LIKE VANESSA

Narrator Channie Waites turns Tami Charles's protagonist into a flesh-and-blood teen full of doubts, humor, and grace. In New Jersey, in 1983, Vanessa is a wallflower who dreams of following in the footprints of Vanessa Williams, the first black Miss America. She enters a pageant at her middle school--despite feeling too fat, too dark, and too shy--and compares the cost of pageant outfits to the price of groceries and utility bills. While a few adult characterizations are heavy-handed, Vanessa's voice bubbles with charm and crackles with energy in her racially charged inner-city school. As family secrets are revealed and events spiral out of control, the listener will be compelled to hear the end of the story. S.T.C. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2018]