SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: TROWBRIDGE ROAD
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.marcellapixley.com/
CITY: Westford
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 194
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/books/review/without-tess-by-marcella-pixley-book-review.html http://www.chasingemptypavements.com/2012/04/without-tess-by-marcella-pixley-review.html http://ayareader.blogspot.com/2011/10/review-without-tess.html
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married; children: two sons.
EDUCATION:Vassar College, B.A., 1992; University of Tennessee, graduated; Bread Loaf School of English, graduated.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Teacher and writer. Carlisle Public Schools, MA, eighth-grade language arts teacher.
WRITINGS
Contributor of poetry to periodicals, including Prairie Schooner.
SIDELIGHTS
(open new)In addition to writing novels for young adults, Marcella Pixley teaches eighth-grade language arts. She graduated from Vassar College, the University of Tennessee, and the Bread Loaf School of English. Pixley’s novels tend to include dark or difficult elements, including death, eating disorders, and strained relationships.(close new—more below)
Pixley’s debut novel Freak deals with issues familiar to many middle-school students: bullying, crushes, the search for uniqueness, sibling rivalry, and family miscommunication. In the novel, Pixley grapples with each of these issues from the perspective of central character Miriam Fisher. Awkward and unpopular, Miriam happily spends her days reading the Oxford English Dictionary and writing journal entries and poetry. Unfortunately, events conspire to undermine the preteen’s comfortable routine. The school bullies single Miriam out for abuse, and her older sister—usually reliable as a friend and confidante—deserts her when she is accepted into the popular crowd at the high school. Then Miriam’s parents agree to take in high-school senior Artie while his parents travel abroad. When the shy Miriam develops a crush on Artie, she must then watch in dismay as her sister becomes romantically involved with their new housemate. Pushed to her limit, Miriam responds with extreme measures, all of which are documented in her diary.
A Publishers Weekly correspondent called Freak “a disturbing tale that taps into the harsh reality of what it means to be a middle-school outcast.” In the novel, Pixley’s far-from-perfect protagonist is realistically portrayed, her endearing traits offset by fits of temper and intellectual snobbery, making Freaks “a powerful look at middle school angst and transformation,” according to School Library Journal critic Nora G. Murphy. In Booklist Debbie Carton remarked that Miriam’s conflicts “are especially riveting and believable,” and a Kirkus Reviews critic praised Pixley’s novel as “an expertly—and lovingly—narrated story.”
(open new)Pixley includes fantasy elements in her 2011 novel, Without Tess. The book’s protagonist is Lizzie, who spends much of her childhood in a make-believe world with supernatural beings and her beloved older sister, Tess. Lizzie wants to live in reality, but Tess protests her decision. Tess develops a serious eating disorder and later drowns. Years later, Lizzie tries to make sense of her relationship with Tess. She consults a psychologist and delves into Tess’s disturbing journals. Writing in Horn Book, Christine M. Heppermann, described the volume as an “intense, lyrical novel.” “Pixley … once again plumbs the emotional depths of a tough subject with sensitivity and insight,” commented a Kirkus Reviews critic.
In Ready to Fall, a sixteen-year-old boy named Max grieves for his mother, who has recently died of a brain tumor. He becomes convinced that her tumor is now living inside his own brain. In hopes of alleviating Max’s pain, his father puts him in an acclaimed art school. There, he meets quirky characters and is forced to confront his grief in an acting class. In an interview with a contributor to the Adventures in YA Publishing website, Pixley discussed her personal connection to the story in Ready to Fall. She stated: “Since my father was ill during my teen years, one of the things I often obsessed about was death and dying. Like Max, I convinced myself that I was suffering from an imaginary illness that would eventually do me in. The story comes from my desire to express how it feels not to be able to let go of a troubling thought and what kind of courage it takes to finally face your own demons.” “Lyrical prose, fresh and compelling images, and unforgettable characters create an experience that will stay with readers,” asserted a contributor to Kirkus Reviews. Writing in Voice of Youth Advocates, Jennifer Miskec commented: “This story is for the serious reader who enjoys melodrama and an earnest romance.” Referring to Pixley, Horn Book critic, Cynthia K. Ritter, remarked: “Her poetic prose is full of raw emotions, vivid imagery, and a touch of morbid humor.”
Set in the 1980s, Trowbridge Road tells the story of a friendship between two loner tweens. June Bug Jordan is grieving for her father, who recently died of AIDS, when she meets Ziggy Karlo, who moves in with his Nana Jean on June Bug’s block. Ziggy and June Bug quickly become friends and spend time developing their fantasy world, which they call the ninth dimension. The book is set in Pixley’s hometown of Newton Highlands. Regarding the choice of setting, Pixley told a contributor to the Shelf Awareness website: “Newton Highlands seemed like a perfect neighborhood filled with perfectly happy people who seemed connected and satisfied. But no neighborhood is perfect. In reality, all families are complex and fragile. I wrote Trowbridge Road so that children in complicated families will have a chance to see a reflection of their own experience and maybe find the courage to tell their own stories.” A writer in Kirkus Reviews called the book “an exceptional story for readers who feel deeply.”(close new)
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, September 15, 2007, Debbie Carton, review of Freak, p. 62.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, October, 2007, Deborah Stevenson, review of Freak, p. 105.
Horn Book, January-February, 2012, Christine M. Heppermann, review of Without Tess, p. 96; March-April, 2018, Cynthia K. Ritter, review of Ready to Fall, p. 94.
Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2007, review of Freak; September 15, 2011, review of Without Tess; August 15, 2017, review of Ready to Fall; April 1, 2020, review of Trowbridge Road.
Kliatt, September, 2007, Claire Rosser, review of Freak, p. 17.
Publishers Weekly, November 5, 2007, review of Freak, p. 65.
School Library Journal, November, 2007, Nora G. Murphy, review of Freak, p. 134; November, 2011, Kimberly Castle, review of Without Tess, p. 136.
Story Monsters Ink, June, 2020, review of Trowbridge Road, p 60.
Voice of Youth Advocates, August, 2007, C.J. Bott, review of Freak, p. 248; October, 2017, Jennifer Miskec, review of Ready to Fall, p. 64.
ONLINE
Adventures in YA Publishing, http://www.adventuresinyapublishing.com/ (December 2, 2017), author interview.
Macmillan Publishing website, http://www.us.macmillan.com/ (October 31, 2008), “Marcella Pixley.”
Marcella Pixley website, https://marcellapixley.com/ (August 31, 2020).
Shelf Awareness, https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ (February 27, 2020), author interview.
Marcella Pixley teaches eighth grade Language Arts at the Carlisle Public Schools. Her poetry has been published in literary journals such as Prairie Schooner, Feminist Studies, Sow’s Ear Poetry Review and Poet Lore, and she has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Ms. Pixley has written three acclaimed young adult novels: Freak, Without Tess, and most recently, Ready To Fall. Freak received four starred reviews and was named a Kirkus Best Book of the Year, and Without Tess was a School Library Journal selection.
Ms. Pixley lives in an antique farmhouse in Westford, Massachusetts with her husband and two sons. She is a graduate of Vassar College, University of Tennessee and Bread Loaf School of English.
Marcella Pixley is a middle school language arts teacher and a writer. Her poetry has been published in various literary journals, and she has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her first book, Freak, received four starred reviews and was named a Kirkus Best Book of the Year. She lives in Westford, Massachusetts, with her husband and two sons.
Marcella Pixley is the acclaimed author of four novels for young people. FREAK, FSG 2007 was named a Kirkus Review Best Book of the Year, WITHOUT TESS was a Junior Library Guild Selection, and READY TO FALL was a Jewish Advocate Best Book of 2017. Her new book TROWBRIDGE ROAD is a Junior Library Guild Selection and will be released by Candlewick Press in May 2020. Her poetry has been widely published in literary journals such as Prairie Schooner, Feminist Studies, Poet Lore and Sow's Ear Poetry Review. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Marcella is a middle school English teacher who loves leading writing workshops for aspiring writers of all ages.
QUOTED: "Newton Highlands seemed like a perfect neighborhood filled with perfectly happy people who seemed connected and satisfied. But no neighborhood is perfect. In reality, all families are complex and fragile. I wrote Trowbridge Road so that children in complicated families will have a chance to see a reflection of their own experience and maybe find the courage to tell their own stories."
Thursday, February 27, 2020: Kids' Maximum Shelf: Trowbridge Road
Marcella Pixley: Reflecting Complicated Families
Marcella Pixley is the author of Without Tess, Ready to Fall and Freak. She keeps her audience (and muses) close at hand by teaching writing to middle schoolers in Massachusetts, where she lives with her family. Recently, she spoke with Shelf Awareness about her unforgettable and intensely personal and emotional novel, Trowbridge Road (Candlewick, October 6, 2020).
Trowbridge Road takes place in Newton Highlands, Mass., where you grew up. Were there details or themes in the book that were influenced by your life?
There were so many details that were influenced by my life, and this is one of the reasons the book is so important to me. I had a pet ferret. I played cello. I lived inside my imagination. My mother dealt with depression and, from the time I was 11 years old, I suffered with obsessive compulsive disorder. Because my father was quite ill with a serious heart condition, I often obsessed about death and dying, and I yearned for the attention of my mother, who was sometimes distracted by her own struggles as she dealt with my father's illness. Newton Highlands seemed like a perfect neighborhood filled with perfectly happy people who seemed connected and satisfied. But no neighborhood is perfect. In reality, all families are complex and fragile. I wrote Trowbridge Road so that children in complicated families will have a chance to see a reflection of their own experience and maybe find the courage to tell their own stories.
Why did you decide to set Trowbridge Road in the 1980s, during the AIDS crisis?
I grew up during the 1980s, when AIDS was first coming into the public's attention. I wanted to write about the combination of ignorance, hysteria and silence that surrounded those years. People knew you could catch HIV. They knew that it killed you. But everything else about it seemed to be shrouded in misinformation and fear. The silence and fear surrounding AIDS was fueled by homophobia. When I started work on Trowbridge Road, I was interested in exploring the damage of silenced voices and silenced identities. I wanted to explore how secrets can shatter a family. June Bug's father was never able to express who he was. It takes enormous bravery to be true to yourself, even now in 2020. Even though we have made progress since the 1980s, the problems of bias and prejudice and the stigma of silence are still very much present-day issues. We still live in a world where it is difficult for many people to express their own authentic truths.
In spite of her mother's mental decline, June Bug keeps her spark of agency, refusing to give in completely to her mother's obsessive-compulsive behavior and demands. What gives her that strength?
Every time June Bug disappears into her make-believe world, she is feeding her spirit and reminding herself that she is strong. Another thing that gives her strength is the nurturing relationships she forges with Ziggy, Uncle Toby and Nana Jean. Each of these characters feeds her (both literally and figuratively) throughout the novel. June Bug discovers that when our families are in crisis, sometimes the love we need can come from outside of our homes. The concept of "family" can be wide enough and generous enough to include those we meet along the way.
Can you talk about the line between reality and fantasy? To some extent, all the characters walk that line, for a range of reasons and with varying outcomes.
Sometimes the line between fantasy and reality is blurred as a result of undiagnosed mental illness, as in the case of Angela Jordan, who is crippled by her fears. Sometimes it's as a result of family secrets. And then, of course, it is blurred by the sheer power of creativity and imagination. These children are resilient. They have the ability to lose themselves in make believe. When June is by herself, her imagination nurtures her. She can watch her neighborhood from the top of a tree and imagine that she is the one being cuddled and fed. When she is lying in her bed, she can imagine that she is traveling along a crack in the ceiling, marching away from her troubles. And then, once she and Ziggy become friends, the two of them become "nomads" who are able to cross the line between fantasy and reality whenever they want to. It is a power that gives them strength and hope.
June Bug learns that families can tell painful truths, be imperfect and get angry with each other but "the floor will not open up to swallow them."
All families are imperfect. They reach for each other sometimes and miss despite their best intentions. This doesn't mean they are horrible or evil people. It doesn't mean they don't love each other. It just means they are broken and fragile and not always able to get it right even when they want to. There is a pivotal scene where Jenny Karlo confronts Nana Jean about something important that happened when both of them were much younger. June Bug watches this mother and daughter fight with each other. She watches them tell the truth to each other about what hurt. She watches them express their fury, their disappointment and their bravery--and when it's over she sees that they can still love each other. They can heal from this. They can become stronger and happier as a result of the truths they finally tell.
Do your students read your books?
My students are the best readers of my books, especially when I am drafting something brand new. I lead a writing group for teens called Writers' Guild during lunch and recess. In this group we talk together about the writing process. We set goals. We work on our own projects, and we give each other honest feedback. I read early chapters of Trowbridge Road to my sixth- through eighth-graders in Writers' Guild, and the feedback they gave me inspired me to keep going. My students are an everyday reminder that my readers are real human beings who have their own stories to tell. --Emilie Coulter
QUOTED: "Since my father was ill during my teen years, one of the things I often obsessed about was death and dying. Like Max, I convinced myself that I was suffering from an imaginary illness that would eventually do me in. The story comes from my desire to express how it feels not to be able to let go of a troubling thought and what kind of courage it takes to finally face your own demons."
Saturday, December 2, 2017
2Marcella Pixley, author of READY TO FALL, on the courage it takes to finally face your own demons
We're thrilled to have Marcella Pixley stop by and tell us more about her new book, READY TO FALL.
Marcella, what was your inspiration for writing READY TO FALL?
As a teen, I was cursed with an overactive and ridiculously obsessive imagination. Once an idea came into my head, especially if that idea was disturbing, twisted or morbid, I would hold on to it and recycle it endlessly, often for many hours a day, from the moment I woke in the morning, to the moment I finally, and fitfully fell asleep. Since my father was ill during my teen years, one of the things I often obsessed about was death and dying. Like Max, I convinced myself that I was suffering from an imaginary illness that would eventually do me in. The story comes from my desire to express how it feels not to be able to let go of a troubling thought and what kind of courage it takes to finally face your own demons.
What scene was really hard for you to write and why, and is that the one of which you are most proud? Or is there another scene you particularly love?
My favorite scenes are the ones where the theater misfits are goofing around together. In the first one, they take Max "boot skating" in a frozen rock quarry, and while Max is stumbling down the snowy path, he finally has the chance to hold hands with Fish for the first time. This scene marks the beginning of the romantic arc of the book, and it is the first time that Max experiences the joy that comes from connection and friendship. I am also very fond of the Truth or Dare scene, where the misfits pile into The Monk's dorm room after rehearsal to partake in forbidden contraband and to test each other's nerves. This is the scene where you learn the most about the romantic dynamics between the characters, and the relationship between Max and Fish is finally recognized.
What book or books would most resonate with readers who love your book--or visa versa?
I would say that this book would appeal to YA lovers who enjoy edgy, contemporary fiction. If you like Rainbow Rowell or John Green, you will probably also like this book. Ready to Fall will appeal to particularly artistic, creative, quirky people who like reading about characters that they might recognize as being like them. Maybe they don't quite fit in to mainstream culture. Maybe they have suffered a loss or lived through a family tragedy. Maybe their imagination is their own worst enemy. Maybe they are on the look-out for a new group of true friends to convince them that life, however imperfect, really is worth living to the fullest.
How long did you work on READY TO FALL?
I worked on this book for around three years from conception to publication. Ready to Fall went though so many changes! In my first drafts, all I had were disconnected scenes that showed Max's cycle of grief, friendship and redemption. It was less of a story and more of a series of vignettes. Since I began my writing career as a poet, in the early drafts, the novel focused more on lyricism and language than plot. But then, after a year of playing with the vignettes, I began to craft the story, to uncover the driving action and this is where the true story was born. Margaret Ferguson, my editor from Farrar Straus and Giroux is an excellent reader and an exacting mentor. With her guidance, I revised the book more than ten times before either of us were satisfied that we had something special that was ready to put into the hands of YA readers.
What's your writing ritual like? Do you listen to music? Work at home or at a coffee shop or the library, etc?
I wrote most of the later drafts of READY TO FALL in a little cafe in Gloucester Massachusetts called Pleasant Street Tea Company. This is an amazing, funky, local coffee shop right by the harbor that has great alternative music and cool, interesting people who sometimes became the inspiration for my characters. In fact, it was sitting in Pleasant Street Tea Company one afternoon that I got the idea of creating a character with pink hair. I was sitting on my favorite couch, drinking a smoothie and writing the scene where Max takes his tour of The Badwin School, and in comes this girl with a nose ring, a black, vintage rock and roll T shirt and hair the color of cotton candy. I knew she had to become a character in my book. Whoever you are, pink-haired girl, thank you.
What advice would you most like to pass along to other writers?
My advice is to make time in your life to write and to read what you love. If you can, find a writers' group where you can surround yourself with others who have the same dream as you do. Be brave and share your work with them. Ask them for support and critique and give them the same gift when they need it. I was eleven years old when I first decided I wanted to be a writer. I always wished I had a crystal ball to tell me for sure if I would ever be published. The problem is, no one has a crystal ball. All you have is your own determination and your own blind trust that if you keep on trying, and if you believe in the process, you will eventually be published. Write to me if you ever want cheer leading. I will help you remember that is what you were born to do and you can do it if you don't give up. I mean it. Write to me: marcellapixley@yahoo.com. I always write back.
What are you working on now?
I am working on a novel called Ziggy Karlo. It's about the unlikely friendship between two off-beat teens who rescue each other when their home lives become unbearable. The novel takes place in suburban New England in the early 1980s and it involves Italian food, psychic powers, talking meat cleavers and an albino ferret named Matthew.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Ready to Fall: A Novel
by Marcella Pixley
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Released 11/28/2017
When Max Friedman's mother dies of cancer, instead of facing his loss, Max imagines that her tumor has taken up residence in his head. It's a terrible tenant--isolating him from family, distracting him in school, and taunting him mercilessly about his manhood. With the tumor in charge, Max implodes, slipping farther and farther away from reality. Max is sent to the artsy, off-beat Baldwin School to regain his footing. He joins a group of theater misfits in a steam-punk production of Hamlet and slowly becomes friends with Fish, a girl with pink hair and a troubled past, and The Monk, an edgy upperclassman who refuses to let go of the things he loves. For a while, Max almost feels happy. But his tumor is always lurking in the wings--until one night it knocks him down and Max is forced to face the truth, not just about the tumor, but about how important it is to let go of the past.
Purchase Ready to Fall: A Novel at Amazon
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Freak, Without Tess, and most recently, Ready To Fall. Freak received four starred reviews and was named a Kirkus Best Book of the Year, and Without Tess was a School Library Journal selection.
Marcella Pixley teaches eighth grade Language Arts at the Carlisle Public Schools. Her poetry has been published in literary journals such as Prairie Schooner, Feminist Studies, Sow’s Ear Poetry Review and Poet Lore, and she has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Ms. Pixley has written three acclaimed young adult novels:
Ms. Pixley lives in an antique farmhouse in Westford, Massachusetts with her husband and two sons. She is a graduate of Vassar College, University of Tennessee and Bread Loaf School of English.
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Have you had a chance to read READY TO FALL, yet?
Have you ever discovered that the driving action of a story is very different than you expected? And if so, how did it affect your story?
Do you find your favorite scenes are those that flow easily or those that challenge you?
Share your thoughts about the interview in the comments!
Happy Reading,
Charlotte, Jocelyn, Anisaa, Erin, Martina, Erin, Susan, Shelly, Kelly, Laura, Emily, and Lori Ann
It's the summer of '83 on Trowbridge Road, and June Bug Jordan is hungry. Months after her father's death from complications from AIDS, her mother has stopped cooking and refuses to leave the house, instead locking herself away to scour at the germs she believes are everywhere. June Bug threatens this precarious existence by going out into the neighborhood, gradually befriending Ziggy, an imaginative boy who is living with his Nana Jean after experiencing troubles of his own. But as June Bug's connection to the world grows stronger, her mother's grows more distant--even dangerous--pushing June Bug to choose between truth and healing and the only home she has ever known. This is a heartwarming tale of children who get caught up in the failures and bad choices of their parents. Young adults need to read this story that will help them recognize and help with the needs of kids who slip through the cracks. (Ages 10+)
by Marcella Pixley (Candlewick) Reviewer: Diana Perry
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 Story Monsters LLC
www.StoryMonsters.com
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 8th Edition APA 6th Edition Chicago 17th Edition
Pixley, Marcella. "Trowbridge Road." Story Monsters Ink, June 2020, p. 60. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A625711002/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=ad5f73ff. Accessed 19 June 2020.
PIXLEY, Marcella. Without Tess. 280p. Farrar/Margaret Ferguson Bks. 2011. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-374-36174-7; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-1-4299-6982-6. LC number unavailable.
Gr 7-9--Lizzie Cohen, 9, and her sister, Tess, 11, are incredibly close. They live in a world all their own, filled with selkies, magical toads, and horses with beautiful wings. When Lizzie tries to leave this fantastical world in favor of reality, Tess tries hard to keep her there. Her imagination becomes more and more delusional, and she becomes harmful to herself and others. She starves herself, claiming that she is immortal and doesn't need nourishment. Then she makes a decision that leaves Lizzie, five years later, struggling to confront the past through Tess's worn-out Pegasus Journal, full of poetry and disturbing images. With the help of the school psychologist and a childhood friend, Lizzie tries to find a way to let go of her guilt. Alternating between chapters of prose and poetry, the novel gives readers glimpses into the minds of both girls, balancing past and present and slowly revealing the entire story. The setting is a riverside town, and the pivotal events take place at the razor's edge of fall and winter, creating a chill of apprehension. Girls struggling with anorexia may benefit from reading about an issue that hits close to home, and anyone coping with harmful relationships, especially within the family, will relate to this lyrical, heartrending novel.--Kimberly Castle, Stark County District Library, Canton, OH
Castle, Kimberly
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2011 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 8th Edition APA 6th Edition Chicago 17th Edition
Castle, Kimberly. "Pixley, Marcella. Without Tess." School Library Journal, vol. 57, no. 11, Nov. 2011, p. 136. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A272077900/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=87561326. Accessed 19 June 2020.
QUOTED: "an exceptional story for readers who feel deeply."
Pixley, Marcella TROWBRIDGE ROAD Candlewick (Children's None) $17.99 5, 12 ISBN: 978-1-5362-0750-7
Two lonely outcast preteens find truth and solace through friendship over the summer of 1983.
June Bug Jordan and Ziggy Karlo share a lot in common. They both have well-meaning mothers who love them but “don’t know how to make it stick”; they both have had a traumatic year; and they’re both in need of a friend. June Bug’s father has died of AIDS, a disease only recently discovered and still tragically misunderstood. Her devastated mother is incapacitated with deep depression and an intense germ phobia—she even makes June Bug bathe with bleach. June Bug struggles daily with guilt over the last thing she said to her father while hiding the truth of her home life from neighbors. Ziggy, a “gangly,” sensitive “beanpole” of a boy with long hair and a pet ferret called Matthew, has come to live with his loving and formidable Nana Jean, down the street from June Bug, for a fresh start after a year of being bullied. The two become fast friends and, inspired by their boundless imaginations, escape to the “ninth dimension,” where they can make anything they want happen just by wishing. June Bug narrates this work of historical realism with a magical, poetic quality, turning the ordinary extraordinary. June Bug and Ziggy’s fanciful adventures are likely to resonate with fans of Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia (1977). Primary characters seem to be white.
An exceptional story for readers who feel deeply. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
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"Pixley, Marcella: TROWBRIDGE ROAD." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Apr. 2020. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A619127587/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=ec5a11b2. Accessed 19 June 2020.
QUOTED: "Her poetic prose is full of raw emotions, vivid imagery, and a touch of morbid humor."
Ready to Fall
by Marcella Pixley
High School Farrar 362 pp.
11/17 978-0-374-30358-7 $17.99 e-book ed. 978-0-374-30359-4 $9.99
While Max Friedman is standing next to his mother's coffin, he silently offers himself to his mother's "favorite tumor": "You want somewhere to live for a while? My brain is ripe. It will fill your belly. Come eat. And when you're done, bury me next to her so I don't have to be alone." As the tumor continually taunts him ("My mother's favorite tumor is letting his Rottweilers use my cerebral cortex as a fire hydrant"), a miserable Max retreats into his macabre sketches and begins failing his sophomore year. His heartbroken dad transfers Max to an arts school in hopes of a fresh start. There Max befriends Fish, a "gorgeous pink-haired girl" with her own troubles, and her best friend, The Monk, who collects "oddities," including three other eccentric friends. The six are cast in the school's gothic/steampunk production of Hamlet. Similarities between the play and Max's life compound his growing existential crisis until one traumatic evening forces him to finally confront his loss and grief. Writing about mourning a loved one is familiar territory for Pixley (Without Tess, rev. 1/12), but her approach here is as fresh and offbeat as her characters; her poetic prose is full of raw emotions, vivid imagery, and a touch of morbid humor. The tumor may be in Max's imagination, but his pain is hauntingly real. Slowly and believably, Max's family, friends, and teachers help him realize he's not alone, and that finding the courage to trust others and let go of the past will help him move forward.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 The Horn Book, Inc.. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
Source Citation
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MLA 8th Edition APA 6th Edition Chicago 17th Edition
Ritter, Cynthia K. "Ready to Fall." The Horn Book Magazine, vol. 94, no. 2, Mar.-Apr. 2018, p. 94+. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A530106826/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f117db23. Accessed 19 June 2020.
QUOTED: "This story is for the serious reader who enjoys melodrama and an earnest romance."
Pixley, Marcella. Ready to Fall. Farrar Straus Giroux/Macmillan, November 2017. 368p. $17.99. 978-0-374-30358-7.
After his mother dies of brain cancer, sophomore Max struggles with school and relationships--friends, family, and teachers. He is grieving, of course, but he is also convinced that a tumor, like the one that killed his mother, has begun to grow in his brain. The tumor, Max imagines, taunts him, prevents him from sleeping, and does not allow him to concentrate. This causes Max, an artist, to almost fail at school. He gets a second chance when he enrolls at a progressive art school. While his talent is fostered, Max begins to reconnect with the real world; he meets new friends and falls in love. Max still cannot shake the thought of the tumor and the meaninglessness of his own life--until a physical trauma forces him to accept that he is not dying of brain cancer after all and that he must rejoin the real world.
Pixley respects the fact that everyone grieves in their own way, which is commendable, though brooding Max is difficult to bond with as a protagonist. Max's Manic Pixie Dream Girl sidekick (the lovely, tragic, and pink-haired Fish) is likewise hard to take too seriously; she is rather flat despite her role as muse. Many intertextual references exist in the story, especially with the school production of Hamlet, in which Max, Fish, and their friend, The Monk, perform in order to heavy-handedly reiterate to the reader Max's feelings of haunting, deception, and mania. This story is for the serious reader who enjoys melodrama and an earnest romance.--Jennifer Miskec.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 8th Edition APA 6th Edition Chicago 17th Edition
Miskec, Jennifer. "Pixley, Marcella. Ready to Fall." Voice of Youth Advocates, vol. 40, no. 4, Oct. 2017, p. 64. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A511785044/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=9234163f. Accessed 19 June 2020.
QUOTED: "Lyrical prose, fresh and compelling images, and unforgettable characters create an experience that will stay with readers."
Pixley, Marcella READY TO FALL Margaret Ferguson/Farrar, Straus & Giroux (Children's Fiction) $17.99 11, 28 ISBN: 978-0-374-30358-7
Desperate to cling to something of his mother's after her death, 16-year-old Max believes he has invited her tumor into his brain and that it is slowly killing him.Max is increasingly withdrawn, lost, and strange. His father, desperate to help him with his grief, enrolls him in an exclusive school filled with eccentric artists. There, Max meets Fish, a bubbly girl with pink hair, and her band of misfit friends. Max also meets the curmudgeonly creative-writing teacher, who uses unorthodox methods to force Max to talk about his pain. He has a breakthrough during a staging of Hamlet, in which each cast member is forced to confront his or her own ghosts. Max's tightrope walk between sanity and insanity will resonate with anyone suffering from a loss. While he must find a way to live again, it takes the combined efforts of his wild friends, his devoted family, and a few dedicated and eccentric teachers. Lyrical prose, fresh and compelling images, and unforgettable characters create an experience that will stay with readers far past the last page. The principals are white and Jewish, but the school boasts students of many races, religions, and sexual orientations. Grief becomes something oddly beautiful--and beautifully odd. (Fiction. 14-18)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Pixley, Marcella: READY TO FALL." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2017. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A500364867/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=1b316927. Accessed 19 June 2020.
QUOTED: "Pixley ... once again plumbs the emotional depths of a tough subject with sensitivity and insight."
Pixley, Marcella WITHOUT TESS Margaret Ferguson/Farrar, Straus & Giroux (Children's Fiction) $16.99 10, 11 ISBN: 978-0-374-36174-7
Tess' drowning five years ago weighs heavily on sister Lizzie, who, at 15, struggles with her feelings of guilt and betrayal for not doing enough to save Tess from herself.
It was natural for Lizzie to look up to her older sister, especially when Tess let her into her magical world of make-believe. Tess was convinced that she was not mortal, with mundane needs like food. Sometimes she was a wolf, sometimes a horse and, most dangerously, a selkie. By the time Lizzie was 10, she had a hard time keeping up with 11-year-old Tess' delusions and demands. Tess' disapproval of Lizzie's unwillingness to believe in the magic turned Lizzie's perfect birthday sour. Her words filled Lizzie with terror, her voice "low and hollow, as if she [had] fallen into a hole and [was] suddenly talking to me from ten feet under the earth." Tess left a journal filled with gory images and dark poetry, and it becomes the tool that Lizzie uses, with the help of a school psychologist, to come to terms with the truth. Lizzie's narrative voice moves seamlessly between the present and the past, interspersed with Tess's poetry.
Pixley (Freak, 2007) once again plumbs the emotional depths of a tough subject with sensitivity and insight into the complexities of human nature and sibling bonds. (Fiction. 12 & up)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2011 Kirkus Media LLC
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MLA 8th Edition APA 6th Edition Chicago 17th Edition
"Pixley, Marcella: WITHOUT TESS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Sept. 2011. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A266781594/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=062448da. Accessed 19 June 2020.
QUOTED: "intense, lyrical novel."
Without Tess
by Marcella Pixley
Middle School, High School Ferguson/Farrar 281 pp.
10/11 978-0-374-36174-7 $16.99
The imaginative play of two sisters is tinged with menace in Pixley's (Freak) intense, lyrical novel. Lizzie was always the follower in the fantastical games her older sister Tess conceived. Now, five years after Tess's death, Lizzie has taken the copying a step further and is passing off Tess's poems as her own in her high school English class. Floating gracefully between the present and the past, Pixley paints a portrait of eleven-year-old Tess's "magic" that at first seems luminous. Remembering a game of Pegasus, Lizzie says, "I can almost see the moonbeam wings coming up from the surface of [Tess's] back, pushing through the skin, the long, white bones rising like glaciers from the sea, the moonbeams feathering out, each tiny filament, shining, sparkling, until she has wings, beautiful, new, magnificent wings." But the portrait soon darkens. As Tess falls deeper into mental illness, her behavior grows more disturbing, with loyal Lizzie sometimes putting herself in physical danger to protect her sister. The East Coast setting, a fishing village, is beautifully, often heartbreakingly woven into Tess's delusions, one of which involves the belief that she is a selkie, a seal maiden trapped on land without her seal skin. It is a fitting metaphor for Lizzie and her parents, trapped by their loss. Lizzie eventually realizes that they have to find a way up from the depths of mourning and guilt--to break through the surface to a new life without Tess.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2012 The Horn Book, Inc.. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Heppermann, Christine M. "Without Tess." The Horn Book Magazine, vol. 88, no. 1, Jan.-Feb. 2012, p. 96. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A275576018/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f07732b2. Accessed 19 June 2020.