Fresh Girl

by Jaira Placide

Book Overview

Mardi was born in New York, but her parents sent her to Haiti to be raised in her grandmother's house while they worked. When a coup d'etat means 12-year-old Mardi and her sister must flee, they... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385327536
• ISBN13: 9780385327534
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.6"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

Fresh Girl

I really liked this book.I liked the fact that the main chacter wean through some of the same things I did, also she is my age.Her family was kind of like mine in the way of not leting me date boy and not leting me do much of any thing.I think the best part of the book was when she just let it all out. She told her uncle how felt about him because of what happend to her befor she came to America.The most remberabel of all the story elements were the conflict and the climax.She felt as if it was her v. the whole world, she had Santos (the boy she liked)/, her uncle her friends, and herself. The other element I rember was the climax was when told her uncle and her aunt what had happend to her befor she came to New York to live.

Caught Between Two Worlds

Fresh Girl by Jaira Placide is a wonderful book that has opened my eyes to the struggles many people face when they are torn between two cultures. This book gives the reader great insight into the life of a young adult who is trying to forget her terrible past and struggling to live her life in a new and different culture. Fresh Girl allows the reader to understand the pain, hate, and saddness that the main character, Mardi, experiences when she moves from Haiti to live in the United States. She left Haiti due to violence and corruption. Her new life in America was supposed to give her a safe and peaceful home to live in. Unfortunatly, her horrific experiences in Haiti and her racist peers will not allow her to have peace in her mind or heart. In order for Mardi to move on in her life she must learn to face her fears and tear down the walls she has built around herself.

A Great New Voice

Fresh Girl by Jaira Placide is a great debut. The book is about a girl named Mardi Desravines who was born in America, but was raised in Haiti. Mardi comes to America at the height of the Haitian Revolution. Mardi has problems adjusting to the abrupt changes in her once happy and serene life. She is the American who has to learn English. The daughter who doesn't really know her parents. She also holds inside the atrocities she witnessed before coming to America. Jaira's story telling hold its own with the immigrants stories of Edwidge Danticat, Julia Alvarez and Amy Tan. I really enjoyed entering Mardi's world and I think you will too.I hope you give this young and daring writer a chance.

Walk in Their Shoes

Mardi is quietly determined to do well in America, even though she is resentful about having to come. The arrival of a "lost" uncle and a boy he is taking care of sets off a string of events that break through the icy core of reserve she has been harboring since her arrival. This is another book that gives you a better understanding of another culture - or perhaps a deeper understanding of your own. The complex lives of people who have come to America and left their own country are sensitively portrayed here. The central story, although a bit predictable, is told so sympathetically that you can practically feel the individual and separate joys and pains of each person.