Wonderland

by Joanna Nadin

Overview

Sixteen-year-old Jude has to get out of tiny Churchtown. She has to escape her outcast status and her pathetic dad, who hasn't gotten past her mother's death. The one bright light is drama, her way out, if only she can get into the Lab, a prestigious program in London. Then Stella, Jude's childhood best friend, swaggers in after years away. With bold and magnetic Stella by her side, Jude knows she's capable of anything. But Stella's influence extends well beyond the theater. Soon Stella's wild and dangerous streak begins to cause trouble for Jude - yet Jude can't bring herself to abandon Stella and the attention she's always craved. And besides, now that Stella's back, there's no stopping her. In Jude's dark and tangled story, British author Joanna Nadin plumbs the aftermath of loss and the consequences of becoming the person you always wished you were.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763654535
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	03/08/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Lexile:	HL350L (what's this?)
File size:	703 KB
Age Range:	14 Years

About the Author

Joanna Nadin is the author of numerous books for young readers. Wonderland marks her YA debut in the United States. She says, "I wanted to explore the idea of identity, and of wanting to be someone else, which is what I seemed to spend a large part of my teens, and some of my adulthood, doing." She lives in Bath, England.

Editorial Reviews

"Jude. Named after a song in the hope that I'd stand out and shine. But I didn't. Jude the Invisible. Jude the Obscure." British author Nadin's wrenching U.S. debut centers on 16-year-old Jude, a talented actress who feels outcast, alone, and out of place at school and at home, where the presence of her vibrant mother still lingers years after her death. Jude longs for the return of her brash childhood friend, Stella, and soon after, Stella pops back into Jude's life, helping Jude regain her confidence—even taking her place at a crucial acting audition—but also leading her down a path of self-destructive behavior. Observant readers will pick up clues in Nadin's prose that hint at the book's twist ending, but the author skillfully keeps the conclusion from feeling foregone, even with an opening scene that has Jude and Stella in a car about to head over a cliff. Indeed, even those who figure out Stella's secret before Jude does won't be disappointed in their final confrontation, and many will want to reread the book armed with their new knowledge. Ages 14–up. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Jude is a sixteen-year-old girl living with her father and younger brother in Churchtown, a tiny town in England where everyone knows everyone. Jude is an outcast unlike her mother who, before her death, was a beautiful model/actress from London. Jude has a strained relationship with her father and they are unable to talk about the pain and loss caused by her mother's death. Jude wants to be an actress but she lacks the self confidence that she imagines her mother once had. The only time Jude feels any sense of self worth is when her rebellious, sexually promiscuous, beautiful, and bold friend Stella comes around. At the beginning of the book, Stella has been away for a period of time and Jude has missed her terribly. Under Stella's influence Jude stands up to the people who shun her, she drinks and flirts with boys, and she gains the courage to stand up to her father, demanding that he let her go to London to audition at a prestigious school. Jude drinks too much to audition so Stella (who Jude now looks like because Stella has bleached her hair blond so they look the same) does the audition for her. When the letter comes from London announcing Jude's acceptance, she is confused to find a picture of herself instead of Stella who actually did the audition. The story is slow moving at first and Jude's heavy dependence on Stella makes Jude a bit of an unsympathetic and annoying character for awhile. Gradually she gains strength and a bit of backbone but I felt it came too late. This, for me, deflated the climax a bit, making it feel like a simplistic literary device. It's not a bad read, but it took a lot of patience and determination to get through. Reviewer: Stephanie R. Pearmain

Children's Literature - Stephanie R. Pearmain

Stella first appeared shortly after Jude's mother died. Now that Jude is 16 and eager to escape her small English town and her classmates' torment, her childhood friend is back, "carrying cigarettes and sunglasses and possibility." Jude feels like a faded version of her actress mother, but Stella emboldens her to leave her self-imposed obscurity to audition at a London drama school. Jude wants to be Stella, who speaks in film lines, dresses provocatively and chides Jude for still being a virgin. Jude's internal world is a place of her own invention, where she took refuge after her mother's death. Nadin keeps the first-person narration squarely within this world, deftly weaving together the intricate parts of a psychological puzzle as she slowly reveals the true nature of the girls' relationship. Jude's voice is a blend of biting teen angst and fragile ego. When Stella tells Jude "there is no me without you," Jude is forced to come to grips with her recent gaps in memory and Stella's destructive influence. Teens harboring a secret wish to be anyone other than who they are will identify with Jude's struggle to shrug off her status as a misfit. A promising U.S. debut for teens—here's hoping for more from this British writer. (Fiction. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews