You Are SO Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah!

Stacy Friedman is getting ready for one of the biggest events of her young life--her bat mitzvah! All she wants is the perfect BCBG dress to wear, her friends by her side, and her biggest crush ever, Andy Goldfarb, to dance with her (and maybe give Stacy her first French kiss …). But of course, things never work out quite the way you'd like them to…. Her stressed-out mother forces her to buy a hideous beaded sequined dress that she wouldn't be caught dead in. Her mitzvahs are not going at all well. And then the worst thing in the entire world happens--Stacy catches her best friend, Lydia, making out with Andy! And thus she utters the words that will wreak complete havoc on her social life ...You are so not invited to my bat mitzvah!

Grade 5-7–Stacy Friedman, 12, is in the midst of preparing for her Bat Mitzvah. For her, the mitzvah translates to three imminent concerns: to wear a $250 designer-label dress, to be popular with her friends, and to acquire a boyfriend. Add to her woes numerous misunderstandings with her friend Kelly and you might have a comedic, lighthearted novel. Unfortunately, this one reads like bad reality TV. While the author tries to be hip, her writing appears to be little more than one large advertising campaign for designer-label merchandise. In a poor imitation of Judy Blume's Margaret, Rosenbloom's protagonist speaks to God: Okay, God, we really, seriously, without a doubt need to have a one-on-one here. WHERE ARE YOU? While it is realistic that the 12th year of a Jewish girl's life is stressful and that many cannot fully appreciate the religious concept behind this ceremony, Rosenbloom fails to create a rounded character who grows or awakens to at least some of the values and meaning behind the ritual. Instead, Stacy is flat and shallow and, in a sitcomlike climactic scene, realizes the importance of the day and makes an apologetic cell phone call to Kelly in the middle of her speech. She then resumes an adlib version of her understanding of the meaning of sacrifice and giving of yourself. Sarah Darer Littman's Confessions of a Closet Catholic (Dutton, 2005) provides a much better view of Jewish values from a preteen's witty perspective.–Rita Soltan, Youth Services Consultant, West Bloomfield, MI
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