Sydney, Herself - Hardcover

Rodowsky, Colby F.

3.75

12 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374306494 ISBN 13: 9780374306496

Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1989

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As she writes in her self-awareness journal assigned in English class, fifteen-year-old Sydney tries to discover her true identity and comes to terms with her obsession about her absent father.

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From Publishers Weekly:

When a new writing teacher asks his students to keep journals, Sydney begins hers reluctantly. But gradually her journal and her other writing assignments focus on her belief that she is the daughter of a rock superstar. Not content with her mother's rather ordinary version of the events of her birth, Sydney seeks out evidence that her real father is one of the Boomerangs--a group not unlike the Beatles or the Rolling Stones in status. It will be clear to readers that Sydney needs an escape fantasy just to survive real life: she lives in a house with a batty landlady where there is no privacy, and her mother places restrictions on both her own life and Sydney's in the name of keeping the peace. Perhaps because the Boomerangs are only referred to, and never "onstage" for readers, their existence and Sydney's fictions about them never seem real. To readers, Sydney obviously is deluding herself from the outset, and ultimately her fantasies become a little boring. But because other parts of this are so engaging (the landlady, and Sydney's groping with her mother's fallibility), there is balance; this is a witty book, served up with honest intentions. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal:

Grades 7-10--Sydney Downie's quest for her "true" identity revolves around her firm belief that her real father was actually the lead singer of a famous Australian rock band called The Boomerangs. Fueled by her mother's reluctance to provide any solid information about Sydney's father, a passing fancy soon becomes a personal certainty and the focal point of Sydney's existence. Boasting about her famous father to her friends provides a way to gain acceptance, and even spinning the story in a writing assignment is just harmless wish fulfillment or is it? When her assignment winds up published in the local newspaper, Sydney discovers that the thin line between dreams and reality can be difficult to walk. Actress Christina Moore narrates this novel by Colby Rodowsky (FS&G, pap. 1993). Her light voice lends itself well to Sydney's personality. She skillfully captures the many emotional nuances of the story, from giddiness to self-doubt, that lend credibility to this tale of a young teen's search for self.
Cindy Lombardo, Orrville Public Library, OH
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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