Viola In Reel Life [Hardcover]

On September 3, 2009, fourteen-year-old Viola Chesterton finds herself unhappy after being dropped off in South Bend, Indiana which Viola refers to as the: "...dust bowl of Indiana", at "The Prefect Academy For Young Women Since 1890." Viola's parents are off in Afghanistan for a year making a documentary about Afghan women forcing them to pull her from her home in Brooklyn, New York. This was not going to be an easy or comfortable change for Viola.

Convinced she was going to be unhappy, and feeling "marooned" and "abandoned", Viola figures her family will miss her long before her year at the all-girls boarding school is up, and will rush to bring her home. If she can't convince them through her words, then as an amateur photography and movie maker who never leaves her camera behind, she decides she'll express her unhappiness through film. It gives her little consolation when she realizes that: "...parents have been dumping their girls here for a solid education since bustle skirts, high-top shoes, and the invention of the cotton gin" and Viola sees the Academy as her "personal prison."

Used to being an only child and not having to share, Viola decides to take a middle stance and not be "...too quick to make friends" as she doesn't want to be stuck with a `best friend forever' or viewed as the "...most annoying person on the planet" and is soon introduced to her three roommates. But, as the girls get to know each other and become acquainted, what Viola begins to learn is that sometimes what we term as "family" isn't what we think.

During her journey through boarding school, Viola not only makes some friends, discovers some things about herself and her family, survives her first boyfriend, but learns that good things do happen to people like her and growing up is sometimes hard to do.

Ms. Trigiani's talent is amazing!! It doesn't matter if she's writing adult fiction or young adult fiction, all her novels are page-turners! I felt like I was with the group every step of the way, like I had been transported into the pages of the novel!! This novel is for anyone, young or old, male or female and will leave you wanting more.

Viola Chesterson has been "dumped" at the Prefect Academy for Young Women in South Bend, Indiana - a long way from home in Brooklyn, New York.

Her freshman year of high school seems like it's going to be a terrible one. But luckily, with the help of her three roommates and the video camera that she always carries around with her, she not only survives the year (and her first boyfriend), but learns that sometimes family can be more than just the people you're related to.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was fun to read about what boarding school life would be like for a normal kid, not just a rich one. I liked all of the roommates - when I first started the book, I expected them to not get along and to dislike them. But the author took a different route and made all of the girls nice and friendly.

I also enjoyed the whole film aspect of the story. I thought the short film Viola makes at the end was a great idea. The only thing I didn't like was that sometimes Viola seemed a little immature. I know that she was only fourteen years old, but some of the things she thought and said just seemed a little young for her age.

Overall, though, this was a fun young adult read!

Reviewed by: Andrea