Vendu A Mango-Shaped Space by Mass, Wendy NEUF

Gr. 6-10. This contemporary novel does for synesthesia what Terry Hessers 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 colours. She keeps her unusual condition a secret until eighth grade, but then her colour 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 Mias coming-of-age story, which includes her break with her best friend and her grief over her grandfathers death. The episode where Mia fabricates an illness to try out acupuncture for the colour visions it produces is marvellously done, showing Mias eagerness for new experiences even as it describes a synesthetes vision. References to a comprehensive Web site and bibliography about synesthesia are included. Debbie Carton Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.