A Mango-Shaped Space - Hardcover

Mass, Wendy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316523887 ISBN 13: 9780316523882

Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers, 2003

Synopsis

Offers the story of thirteen-year-old Mia Winchell whose perception of life is truly different due to synethesia, an unusual physiological condition where a person sees sounds, smells colors, and tastes shapes, and tells how she has learned to embrace the condition and cope with it in her daily routine.

About this title

About the Author

When Wendy Mass was growing up, she wanted to be an astronaut. But since she got carsick in her mom's station wagon, she decided to go against it. Several ideas later, she resolved to write books for teenagers. She has written several non-fiction books and short stories for magazines, and has also co-founded a teenage literary magazine, Writes of Passage. She graduated from Tufts University, earned an M.A. in English from California State University, Long Beach, and a Docotorate of Letters from Drew University. Ms. Mass lives in Chatham, New Jersey. This is her first novel.

Wendy Mass can be reached by email at mangobook@aol.com, but don't ask if she sees letters or numbers in colors because she does not. Although she wishes she does.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-Mia, 13, has always seen colors in sounds, numbers, and letters, a fact she has kept secret since the day she discovered that other people don't have this ability. Then she discovers that she has a rare condition called synesthesia, which means that the visual cortex in her brain is activated when she hears something. From then on, she leads a kind of double life-she eagerly attends research gatherings with other synesthetes and devours information about the condition, but continues to struggle at school, where her inadvertent pairing of particular colors with numbers and words makes math and French almost impossible to figure out. Her gradual abandonment of her frustrating school life in favor of the compelling world of fellow synesthetes and the unique things only they can experience seems quite logical, although readers may feel like shaking some sense into her. Finally, and rather abruptly, her extreme guilt at her beloved cat Mango's illness brings her back down to earth and she begins to work on some of the relationships she let crumble. Mia's voice is believable and her description of the vivid world she experiences, filled with slashes, blurs, and streaks of color, is fascinating. Not all of the many characters are necessary to the story, and some of the plot elements go unresolved, but Mia's unique way of experiencing the world is intriguing.
Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0316523887
• ISBN 13: 9780316523882
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224