meets the little girl at the orphanage. It honestly made me want to cry and when you read it, you might feel the same way too.

Another thing that struck me about this book was that this was one of the very few times I have seen a book that has a relationship between a Caucasian girl and an Asian guy. Even more astounding was that the Asian guy was NOT the normal stereotype of an engineer or a doctor or one with aspirations to be one of the two. Yes he was adopted but he was just a regular normal teenage guy who happened to be Asian. It's very rare to read about this in a book, as it's not the norm even in real life. I was very glad to see the stereotype be broken though.

I'm going to have to go back and read the rest of Justina's books now after reading this one. This one was a joy to read and honestly one of the best YA books I've ever read. Such a poignant and beautiful story. HIGHLY recommended.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What is beautiful?, February 26, 2010

By 

Cathe Fein Olson "Avid reader and writer" (curled up with a book) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: North of Beautiful (Paperback)

(What's this?)

I really liked this story of Terra, a high school senior, who is blond and beautiful, except for a disfiguring birthmark on her cheek, which she tries to cover up with layers of makeup. She has a boyfriend who is definitely not her soul mate but she stays with him because she doesn't think she could get anyone else and everyone tells her how lucky she is to have him. In addition to her own struggles, she is constantly trying to protect her mother from her father -- who is not physically abusive but worse, verbally abusive. The characters really came to life for me in this book and I enjoyed the story immensely. Terra is an artist and I loved hearing about the collages she was creating. Also, interesting was the information about geocatching and maps. In the end, the growth and changes in Terra and her mother were realistic as well as satisfying. I highly recommend this book for teens as well as adults.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I didn't want this book to end, September 9, 2010

By 

Sandra Trolinger "trolsgirl" (New Braunfels, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: North of Beautiful (Paperback)

(What's this?)

This book stayed with me after I finished reading it and the author is extremely talented at showing emotions of teenagers dealing with family, love and what the meaning of beauty is to different people dealing with physical and emotional scars.
The main character, Terra Cooper, has dealt with having a "flawed face" her entire life and is so good at hiding it that she pushes her emotions down deep to deal with her physical appearance and people's reactions to it including her family members and total strangers.
To compensate for her red-stained birthmark on her right cheek she covers it with makeup and overcompensates with exercise to make sure her body is in peak physical condition hoping to make others see past her "flaw" as others stare and sometimes make cruel remarks.
Her family is fractured and her dad is verbally abusive to both her and her mother and her older brothers. Her brothers left home and rarely return for visits because of their father's demeaning and cutting remarks and Terra is the last one left at home to help shield her mother from her dad's wrath.
Terra meets a Goth Chinese boy, Jacob, with whom she feels a deep kinship and their relationship slowly blossoms into something more but Terra is terrified to let herself trust it as it means letting him see how her family truly is and how different her version of life could be if she could open up and stand up for herself and her mom.
The book is meant for ages 12 and up but the character of Terra is so skillfully narrated that I never felt this was a book just meant for teenagers. This coming of age story shows how beauty is not only skin deep but ingrained inside ourselves and how others view us and acceptance can transform a lifetime of hurt. I look forward to other novels by Justina Headley and her unique prose and hope she has a long career ahead of her.