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Outside Beauty
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Outside Beauty Hardback - 2008

by Cynthia Kadohata

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Shelby and her sisters are separated when each girl is sent to live with her respective father while their mother undergoes surgery. After learning the youngest is so devastated she withdraws, Shelby realizes something must be done to reclaim her family.

Reader reviews for Outside Beauty

From the publisher

"My mother had four daughters by four different men."

There's only one way Shelby and her sisters can describe their mother: She's a sexpot. Helen Kimura collects men (and loans, spending money, and gifts of all kinds) from all over the country. Sure, she's not your typical role model, but she's also not just a pretty face and nail polish. She is confident and brave; she lives life on her own terms, and her four daughters simply adore her. These girls have been raised outside the traditional boundaries. They know how to take the back exit. They know how to dodge crazed lovers in highway car chases. They do not, however, know how to function without one another.

Then suddenly they must. A late-night phone call unexpectedly shreds the family apart, catapulting the girls across the country to live with their respective fathers. But these strong-willed sisters are, like their mother, determined to live life on their own terms, and what they do to pull their family back together is nothing short of beautiful.

At turns wickedly funny and insistently thought-provoking, Outside Beauty showcases Cynthia Kadohata's unerring ability to explore the bonds that bind.

Details

  • Title Outside Beauty
  • Author Cynthia Kadohata
  • Binding Hardback
  • Edition X-Library
  • Pages 272
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Many
  • Publication date June 3, 2008
  • Features Dust Cover, Price on Product - Canadian
  • ISBN 9780689865756 / 0689865759
  • Weight 0.84 lbs (0.38 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.02 x 5.44 x 0.92 in (20.37 x 13.82 x 2.34 cm)
  • Age range 13 to 17 years
  • Grade levels 8 - 12
  • Reading level 620
  • Themes
    • Topical: Family
  • Category Young Adult Fiction
  • Library of Congress subjects Mothers and daughters, Sisters
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 2007039711
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

Citations

  • Booklist, 06/01/2008, Page 67
  • Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks, 07/01/2008, Page 478
  • Horn Book Magazine, 07/01/2008, Page 451
  • Hornbook Guide to Children, 10/01/2008, Page 371
  • Kirkus Best Young-Adult Books, 12/01/2008, Page 8
  • Kirkus Review - Children, 05/15/2008, Page 549
  • Publishers Weekly, 05/12/2008, Page 54
  • School Library Journal, 07/01/2008, Page 100
  • Voice of Youth Advocates, 08/01/2008, Page 0

About the author

Cynthia Kadohata won the National Book Award for The Thing About Luck and the Newbery Medal for Kira-Kira. She's also the author of many more critically acclaimed novels, including Checked, A Million Shades of Gray, A Place to Belong, Weedflower, Cracker!, and Outside Beauty. In addition to rescuing Dobermans, she's also managed her son's hockey team. She lives in California. Visit her online at CynthiaKadohata.com.