Grade 5-7 Against the backdrop of a school musical production and accompanying stagecraft skills, Auch unfolds a solid story of pre-teen friendships and developing self-awareness. Kelly MacDonald persuades her two best friends, as they all begin sixth grade at the junior high school, to try out with her for parts in the play Cinderella. Rebecca makes the chorus and Lisa is given a leading role, but Kelly bombs out. Her grandmother, a free-spirited artist, encourages Kelly to direct her abilities toward set designing, but Janet, a despicable ninth grader, thwarts that attempt. As circumstances have it, Kelly and classmate Michael end up with the responsibility for all lighting arrangements. Quick studies, they are successful in transforming Janet's flat gray sets into magically rosy ones and the show is a smash. Even Kelly's mother, adamantly opposed to her daughter's theatrical and artistic inclinations, is proud of her. Through Kelly, she and Gram come to a better understanding of each other after years of constant arguing. Kelly herself is learning to develop her true talents, to put feet to her daydreams, and to avoid the ill-fitting "glass slipper." Katharine Bruner, Brown Middle School, Harrison, Tenn.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Owner Reviews, Ratings, Comments and Criticism
I don't think this book is your typical "junior high tragedy," as another reviewer described it. While it's been one of my favorites for at least ten years, it's also taken on more meaning to me as I got older and had to deal with the issues between my mother, grandmother, and myself - much as Kelly does. Glass Slippers Give You Blisters is told from the point of view of twelve-year-old Kelly MacDonald, who is just starting seventh grade with her two best friends Lisa and Rebecca. When her friends get cast in the school play, "Cinderella," and she doesn't, Kelly has to look first at what it means to do a good job and not just try to fake your way into a role, and then to explore who she can be on her own. More than that, though, is the tension between her mother and grandmother. Gram, an artist, ran off to New York to "develop as an actress" when her mother was eight, and her mother has never forgiven her. As a result, she hates anything to do with the theater, and is less than pleased with the fact that Kelly wants to be involved with a play. In some ways Kelly's work on the play brings her mother and grandmother closer together - and also creates an understanding between her mother and herself. But it's not perfect. When Gram suffers a stroke, Kelly feels responsible, and has to deal with that guilt. She is also the only child left at home, now that her perfect older sister has gone to college, and faces the fact that she's always gotten along better with Gram than her mother - which of course doesn't please Mom. Kelly also has lots of flaws - her tendency to daydream, her temper, her guilt, and the way she has to learn to do a good job without faking someone out. One of the most realistic things is the way she gets angry when she hears the snobby set designer taking credit for her work with the lights. Gram tells her not to go needing approval from other people, which I think is hard for most people. All of Kelly's flaws make her a very real, and humorous, person. Glass Slippers ... is no epic, but it ends happily, and hopefully, with the promise of a truce between her mother and Gram, and Kelly and Mom. Most girls spend their lives looking for that truce.
