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Review by Louella Moreland
Fourth-graders are wonderful people. I
taught fourth grade for many years, so I know. Fourth grade is a
transition time at most schools. Students are no longer considered
the "young ones" on the playground, subjects are studied in more
depth, and students are responsible for keeping track of more
assignments outside of class time.
However, social skills and maturity
have only begun. For girls especially, this is a defining time of
identity. Cliques form to delineate who is "in." Peer groups carry a
lot of clout. Being "different" is not what one wants to be as a
fourth-grade girl.
Margaret Peterson Haddix demonstrates
her ability to empathize with girls of this age. Her book reflects
the difficulties adolescents face as they weave their personalities
into the adults they will become. She never overstates. Her scenes
are real, the dialogue accurate, and responses honest. There is only
one time in this novel when you question whether a character has
become a bit too adult in her speech. This is so forgivable
considering the information we need as readers at that point in the
story.
"Because of Anya" is the story of a
fourth-grade girl with a problem. Although Anya was always an
independent student, playing with various classmates as the mood of
the day would strike her, in the fall of her fourth-grade year she
becomes that unforgivable item: different. One of her classmates
discovers she is wearing a wig!
This discovery becomes the
preoccupation of a group of four girls: Stef, (the leader of the
group), Nichole, Tory and Keely (who was a friend of Anya's before
Stef moved to town). The girls decide Anya must have cancer and is
going to die. Keely is chosen to test out whether Anya is really
wearing a wig. As the story unwinds, Keely begins to question Stef's
power over her friends. She begins to develop a clear understanding
that Stef is often unkind and unfeeling in her actions to others.
True to real-life friendships, though, Keely also stands up for Stef
when others judge her wrongly.
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this review]
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 Anya does not have cancer. She is not
going to die. She has alopecia areata, a disease in which hair on
the body begins to fall off, mainly from the scalp. She sometimes
feels as though the situation is as bad as cancer, since no one
knows if she will grow hair again or not. Anya is afraid all the
time. She is afraid to stand too close to someone, afraid to bend
over, afraid to tip her head, afraid someone will find out her
secret. She is also afraid of what her disease is doing to her
parents.
"Because of Anya" is a novel about
cause and effect. Because of Anya's illness, characters' viewpoints
of friendship and life begin to change. We learn (along with the
characters) that understanding is a process that does not always
come quickly or easily.
We learn that sometimes children have
to face difficulties that seem too big for them to handle. Anya does
this, not always with grace. Keely helps, not always with tact. That
is what real life is all about. Ms. Haddix reminds us of this while
weaving a very interesting story.
To read this
book and more by Margaret Peterson Haddix, visit us at the Lincoln
Public Library, 725 Pekin St.
[Louella Moreland, Youth
Services Department,
Lincoln
Public Library District]
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