“Her words take me by surprise. No one’s ever wanted to be like me. Heck, until very recently, I didn’t even want to be like me.”‬
‪This book is about so much more than a beauty pageant... family, friends, and learning to ♥️ yourself. You’ll end up cheering Vanessa on too! #MGlit

A lovely portrait of young womanhood. I loved Vanessa's fresh, honest, unique voice. Recommended!!

This is a great middle grade/YA novel! I love the setting and the time period of the early-mid 80's. I've never seen any fiction about the impact of Vanessa Williams as our fist Black Miss America and this is a refreshing way that it's being represented. I will be recommending this book. Please keep publishing books like this.

This book didn’t grab me in the way I expected it to. It was slow to start. I can see my students really enjoying it, though I wasn’t a huge fan.

Character driven coming of age story of thirteen year old Vanessa, who is growing up in the projects with her bitter father, loving but alcoholic grandfather, and teenage brother. This is also the year that Vanessa Williams became the first African American to win the Miss America Contest. Several subplots explore Vanessa's quest to know who her mother was, who her new music teach is, and who her brother will be. All this as she finds her herself. Love this book.

I wanted to love this book, but, as a Puerto Rican, I can't. Why are all the Puerto Rican characters portrayed in such a negative light? This book has a lot going for it, but I just can't get over that.

Like Vanessa

by Tami Charles

Charlesbridge

Children’s Fiction , Middle Grade

Pub Date 13 Mar 2018

I am reviewing a copy of Like Vanessa through Charlesbridge and Netgalley:

This semi autobiographical novel Like Vanessa is set in public housing in Newark New Jersey. Vanessa Martin’s life is a far cry from Vanessa Williams the first African American women to stand on the stage and be crowned Miss America.

Vanessa struggles with a Mother she doesn’t really know, a Grandfather whose an alcoholic as well as a battle with self confidence. A new teacher ends up setting up a pageant which helps Vanessa gain self confidence and perhaps find out more about herself and her family.

I would definitely recommend Like Vanessa to the Middle grade girl in your life.

Five out of five stars!

Happy Reading

Thanks for the link -- here's our feature and interview
http://www.fromthemixedupfiles.com/2018/03/interview-tami-charles-author-vanessa/

Like Vanessa is a lovely confection of a book, perfect for middle-grade readers. Not too dense, but substantial enough to not be forgettable.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

What an excellent historical fiction middle grade book, and from a debut author, too!

To me, this is a book about relationships. The relationship that Vanessa has with her own body, with each member of her family, with her friends (and enemies), and the world around her are central themes. It's a story in which many little girls who want to part of a beauty pageant growing up will see themselves, and yet the issue of race adds a unique perspective with challenges that many readers likely haven't considered before.

I would definitely recommend adding this book to a middle school collection. There is so much to learn, and discuss, from the subject matter it addresses, and the writing makes it extremely enjoyable to read.

Thank you to Charlesbridge Publishing and Netgalley for the free advance Kindle copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 for this amazing, important story by Tami Charles . Vanessa Martin is given hope when Vanessa Williams becomes the first black woman to win the Miss America pageant. Even though her own mom, a former beauty queen, has left her family in the projects of Newark, Vanessa still dreams of competing in pageants. Constantly told that she is too dark and too big, she almost doesn’t even try out for her middle school’s pageant. With the help of her family and a special teacher, she is able to see that her own inner and outer beauty is just right. This is such an important story and should be in all library collections. Library friends - this is out TOMORROW 🙌🏻 (3/13/18), so be sure to add it to your collections. I already have a few readers in mind for this one!

This wonderful story is about Vanessa who wants to be Miss America. She learns to find her own beauty and her own voice from her family and a trusted advisor as well as try to find out some of the things her family has been keeping from her. This will find an excellent audience in middle school and high school girls.

Like Vanessa is a middle school grad novel about a girl named Vanessa. She feels trapped in her own world and has dreams to be like Vanessa Williams, the first black woman to win Miss America. She spends her days at school trying to stay unnoticed and confides her feelings in her diary called Darlene. Though she lives with family she feels slightly disconnected with them and longs for her mother who left and has never returned. The book has a smooth and almost lyrical narrative. Each section/chapter starts off with a diary entry from Vanessa, and then verse/poem such as this:

"Every night, I’m gonna whisper this poem to the wind. And just maybe those words will turn into reality. Make me beautiful. Free me from the darkness that makes the outside world see me as less than pretty . Take me back to the place where I was once happy. Because here in this jungle, there ain’t nothing but weeds and tears and dreams trapped beneath the asphalt."

Vanessa reads a lot of Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou and its feel reflected not only in her diary, but throughout the narrative.

Vanessa’s story of winning the pageant is not only a journey of self discovery of the woman she wants to become but also a journey of self-love. She shows us that it’s not always easy to love yourself since people have a tendency to pick out all of their faults. She also shows readers to cherish what gifts you have. It’s a heartwarming book sometimes tinged with sadness but it left me feeling wholesome.

I loved the overall theme of the story, how realistic the characters are and how smoothly the plot progresses. It gives readers a message about beauty standards:

"You can’t buy beauty or pray for it to come in the form of what you see on the television screen. Beauty is just something you gotta be."

I normally don’t like verse within a novel but I felt it really added to the general writing style and narrative. The author does a great job of creating a richly diverse book with a strong narrative. I love how she took her own experiences of participating in pageant shows as source material and based characters off of people she knew. It made the story more personal.

This novel is an amazing coming of age story for our modern young adults. Not only does Vanessa grapple with the typical teenage issues like fitting in, being easily embarrassed, etc., but she also has to deal with being a young girl living in a pretty rough neighborhood and navigating her world without a mother figure in her life. All of these things are tough enough, but couple that with her low self-esteem and you find a young lady who has developed significant social issues and an unrelenting fear of water. This book was written for little black girls everywhere who have ever felt too dark, too tall, too big, or just too out of place. They need this book and it's wisdom. It has been long overdue.

I had the opportunity to read a digital ARC of this middle grade novel from NetGalley in exchange for this review. I was drawn to this story because the main character, Vanessa Martin, dreams of one day becoming Miss America after Vanessa Williams becomes the first black woman to win the crown in 1983. I was thirteen and an eighth grader in 1983 also, and so absolutely gobbled up all the cultural references sprinkled throughout the book.
I also remember what it was like to be that age, when other kids could be so snotty and mean to those who weren’t popular or good-looking like them. Vanessa studies hard to get good grades, would rather read a good book than run around with the popular girls, and has an awesome voice from singing in her church choir every Sunday. When her choir teacher, Mrs. Walton, pushes her to enter the First Annual Miss King Middle School Pageant, Vanessa reluctantly agrees to give it her best shot. It isn’t easy for her because her father is adamant that he does not want her to participate, her mother left the family many years before, and her grandfather (Pop Pop) and cousin (TJ) are the only ones at home to help her prepare.
The author does a good job of capturing the adolescent voice and drama of Vanessa’s character. I remember how terrifying it could be to sing for an audition on a stage in front of half the school, many of whom are whispering and giggling. Vanessa goes through so much during the preparations for this pageant: the pain of her family’s heartache from her mother’s absence, the growing pains of friendships being strained, and trying to become the kind of girl who wins competitions like this pageant. I love that kids from all backgrounds will be able to recognize themselves in Vanessa’s story. I think this would be a great book to share with kids in grades six and up.

I don’t care about pagents but I cared about Vanessa, and that’s an indication of how compelling this book is. It tackles tough topics without being preachy or heavy handed. I loved it!

I cannot say enough about this story. If you are looking for impactful culturally diverse YA, this is your book! I was totally immersed in the MC's life from the first few pages. Everything I want to rave about would be a spoiler, so this is a very short review.

Vanessa Martin's life is very different from that of Vanessa Williams. After seeing Williams crowned as the first black Miss America in 1984, Vanessa sees this as a source of hope in her own life. She lives in a struggling neighborhood with her uncommunicative father and her sometimes inebriated grandfather, since her mother is not in the picture. Vanessa tries to make sense of her world by writing in a diary she has named Darlene, and tries to imagine a better life for herself, but isn't quite sure where to start. When a teacher at school, Mrs. Walton, approaches Vanessa to enter a beauty pageant, she is very surprised. She is heavy, doesn't dress well, and is very dark skinned, and none of those things say "beauty queen" in Vanessa's world. Even her friend Tanisha, who is more interested in basketball lately, is a bit surprised. Vanessa is an excellent singer and a good student, and Mrs. Walton assures her that those are the two most crucial aspects of the pageant; the rest can be worked on. With the help of her cousin TJ, she learns to walk in heels, takes better care of her skin and hair, and starts to dress a bit more fashionably. She has a rocky relationship with Beatriz, another pageant contestant, and finds out more information about the elusive mother whom she misses. The pageant itself is not easy, but with some surprising reveals from Mrs. Walton, Vanessa learns to trust that her own abilities and motivation are enough to make a better life for herself.

Strengths: This book works for middle school or high school, which I really appreciate. Students today don't realize how very different things were in the 1980s, and there really isn't a whole lot of historical fiction covering this period, and although there are plenty of books written during that time, few cover the black experience. The inclusion and treatment of topics such as TJ's sexuality, perception of appearance, importance of church, and child abuse make this book a layered tour de force of Important Topics delivered with a sparkly layer of lip gloss! That's a good combination, especially for middle school students who may not be as accustomed to reading about social issues.

Weaknesses: The font on the cover could have so easily been a cool 1980s one. There are SO many. There could have been a few more 1980s details. I was uncomfortable with how much Vanessa's success was tied to her appearance, but that is absolutely true of the time period. It may take some explaining to students.

What I really think: This is a must purchase for middle schools and high schools, and will find a wide variety of readers. As for the importance of appearances-- perhaps we need a little more of that in the world today, if only so students would wear jeans instead of leggings or track pants to school! I was always able to go right from school, in my skirts or dresses, to work in the So-Fro Fabrics in the mall! (Below: I actually made the ensemble on the left in a turquoise cotton with a cream eyelet pinafore. And I wore it to school. And no one laughed. Different times. Image from Etsy. Probably a Simplicity pattern.)

Simply excellent. I set this book down and immediately began the ordering process to purchase a copy for our library. Award-winning book lovers take note, this one is going to be appearing on honors lists.

I don't think I've ever loved a middle-grade novel more than this. Or a character more than Vanessa. This girl is so real, strong, and amazing. I am so proud of her and she's not even a real person. <i>Like Vanessa</i>, set in the 1980s, discusses many societal problems that we still face today, such as racism, colorism, and homophobia. Everything is handled so well for the middle-grade audience, spoken with a strong, relatable voice of a girl who still has her own lessons to learn. <i> Like Vanessa</i> will tug on your heart. A great debut novel, I look forward to purchasing it for my library.