Very in Pieces

by Megan Frazer Blakemore

Overview

In this coming-of-age novel perfect for fans of Susane Colasanti and Jandy Nelson, a straight-A student in a family of free-spirited artists must face the hard truths about those she loves most.

Very Sayles-Woodruff could find the value of x with her eyes closed . . . but interpreting her mother's renowned paintings or her famous grandmother's poems don't come as easily. Even her younger sister, Ramona, has the same artistic leanings as the rest of their family. Very has always been the dependable, responsible one—until her grandmother becomes terminally ill, causing all of the pieces of Very's once-structured life to come crashing down. Now she's cast aside her steady boyfriend and started an unexpected fling with Dominic, a rebellious art student with a bad reputation.

Things at home have also taken a turn. Very's mother drinks all day, her father is never around, and Ramona is constantly skipping school. And that's when the sculpture appears. Out of nowhere, a bottle cap design starts climbing up the stucco walls of the Sayles-Woodruff house, mysteriously growing by the day. With her grandmother nearing death and things heating up with Dominic, Very also has to confront the fact that the person behind the sculpture is struggling more than she could have imagined.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062348418
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/29/2015
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
Lexile:	HL650L (what's this?)
File size:	889 KB
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Megan Frazer Blakemoregrew up in a college town in New Hampshire much like the one in her book Very in Pieces. She attended Columbia University, where she earned a degree in English. After brief stints in the Peace Corps and the television industry, she pursued a master's in library science at Simmons School of Library and Information Science. She has over ten years' experience as a librarian and has taught writing to students in elementary through graduate school. She lives in Maine with her husband, two children, a cat, and two hives of bees. She is the author of books for teens and young readers, including Secrets of Truth & Beauty, an Indie Next Kids' Pick; The Water Castle, which was named a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year; The Spy Catchers of Maple Hill; and Good and Gone.

Editorial Reviews

06/15/2015
Mathematically gifted Very Woodruff is likely headed to MIT, and she’s also the odd one out in a family of creative types. Her mother is a respected artist, her father is a music professor, her younger sister shows artistic promise, and her grandmother, “Nonnie,” is a famous poet. Nonnie’s impending death is front and center as Blakemore (Secrets of Truth & Beauty) spins a thoughtful story of a family breaking apart. While the Woodruffs watch Nonnie fade away, Blakemore introduces a touch of mystery when someone begins creating a work of art on the side of the their house in honor of Nonnie. As Nonnie’s condition worsens, and Very’s father and sister go AWOL, the typically steady Very loses her footing, too. She ends things with her responsible “good guy” boyfriend, Christian, after cheating on him with Dominic, the school’s sort-of bad boy. It’s a believable and engaging story of the decline of a cherished grandmother and community member, and a girl trying to find her place in her family, her relationship, and life. Ages 13–up. Agent: Sara Crowe, Harvey Klinger. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Blakemore spins a thoughtful story of a family breaking apart. [A] believable and engaging story of a girl trying to find her place in her family, her relationship, and life.” — Publishers Weekly

“A...solid coming of age story.” — Kirkus Reviews

“[R]elatable. A thoughtful story.” — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

“Fans of Jandy Neslon will appreciate the realistic, authentic, and lyrical teen voice that this novel has to offer.” — School Library Journal

“Very’s conflicted emotions will resonate with readers. A[n] introspective novel for fans of Sarah Dessen and Jandy Nelson.” — Booklist Online

From the Publisher

Very’s conflicted emotions will resonate with readers. A[n] introspective novel for fans of Sarah Dessen and Jandy Nelson.

Booklist Online

[R]elatable. A thoughtful story.

Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

2015-06-06
With her grandmother's health rapidly failing, high school senior Very (short for Veronica) feels responsible for holding together the rest of her family. In a family full of artists, mathematically inclined Very is the practical one, if bossy. And she's got a lot going on. Her grandmother, a well-known poet, talks to Very about her impending death, while Ramona, Very's younger sister, shies away from even visiting Nonnie. Their mother, a painter on sabbatical from the local college, spends her days in a drunken fog on the couch, and their father stays absorbed in his academic life as a music professor. A mysterious artist is creating an homage to Nonnie out of bottle caps and glass on the side of the garage. Very tries to shepherd Ramona through the rough first days of freshman year, but Ramona avoids her. When Very catches the eye of Dominic, a green-eyed boy with a reputation for dealing drugs, her sweet, college-bound, Korean-American boyfriend, Christian, suddenly seems rather dull. Blakemore keeps these balls in the air through Very's precise, analytical, present-tense narration. The intervention of the assistant principal, who brings Very to her office to discuss Ramona's absences and makes the suggestion that Ramona might benefit from seeing the school psychologist, comes across as unlikely, though it does move the plot along. A predictable but solid coming-of-age story. (Fiction. 12-16)

Kirkus Reviews