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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Fledgling author Adam Bagdasarian surprisingly follows up his grim, highly lauded first novel Forgotten Fire with a series of humorous, autobiographical sketches about his childhood and adolescence from ages 5 to 20. Bagdasarian is at his funniest when commenting on the trials and torments of puberty, especially when it comes to the opposite sex. In the title story, sixth-grader "Will" (the thinly disguised author) discovers that French kissing doesn't just happen: "I tried to find a way to kiss her and breathe at the same time, but no matter where I turned my head, her nose was always there." And in "Going Steady" Will realizes that dating a seventh-grade girl is going to require diplomacy when she "handed me a small white stuffed unicorn with silver glitter on its horn ... as though it were a baseball signed by Willie Mays, and I took it as though it were a poison apple." Beyond dating drama, Bagdasarian's teen self also explores the idea of old age and death. In "A Short Life," he melodramatically fantasizes a lump on his head is a tumor and he will probably die before seeing Europe, and in the more serious "My Tutor," he is moved to tears by an aged geometry teacher who can no longer remember, let alone teach, familiar proofs. By turns witty, ridiculous, and poignant (the stories about Bagdasarian's much beloved father are among the more touching pieces) First French Kiss is a short, sweet collection that teenagers of all ages will read with pleasure and recognition. (Ages 13 and older) --Jennifer Hubert
From Publishers Weekly
This volume of brief, sparely wrought stories encapsulates significant moments during a boy's youth. Writing alternately in the voice of the boy, Will, and in third person, Bagdasarian (Forgotten Fire) poignantly re-creates universal "traumas," both minor and major. Some vignettes are humorous, such as Will's account of his disappointingly unromantic first make-out session, his memory of being Scotch-taped by his older brother and his explanation of how he became one of the "popular boys" at age 10. Other scenes, more somber in tone, evoke Will's recurring fears and expanding knowledge of mortality. The narrator's obsession with the aging process, eloquently expressed in "Time" ("His heart was sick with sorrow and nostalgia and grief and the knowledge that even this moment was doomed to pass"), foreshadows the death of Will's father. Although the entries are not arranged in chronological order, readers will perceive Will's steady forward movement. And if the shifts between first and third person don't enhance the storytelling, the narrative is nonetheless evocative in its entwinement of childlike candor with adult wisdom. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Sean Owens, Mike Dichter, Uncle Bob, Beverly Hills, Linda Lieban, Allan Shipman, Mitch Brockman, Camp Bob, Chris Block New!
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Sean Owens, Mike Dichter, Uncle Bob, Beverly Hills, Linda Lieban, Allan Shipman, Mitch Brockman, Camp Bob, Chris Block New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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