Review of Admission by Julie Buxbaum

Buxbaum, Julie.  Admission.  Delacorte, 2020.

 

Life is perfect for Chloe Berringer.  She’s living her best life as a senior at Wood Valley High School, the best private school in Los Angeles, and she has gotten into a great college.  She is going to the prom with Levi Haas, the boy she’s had a crush on since seventh grade.  Her best friend, Shola, is super-smart and fun to be around, and she can always depend on her.  She isn’t the smartest person at her school, but she gets by.

 

One day, at 6:30 in the morning, Chloe opens the front door to her home to find the FBI there…and they have guns!  Her mother, sit-com television star Joy Fields, is arrested for bribery in a college admissions scandal.  Chloe is shocked, but didn’t she have nagging doubts about all the preparations her parents were helping her with to get accepted to college?  She wondered why her college essay was rewritten and was about a different topic than she wrote about, but she didn’t question it enough.  She wondered how her SAT score could have gone up so much in such a short amount of time, so she thought it must be a mistake, but she didn’t speak up.  She wondered how her mother could find a private consultant that seemed so sleazy and never pushed her to try harder.  Why didn’t he want her to take her SAT test at the testing center?  She wondered all these things and knew her parents, especially her mom, wanted the best for her, but she never questioned them.

 

Now Chloe’s life is ruined, and her future is in danger.  Shola doesn’t want to hang out with her anymore; Levi has dropped her and has found another date for prom.  The mother of the young boy she was tutoring in reading no longer wants her to see him. Her dream school has now rescinded their offer of acceptance to her, and if she goes back to her high school, she will face public shaming. Wealth and privilege will not help her now.  She discovers her mom was participating in some underhanded dealings to give her a leg up on the competition, in order to secure her acceptance to college.  People are mad at her and her mom for using money and privilege to give Chloe this advantage.  While Chloe got into college, Shola, who works much harder and is smarter, is waitlisted, just like many other students.  

 

With her mom facing a trial and prison time, Chloe must now work to mend her and her family’s life back together.  She must learn not to take people and her privilege for granted and accept responsibility for her part in being complicit and redeem herself.

 

Admission is based loosely on the true-life scandal “Operation Varsity Blues”, and it hits all the same notes--doctoring an essay and photoshopping a sports photograph, concealing money behind a charity, and changing poor entrance exam scores.  False documentation of a learning disability is provided, which gives Chloe extra time on the SAT test.  Her mom is arrested and must go to trial, just like in the real college admissions crime. 

 

Ms. Buxbaum provides observations on how entitlement gives the elite the ability to work the education system and give themselves an advantage over others, who are usually more deserving.  However, she doesn’t preach; she lets the reader work though the problem with Chloe.  When Chloe realizes that her whole college application has been altered, she begins to wonder if her parents didn’t have confidence in her ability to get into college on her own.  This lowers her self-esteem, especially when she realizes that she may have been complicit in the crime.  Ultimately, Chloe let the masquerade go on because she did not want to disappoint her parents.

 

Give Admission to seniors preparing for college and those who are interested in the college admission scandal.  I highly recommend it for high school and public libraries and give it five out of five fleur de lis!

 

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for allowing me to read and review this book.

Review of The Jewel by Amy Ewing

Ewing, Amy.  The Jewel.  HarperTeen, 2014.

Once they reach puberty, all girls in The Marsh must have a blood test to determine if they have certain characteristics, which will qualify them to become surrogates to the royal families who live in The Jewel.  Due to a genetic quirk, royalty are unable to give birth to their own children. A Girl who “passes” the blood test is removed from her family and taken to live in one of four holding facilities in The Lone City, where she is trained to use her special powers, or auguries.  The auguries include the ability to change the color of an item, the ability to change the shape of an item, and the ability to make things grow.  Eventually, after several years, the girl is sold at auction to the highest royal bidder and becomes the surrogate for that family.

Violet Lasting, now sixteen years old, has spent her last four years in the   Southgate Holding Facility, preparing for her life as a surrogate.  She has wanted for nothing while living in the facility, has achieved extremely high scores on her augury tests, and is an accomplished cellist.  However, she has missed her family and home in The Marsh deeply.

At auction she is sold to The Duchess of the Lake as Lot #197 for an enormous sum and goes to spend her days in a lovely palace, where she has beautiful clothes, wonderful meals, enjoys lavish parties, and has her own suite of rooms.

However, there is a dark side to being a surrogate. Violet is a nameless “pet” to The Duchess of the Lake, forced to wear a leash and collar when they go out, as do all surrogates.  She is at The Duchess’s beck and call twenty-four hours a day.  Her body is not hers; it belongs to the doctor who performs experiments on her and to The Duchess, who wants Violet to use her abilities to grow a baby in three months as opposed to nine.

When Violet is secretly offered a way to leave The Jewel and her life of surrogacy, she has to decide if freedom is also worth leaving forbidden love and her best friend behind, as well.  Some decisions are hard, especially when they involve trust, promises, and love.

This terrific debut novel by Amy Ewing is the first in her new series, “The Lone City”, and is filled with excitement, surprises, and intrigue.  The world building is exquisite.  In The Jewel, which is painted as a fairytale-like place, everyone lives in castles, and all lifestyles are extravagant!  The city is decorated like it is Christmas all the time! There are headstrong royal women and power plays to see who can produce the first daughter, who can shun whom, and who has the most talented and beautiful surrogate.  All the royal women are conniving and mean-spirited!

Ms. Ewing has included such strong characters in her book—Violet, Garnet—The Duchess of the Lake’s unruly son; Ash—companion to Carnelian Silver, The Lady’s niece; and Lucien, the Lady-in-Waiting who prepares Violet for the Auction.  I am really looking forward to their continuing story in the next installment!

This dystopian/fantasy/romance will be enjoyed by readers who liked The Selection series by Kiera Cass.  However, be prepared, because it is much more sinister!  I recommend it for grades eight and up and for public libraries.  I give it five out of five fleur de lis!!!!

The Selection by Kiera Cass; HarperTeen, 2012.

It is 300 years in the future; World War IV has ended, and the United States is no more.  It has been replaced by new countries, complete with a numbered caste system based on occupations.  Everyone is limited on their life choices based on their ancestors’ ability to help the government.  Thus, the rich and royalty are deemed as “1”, while the homeless, wandering, and poorest people are labeled as “8”.

Living in Illѐa, America Singer and her family are all classified as “5” because they are performers and artists.  While they do well during the holiday seasons, they barely scrape by other times during the year.  America’s boyfriend, Aspen Leger, is a “6” because he and his family are servants, trained for indoor work.  America and Aspen have secret midnight meetings in the tree house in her backyard because it is forbidden for people of different classes to have relationships with each other.  Despite this, they hope to marry sometime in the future.

Prince Maxon Schreave has come of age, and it is time for him to choose a wife.  It is a tradition in Illѐa for male royalty to choose brides from its citizenry.  A lottery is held, whereby thirty-five girls are chosen to compete for the honor of being the prince’s bride.  Since America is determined to marry Aspen, she has no desire to enter into the lottery.  However, her mother and Aspen have other ideas.  Aspen urges her and America’s mother bribes her to enter the lottery, and, despite all odds, she is one of the thirty-five girls chosen to compete for the crown!

From this moment on, America is considered the property of Illѐa.  She must leave home and move into the royal palace in order to compete.  There are many restrictions placed upon her, and her every waking moment, as well as the other girls’, is televised all across Illѐa.  Her status is immediately upgraded to that of a “3”, and for every week she stays in the competition, her family is handsomely compensated.  Her life becomes one of luxury—beautiful clothes and jewelry, delicious food, three maids to take care of her, and a lovely palace to live in!  But there is also danger, for rebel attacks often occur at the palace.

Although her first impression of Prince Maxon is that of a haughty, selfish individual, America soon changes her mind.  She is actually falling for the Prince, until Aspen shows up at the palace.  He has been drafted into the military and has been named to the Royal Guard.  He is still in love with her and vows to win her back.  It is now up to America to decide what course she wants her life to take—does she choose the life of luxury with the prince or does she choose her first true love?

What a wild ride this book is—this dystopian fairy tale!  I love the descriptions of the gowns the girls wear, the palace food, the rooms in the palace—I feel I am actually a part of this magical story!  The contrast between America’s life at home with her life in the palace is like night and day.  She becomes an instant celebrity and heroine to everyone in her province when she is selected!  Once she moves into the palace, she feels bad that her maids are waiting on her and taking care of her needs!  America is such a likable, compassionate character, despite being outspoken and blunt!  Many of the girls want to completely change how they look and act, but she has the self-esteem to stay true to herself!

Aspen aggravates me.  He is portrayed as such a nice guy in the beginning of the book.  However, he leaves America high and dry when, knowing he is hungry, she gives him food she has prepared.  Then he begs her to take him back when he shows up at the palace!  What a jerk!  I really want to like him, but I just can’t!  On the other hand, I did not originally like  Maxon, but I could not resist his charm!  He is so well-mannered, polite, and thoughtful--a real prince, through and through!

Some of the other girls in the competition are likable, while others are so catty and cutthroat.  This is so similar to teenage girls in today’s world—what a contrast in personalities!  And what about that love triangle!???!!!!  Who will Maxon choose, and who will America choose?  We will have to wait until the next book in the series to find out more!

I have read that the television rights to the book have been bought by the CW Network, and they are working on the pilot.  I’m anxious to see how true they stay to the book!

I recommend this delightful book to middle school, high school, and public libraries!