Mango-Shaped Space [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

Gr. 6-10. This contemporary novel does for synesthesia what Terry Hesser's Kissing Doorknobs (1998) does for obsessive-compulsive disorder: the lively personal story demystifies a fascinating condition. For 13-year-old Mia Winchell, the world has always been filled with a wonderful, if sometimes dizzying, sensory onslaught--numbers, letters, words, and sounds all cause her to see a distinct array of colors. She keeps her unusual condition a secret until eighth grade, but then her color visions make math and Spanish impossibly confusing, and she must go to her parents and a doctor for help. However, this is more than a docu-novel. Mass beautifully integrates information about synesthesia with Mia's coming-of-age story, which includes her break with her best friend and her grief over her grandfather's death. The episode where Mia fabricates an illness to try out acupuncture for the color visions it produces is marvelously done, showing Mia's eagerness for new experiences even as it describes a synesthete's vision. References to a comprehensive Web site and bibliography about synesthesia are included. Debbie Carton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Grade 5-8-Mia, 13, has always seen colors in sounds, numbers, and letters, a fact she has kept secret since the day she discovered that other people don't have this ability. Then she discovers that she has a rare condition called synesthesia, which means that the visual cortex in her brain is activated when she hears something. From then on, she leads a kind of double life-she eagerly attends research gatherings with other synesthetes and devours information about the condition, but continues to struggle at school, where her inadvertent pairing of particular colors with numbers and words makes math and French almost impossible to figure out. Her gradual abandonment of her frustrating school life in favor of the compelling world of fellow synesthetes and the unique things only they can experience seems quite logical, although readers may feel like shaking some sense into her. Finally, and rather abruptly, her extreme guilt at her beloved cat Mango's illness brings her back down to earth and she begins to work on some of the relationships she let crumble. Mia's voice is believable and her description of the vivid world she experiences, filled with slashes, blurs, and streaks of color, is fascinating. Not all of the many characters are necessary to the story, and some of the plot elements go unresolved, but Mia's unique way of experiencing the world is intriguing.
Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

When Wendy Mass was growing up, she wanted to be an astronaut. But since she got carsick in her mom's station wagon, she decided to go against it. Several ideas later, she resolved to write books for teenagers. She has written several non-fiction books and short stories for magazines, and has also co-founded a teenage literary magazine, Writes of Passage. She graduated from Tufts University, earned an M.A. in English from California State University, Long Beach, and a Docotorate of Letters from Drew University. Ms. Mass lives in Chatham, New Jersey. This is her first novel.

Wendy Mass can be reached by email at mangobook@aol.com, but don't ask if she sees letters or numbers in colors because she does not. Although she wishes she does.