Leila Sales

Vanessa's best friend Bailey isn't her best friend anymore, and Vanessa can't figure out why. When she finds an abandoned museum, she cleans it up and puts her own exhibit there: one all about Bailey. Then someone else discovers the museum and begins adding to it: Eli, a classmate from Hebrew school, creates an exhibit about his old dog, Einstein. Then Vanessa's older brother Sterling wants to exhibit his baseball cards. The three curators make some rules for the museum (no adults, for one), show more and then begin inviting visitors. In the process, Eli and Vanessa become friends, and Vanessa's friendship with twins Rosalie and Honore grows, and her understanding of her friendship with Bailey changes, too - it's not exactly as she presented it to the reader at first, but it's not exactly how she remembers, either.

The kids' museum can't last forever; the scheduled demolition is rescheduled, and Vanessa manages to reach a famous artist whose painting is the only one left in the museum, leading to a surprise visit, conversation, and outcome.

Vanessa and Sterling's father is in the military, visiting home between deployments and video-calling from abroad when he can; at one point they are afraid he has been killed, and Vanessa considers the horrible what-if.

Vanessa is also struggling with a habit of picking at her skin, something Bailey's new friends find disgusting and her father finds disturbing. In an unlikely coincidence, Mariko Marsden has a similar condition - picking out her own hair - and knowing there is a name for the condition, and other people like her, comforts Vanessa and allows her to talk to her mom about it.

Beautifully balanced and realistic.

See also: The Meaning of Maggie by Megan Jean Sovern, The Lost Library by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass (different tone)

Quotes

You'd think you'd need to go far away to find something new, but sometimes it was as simple as just turning left instead of right. (11)

Vanessa felt like the world was crumbling around her. She didn't want Bailey to act like a good friend just because she was fulfilling an assignment or something. She wanted Bailey to want to be a good friend. (59)

It took a long time to make, but to ruin it took almost no effort at all. (155)

Everybody wanted her to be somebody different. Because there was something wrong with her just the way she was. (170)

...it was worthless to the world, and priceless to Vanessa. (191)

"...it's just going to get taken down again."
"Maybe....But it would be good for as long as it lasts. Isn't that reason enough to do it?" (Vanessa and Rosalie, 212)

"What if he never comes home?"
"That would be terrible....It would be unspeakably tragic. It would be one of the worst things that could possibly happen. And we would find a way through it." (Vanessa and her mom, 218)

"If we don't work to protect beauty, it will disappear in favor of whatever people think they want at that exact moment in time. Beauty is harder to find, harder still to create, and easy to destroy." (Mariko Marsden, 233)

Everything was out of her control, and she hated it. (239)

Ruining something on purpose and ruining something on purpose were two very different matters. (251)

She didn't need the artifacts to prove that all this had been real and had mattered. (275) show less

First thoughts:
Such a great book! It was a very original concept (characters usually go on flashy adventures into the past; here a little girl from the past is suddenly trapped in the present), and it stayed with me for days. Full review to come, but the short version is that this is a real gem.

Full review:
I'm still reeling, taking in all of the thoughts and experiences I had while reading Once Was a Time.

I initially wanted to read it because it has time travel in it, but I soon realized show more that this is far more than just your average "time travel book." Lottie isn't an adventurer; she's just a ten-year-old girl from WWII-era England who ran through a portal to escape danger and suddenly found herself in Wisconsin in 2013. Watching her find her way through our world, watching her discover everything that's been invented in the last seventy years, was fascinating. At times, I even forgot that she had come to my own time; everything was so foreign and frightening to her that I found myself just as scared as Lottie, just as disconcerted by the cavalier 21st-century attitudes that I'm normally used to.

I love watching Lottie struggle to adapt to her new persona of "Charlotte the foster kid," and to bluff her way through life as a completely normal 21st-century kid. You can see how she almost loses control of herself, how she throws away everything that made her her in her attempt to fit in and be welcomed by those around her. She compromises so much to fit in (both when it comes to keeping her life a secret, and to being popular at school), and I really loved watching her come to the realization that she is still in control of her own life even though she's not living the life she'd expected when she was little.

I can't say too much more without spoiling the book, but before I end the review I will say that this book is not completely perfect. I appreciated how well Sales drove home the reality of what it would be like to be forced into such a situation, but I would have preferred to spend even more time watching Lottie go through the transition. As it is, we watch her for a little while and then speed forward to a few years later. Then, near the end, there's another "days turned to months, months to years" segue and we skip forward again in time. I would have liked a longer book that really delved into describing those periods of times, instead of just skipping over them.

All in all, though, I'm so glad I got the chance to read this engaging and thought-provoking book about what it would really be like to travel forward in time. I'm definitely adding it to my favorites list! What are your favorite time travel books? Let me know in the comments below!

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher through a LibraryThing giveaway. show less

Need to ease your way back into thinking about history as the summer comes to an end but not quite ready to go full out historical fiction yet? Enter Past Perfect. This contemporary teen story is laugh-out-loud funny, poignant, and romantic... and just so happens to take place in the fine Commonwealth of Virginia, in a little community called Essex, which is not so different from Colonial Williamsburg.

Chelsea is wrapping up her junior year of high school, still hurting from a break up, and show more getting ready to return to her summer job as Elizabeth Connelly of Essex. Chelsea has been working as a historical reenactor for pretty much her whole life. Her present is the past and her future is a little murky, especially after she is elected Lieutenant for Essex and becomes a major player in the War. Not the Revolutionary War, mind you, but the war between Colonial reenactors and Civil War reenactors that has waged in this town every summer for pretty much as long as anyone can remember. Chelsea suddenly finds herself getting kidnapped by a rather dashing Civil Warrior, unexpectedly working with (and getting rescued by) her ex-boyfriend, keeping secrets from her completely awesome best friend, and maybe... just possibly... winning the war once and for all. But at what cost?

I knew as soon as I read the summary of this book that I would love it--I did after all spend a good chunk of my childhood as an aspiring Laura Ingalls Wilder reenactor (don’t judge; I practically grew up on the prairie). But I had no idea how much I would love it. I spent large portions of this book either laughing out loud on the Metro or wishing I had a physical copy (rather than an egalley) so I could highlight the really poignant insights about friendships and relationships and the past, present, and future, all couched between the humor and romance and history lessons.

Say good-bye to summer fun and hello to your history books with this fun read.

http://tatalonline.blogspot.com/2011/11/up-and-coming-past-perfect-by-leila.html show less

REVIEW ORIGINALLY POSTED http://hobbitsies.net/wordpress/2011/09/past-perfect-by-leila-sales/

I read Mostly Good Girls by Leila Sales last year and I LOVED it. It is one of the funniest and the most realistic YA contemps I’ve ever read. She GETS it.

So, of course I had to read Past Perfect. I mean, of course. I mean, even besides the fact that Leila freaking Sales wrote it. It takes place in a Colonial re-enactment town. I’ve been to Williamsburg and it rocked my socks off. Granted, I show more was 9. But I want to go back so badly.

Anyway, Past Perfect was made of awesome. Not only did it take place in a Colonial re-enactment town, it was right across the freaking street from a Civil War re-enactment town. And the two towns were at war. And there are BOYS.

I thought Chelsea was an excellent protagonist. She was snarky and bitter, as most teenagers are, and her situation, although a little out there, was certainly relatable in the overall themes. And Dan was all sorts of swoon worthy. I loved their banter and even though I didn’t necessarily understand the big deal with their different situations, it made for an interesting conflict.

Past Perfect is a hilarious and witty and very, very original young adult contemporary. I loved every single page and every single character, even the obnoxious ones. If you’re looking for a laugh or for a fun romance or for an original story in a badass setting, definitely check out Past Perfect. And anything else Leila Sales ever writes. show less