My Thoughts after Reading: Short

Short by Holly Goldberg Sloan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My Thoughts after Reading

This book appealed straightaway. The notion of a small-built girl being cast as a Munchkin is about as insulting as it can get if you hate being short. With the opening line “I spend a lot of time looking up”, I knew this was going to be a good read.

If I had to summarise this feel of this book, it’s like the middle-grade version of Forrest Gump. Her train of thought goes off to entertaining tangents. She analyses several everyday quotes like ‘butterflies in your stomach’ or ‘break a leg’. The main character is grieving for her pet, but her narration is so detached I didn’t think she’s missing him, until I’ve read further into the book and noticed the regular mentions of memories of their daily routine.

The author highlights dwarfism in this book. I also like the elderly Chinese neighbour. Like Vote for Effie by Laura Wood, the author uses the retired neighbours as mentors, reminding us the wealth of experience they have. Just because they are old it doesn’t mean they haven’t got any feeling, personality or gifts.

This book will appeal to those who enjoy theatre. The main character explains theatrical terms, and describes the various people who come together to make a performance, like costume, stage props, lighting and harnessing. Of course, fans of the Wizard of Oz will enjoy this book.

All in all an enjoyable read.

Blurb

Julia is very short for her age, but by the end of the summer run of The Wizard of Oz, she’ll realize how big she is inside, where it counts. She hasn’t ever thought of herself as a performer, but when the wonderful director of Oz casts her as a Munchkin, she begins to see herself in a new way. As Julia becomes friendly with the poised and wise Olive – one of the adults with dwarfism who’ve joined the production’s motley crew of Munchkins – and with her deeply artistic neighbor, Mrs. Chang, Julia’s own sense of self as an artist grows. Soon, she doesn’t want to fade into the background and it’s a good thing, because her director has more big plans for Julia!