Gadget Girl: The Art of Being Invisible by Suzanne KamataPublication: May 17th 2013
Genre: YA Contemporary
Synopsis:
ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS meets STONER AND SPAZ
Aiko Cassidy is fourteen and lives with her sculptor mother in a small Midwestern town. For most of her young life Aiko, who has cerebral palsy, has been her mother's muse. But now, she no longer wants to pose for the sculptures that have made her mother famous and have put food on the table. Aiko works hard on her own dream of becoming a great manga artist with a secret identity. When Aiko's mother invites her to Paris for a major exhibition of her work, Aiko at first resists. She'd much rather go to Japan, Manga Capital of the World, where she might be able to finally meet her father, the indigo farmer. When she gets to France, however, a hot waiter with a passion for manga and an interest in Aiko makes her wonder if being invisible is such a great thing after all. And a side trip to Lourdes, ridiculous as it seems to her, might just change her life.
Gadget Girl began as a novella published in Cicada. The story won the SCBWI Magazine Merit Award in Fiction and was included in an anthology of the best stories published in Cicada over the
Aiko Cassidy is fourteen and lives with her sculptor mother in a small Midwestern town. For most of her young life Aiko, who has cerebral palsy, has been her mother's muse. But now, she no longer wants to pose for the sculptures that have made her mother famous and have put food on the table. Aiko works hard on her own dream of becoming a great manga artist with a secret identity. When Aiko's mother invites her to Paris for a major exhibition of her work, Aiko at first resists. She'd much rather go to Japan, Manga Capital of the World, where she might be able to finally meet her father, the indigo farmer. When she gets to France, however, a hot waiter with a passion for manga and an interest in Aiko makes her wonder if being invisible is such a great thing after all. And a side trip to Lourdes, ridiculous as it seems to her, might just change her life.
Gadget Girl began as a novella published in Cicada. The story won the SCBWI Magazine Merit Award in Fiction and was included in an anthology of the best stories published in Cicada over the
past ten years.
Review:
When I found out about Gadget Girl, I was intrigued. Not only did it sound different than a lot of YA books out there, I consider myself somewhat of a Gadget Girl!
From the first chapter I was hooked on the story, of course I have to admit that was in part by the fact the the Magna character, Gadget Girl's real name was Lisa. There are times throughout the book that I even forgot that Aiko had cerebral palsy, I was drawn in more by the storyline and her take on situations. She was so caught up about her disability and her estranged father in Japan that she didn't take time to remember was was important or to acknowledge situations going on around her. Aiko seemed to want to live in the manga comic books she created and not in her own life. Her only hope came from her best friend Whitney in Michigan who suggested she visit a grotto with healing powers when her Mother announced they were spending the summer in Paris. Her point of view changed thanks to boy named Herve.
While in Paris, Aiko experienced the sights, sounds and smells of Paris but that is not all. She met, Herve who didn't see her as a girl with a cerebral palsy but a beautiful young woman with talent. Aiko realized that she needed to forgive in order to live. I think a lot of people could benefit from this lesson.
This book had a wonderful array of family, friends, romance and adventure.
I give this the Gadget & Book World Stamp of approval and would recommend it to anyone.
Lisa @ GadgetsNBooks
When I found out about Gadget Girl, I was intrigued. Not only did it sound different than a lot of YA books out there, I consider myself somewhat of a Gadget Girl!
From the first chapter I was hooked on the story, of course I have to admit that was in part by the fact the the Magna character, Gadget Girl's real name was Lisa. There are times throughout the book that I even forgot that Aiko had cerebral palsy, I was drawn in more by the storyline and her take on situations. She was so caught up about her disability and her estranged father in Japan that she didn't take time to remember was was important or to acknowledge situations going on around her. Aiko seemed to want to live in the manga comic books she created and not in her own life. Her only hope came from her best friend Whitney in Michigan who suggested she visit a grotto with healing powers when her Mother announced they were spending the summer in Paris. Her point of view changed thanks to boy named Herve.
While in Paris, Aiko experienced the sights, sounds and smells of Paris but that is not all. She met, Herve who didn't see her as a girl with a cerebral palsy but a beautiful young woman with talent. Aiko realized that she needed to forgive in order to live. I think a lot of people could benefit from this lesson.
This book had a wonderful array of family, friends, romance and adventure.
I give this the Gadget & Book World Stamp of approval and would recommend it to anyone.
Lisa @ GadgetsNBooks
AUTHOR BIO
Five-time Pushcart Prize nominee Suzanne Kamata is the author of the novels Gadget Girl: The Art of Being Invisible (GemmaMedia, 2013) and Losing Kei (Leapfrog Press, 2008), and editor of three anthologies - The Broken Bridge: Fiction from Expatriates in Literary Japan, Love You to Pieces: Creative Writers on Raising a Child with Special Needs, and Call Me Okaasan: Adventures in Multicultural Mothering (Wyatt-Mackenzie Publishing, 2009). Her short fiction and essays have appeared widely. She is the Fiction Co-editor of literarymama.com.
Author Links:
Website: http://www.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/
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