A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass
Katie is an 8th grader living in Ketchum, Idaho. She loves skiing, reading, and doing anything outdoors related.
A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass is a story about 13 year old Mia. Mia sees colors and shapes, but not like how’d you expect. She sees brown rings when a door slams and sees the letter ‘a’ as sunflower yellow. Up until third grade, she thinks everyone sees the world this way. It comes as a shock when nobody believes her when she tells them that the number two is cotton candy pink. She is ridiculed, laughed at, and called a freak, leaving her thinking something is wrong with her.
Mia learns from this experience to hide her color-seeing abilities from the world. 8th grade proves to be a huge challenge for her. She’s failing math and struggling to understand Spanish. Mia at least has her cat, Mango, and Jess, her best friend and partner in crime. But when Mia tells Jess about her colors, things don’t go according to plan and suddenly the entire school seems to know about Mia’s apparent freakishness.
Mia must learn to embrace who she is and not be ashamed, regardless of what others think. This heart-wrenching story offers a unique perspective on the world, seen through the eyes of someone who doesn’t fit in. You will find nothing short of an amazing book when reading A Mango Shaped Space.
