The Jelly Bean Crisis
5*
Poppy had the ‘total blueprint for her perfect life’ printed and taped to the inside of her locker, it had been there since 7th grade. She knew exactly where she was going and the path she was taking to get there. Today she could cross off the Denton award, this was something she’d been working on through high school and it gave her a free ride through college, one step closer to her dreams… That was until attention seeker Lucy Tenaro read out her ‘What I want to be’ essay in class and made Poppy realise that maybe the perfect life she had planned was more for her parents and teachers than it was for herself.
The Jelly Bean Crisis is a coming of age drama about a young girl who uses what she calls the ‘Jelly Bean Theory’ to live her life. It’s a simple method where red jelly beans (being her favourite) are her goal and all the other colours are what she has to endure to get there. When she receives a full scholarship to Columbia it dawns on her that the only reason she’s doing this is because her parents and teachers expect it, and not because it’s something she really wants for herself. After much deliberation her parents allow her to take a ‘gap’ month and try new things to see if she really has chosen the right path for her. Poppy takes that time to try all manner of things she has never thought of before, from making cookies in a factory to being a runner on a film set, and we take the journey with her while she discovers that the red jelly bean is not everyone's favourite!
Jolene Stockman is fast becoming one of my ‘must read’ authors with her light hearted, easy writing style and witty comments. Her work is a pleasure to read and it's inspirational too. I managed to read this in one sitting and didn’t notice the time go by it had such a ‘feel good’ feel about it. I was on a high even after I’d finished reading! It was interesting to read a ‘coming of age drama’ that covers a subject the majority of kids go through instead of the rare and extreme cases of gang wars and teen pregnancies! Personally I would recommend reading this book to any teenager planning their future and any parent who tries to live vicariously through their children, it will give you all food for thought and hopefully help you find your 'red' jelly bean.......or yellow or which ever colour the case may be for ‘you’!
Copy supplied for review and I can’t wait to see what Jolene has in store for us next.