Hello readers! I know that I’ve been a bit MIA lately, but I do have a backlog of books that I would love to share with you. Please bear with me as I deal with school and the rest of my life. Anyway, please give a big hello to Pippa Park!
Erin Yun has created a modern day twist on Great Expectations with Pippa Park Raises Her Game. It adds a nice twist to compare it to the original, but Pippa stands on her own. A quality look at the challenges of being a teen, especially being one who doesn’t quite fit in for whatever the reason. Pippa struggles with feeling the need to hide who she really is, where she previously went to school, trying to live up to everyone else’s expectations, and thinking you know someone when you really don’t know anything. I have a feeling that Pippa’s experiences are going to resonate with middle schoolers.
The timing of this book coming out couldn’t be better. Pippa Park Raises Her Game will be released on February 4, 2020 and we are celebrating Multicultural Children’s Book Day on January 31! While this was not sent to me as a part of the MCBD celebration, it definitely fits the category. Keep watching this site and others as we get ready for the big day. You will be able to come to my blog on January 31st for all of the links to reviews!
Pippa is Korean American and a magnificent basketball player. Unfortunately, she is not so great at math and with bad grades her sister won’t let her play basketball. Instead she has to go to private tutoring with a student from Lakeview, the preppy local private school. The twist? Soon after starting tutoring a mysterious benefactor gets her into Lakeview on full scholarship to help their girls’ basketball team. At Lakeview, Pippa wants to reinvent herself, but she also feels the need to hide where she went to school and the fact that her family owns a laundromat.
The characters are realistic even if some of the plot is a bit far-fetched. But Yun was trying to make the story of Great Expectations a bit more relevant for today’s students. I love having a Korean-American girl on the cover and that she is a basketball player. Pippa isn’t perfect. She makes mistakes and a number of bad choices, but she tries to fix them. Great to have a good story like this that takes on realistic issues but isn’t a depressing topic. I definitely think there is a place for this book in a school library.
*Thank you to Fabled Films Press and Media Masters Publicity for a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
Remember to check back here on January 31 for a slew of amazing book reviews!