Teen Fiction

Gingerbread

Name: Gingerbread
Author: Rachel Cohn
ISBN: 9780689860201

by Rachel Cohn, Jane Wattenberg

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Overview

After being expelled from a fancy boarding school, Cyd Charisse's problems with her mother escalate after Cyd falls in love with a sensitive surfer and is subsequently sent from San Francisco to New York City to spend time with her biological father.

Synopsis

"I have promised to be a model citizen daughter....I have confined my Shrimp time to making out with him in the Java the Hut supply closet and quick feels on the cold hard sand at the beach during our breaks, but enough is enough....Delia and I are planning a party at Wallace and Shrimp's house and I am spending the night whether Sid and Nancy notice or not. I will be as wild as I wanna be."

After being kicked out of a fancy New England boarding school, Cyd Charisse is back home in San Francisco with her parents, Sid and Nancy, in a household that drives her crazy. Lucky for Cyd, she's always had Gingerbread, her childhood rag doll and confidante.

After Cyd tests her parents' permissiveness, she is grounded in Alcatraz (as Cyd calls her room) and forbidden to see Shrimp, her surfer boyfriend. But when her incarceration proves too painful for the whole family, Cyd's parents decide to send her to New York to meet her biological father and his family, whom Cyd has always longed to know.

Summer in the city is not what Cyd Charisse expects — and Cyd isn't what her newfound family expects, either.

With Gingerbread, debut author Rachel Cohn creates a spirited world of in-your-face characters who are going to stay with readers for a long time.

Publishers Weekly

"The 16-year-old `recovering hellion' (as her stepfather refers to her), who narrates this debut novel, breathes a joie de vivre into this story of her bicoastal family," wrote PW in a starred review. "Her magnetic narrative will keep readers hooked." Ages 14-up. (June) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

About the Author, Rachel Cohn

Rachel Cohn is the author of critically-acclaimed YA novels Shrimp, Pop Princess, Gingerbread, and middle-grade novel The Steps. A graduate of Barnard College, she lives and writes in Manhattan. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist is Rachel's first book for Knopf.

David Levithan is a children's book editor in New York City. The author lives in NYC; Hoboken, NJ.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

KLIATT

To quote from the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, March 2002: Cyd Charisse, age 16, was named for the movie star, and she certainly has sought out drama in her own life: "I will be as wild as I wanna be," she declares. As the book opens, sassy Cyd is living in San Francisco with her mother and stepfather after being kicked out of boarding school. She is involved with a sensitive surfer named Shrimp and working at his brother's beachside café, Java the Hut. She argues ferociously with her mother, and longs to be reunited with her real father, Frank, who she hasn't seen in many years. Her parents finally decide to send Cyd off to New York City to get reacquainted with Frank. He is not quite the warm, welcoming parent of her dreams—he tries to introduce her as his niece, at first—but Cyd does connect with her kind stepbrother Danny and her initially hostile stepsister. She helps out Danny and his gay partner at their café in the Village, and makes a pass at the handsome young driver her father hired for her. She also runs into the boyfriend who was responsible for her leaving the boarding school, and for the abortion she had concealed from her family. In the end, returning to San Francisco, spoiled, naive Cyd has come to understand much more about herself and her family. Told in flip and often funny teenspeak/Californese, this is an engaging tale about a girl coming to terms with her family and her relationships. There are some memorable and warmly drawn characters here, from Sugar Pie, the elderly woman Cyd meets while doing community service, to Danny, Cyd's supportive stepbrother, whose relationship with his lover is sympathetically portrayed. The cover is an eye-catcher, featuring agirl in combat boots carting a stuffed doll. This first novel will appeal to more sophisticated teenage girls with a taste for romance and drama. Some talk of sex and drugs. (An ALA Best Book for YAs). KLIATT Codes: S—Recommended for senior high school students. 2002, Simon & Schuster, Pulse, 172p.,
— Paula Rohrlick

Children's Literature

Tossed out of an expensive boarding school for being caught in a sexual situation with a fellow student, sixteen-year-old Cyd is back in San Francisco living with her mother and stepfather and younger step-siblings. Life becomes bearable again when Cyd gets a job making coffee drinks at Java the Hut and meets a new boyfriend, a surfer named Shrimp. Things take a turn for the worse, though, when she gets grounded for staying out late with Shrimp and then he breaks up with her. Her mother sends her to New York City to live with her biological father, whom Cyd met only once when she was five. Getting to know her father is a letdown for Cyd, but she eventually makes new friends with both of her half-siblings. The chance meeting with her old boyfriend from boarding school is the last straw for Cyd, but she finds renewed strength and a budding relationship with—of all people—her mother, to whom she finally confesses she has had an abortion. Cyd, named for movie-star actress Cyd Charisse, is a brassy teenager, filled with vulnerabilities but shielded by a tough exterior. The voice, consistently hip, rings true to life. 2002, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, $15.95. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Valerie O. Patterson

VOYA

Sixteen-year-old Cyd Charisse is not the usual perky California beach bunny. "I am not a mall junkie kind of girl who needs to save money for hair clips and glitter makeup and boy band CDs. Excuse me while I go retch at the thought." Back home in San Francisco, after being thrown out of boarding school for sexual indiscretions, Cyd is in hot water with her parents because of her open defiance of their curfew ordinance. Soon she is in lockdown, with only her alter ego, an ancient rag doll named Gingerbread, as company. Tired of her attitude problem, Cyd's mom and stepdad decide to let Cyd's biological father deal with her for awhile. They ship her off to New York City for the summer. There, she meets her dad and two stepsibs for the first time and really begins to think about the meaning of family and how she fits in. By vacation's end, Cyd has been through the emotional wringer: She has confessed a secret abortion to her mom, made peace with her father, and discovered that one does not have to like other family members to love them. Newcomer Cohn's Cyd-isms—"sexy-swish hips" and "New Yorkie York"—bring to mind the funky vocabulary of Francesca Lia Block's hip heroine, Weetzie Bat. Fans of the famous platinum flattop also will enjoy this funny, bicoastal story of dysfunctional family love. All high school and public libraries should add the irrepressible Cyd to their shelves. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P J S (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2002, Simon & Schuster, 176p,
— Jennifer Hubert

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-According to stepdad, Sid, Cyd Charisse is a "recovering hellion." Kicked out of boarding school, the teen returns home to San Francisco. True to her wild nature and obsession with boys, she does anything to get a rise from her parents. She is grounded in her "puke-princess bedroom" after being caught out overnight again with surfer-boyfriend, Shrimp. Finally, Sid and Nancy send her to bio-dad in NYC. Meeting her real father and family has long been Cyd's dream. Since he was married with children when her mom had an affair with him, he is virtually a stranger to her. When Cyd got in trouble at boarding school and needed money for an abortion though, she called him. He didn't remember Gingerbread, the rag doll he gave her when she was five, but he helped her out. Cyd Charisse sees herself when she meets him 11 years later. She finds excitement working in her gay half-brother's caf as a barista and exploring New York. Confrontations with her older half-sister and brief talks with her father bring Cyd more knowledge about her families on both coasts. Her strong, independent, and kinky personality; realistic take on life; and quick mind make her a memorable character. Cohn works wonders with snappy dialogue, up-to-the-minute language, and funny repartee. Her contemporary voice is tempered with humor and deals with problems across two generations. Funny and irreverent reading with teen appeal that's right on target.-Gail Richmond, San Diego Unified Schools, CA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Cyd Charisse embodies the child/woman nature of adolescence as she tows her doll, Gingerbread, through life. Gingerbread was given to her by her father the last and almost only time she saw him. Readers of Francesca Lia Block will find a familiar style here, and yet a Block character is only what Cyd could wish to be. Kicked out of boarding school, Cyd returns to San Francisco failing to tell her mother about an abortion or how unsupportive the boy involved has been. She's got some sophistication, but it mainly hides her pain and allows her to live in a dreamy fantasy world with a new boyfriend. Shrimp and his brother Wallace run a coffee stand and Cyd goes to work, but mild lusting for Wallace muddies the situation. Once Mom grounds her for violating curfew, Cyd's hipness fades somewhat. Loving parents, her mother and stepfather decide to see what her birth father in New York can do for her since his wife has recently died. The considerably older half brother welcomes Cyd, and he and his partner put her to work at their bistro. Half-sister Lisbeth has a harder time accepting this unconventional member to the family, and Dad remains distant. Cyd's appreciation of her family back home grows, as does her confidence that she is lovable and valuable. Cohn is obviously familiar with the personality of both cities and has done her homework as to trendy dialogue, although it sometimes overwhelms characters and events. In spite of the relentlessly hip talk and trimmings, this is all utterly familiar, much like the spicy yet humble dessert of the title. (Fiction. YA)