Jersey Tomatoes are the Best
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4.5 • 11 Ratings
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
This is a hilarious and heartbreaking story of two teen girls and the summer when everything changes for them. Both Henry and Eva are New Jersey natives and excellent athletes: Henry's a master on the tennis court and Eva is a graceful ballerina. When opportunity knocks for both of them the summer before their junior year in high school they throw open the door: Henry sees freedom from her overbearing father and a chance to build her talents on the court. Eva sees the chance to be the best as well as even more pressure to be graceful, lighter, more perfect on the dancefloor.
Soon, Eva's obsession with physical perfection leads her down the path to anorexia, and her health issues overwhelm everything else. But through it all these two best friends know that Jersey Tomatoes are the Best, and nothing will come between them no matter the distance.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Almost 16, Eva and Henry (don't ever call her Henriette) have been best friends forever, with a shared understanding of demanding parents and a deep love for their home state of New Jersey. This summer, Eva is accepted to the prestigious New York School of Dance, while Henry talks her father/coach into letting her attend a tennis academy in Florida. Each girl has a dangerous voice in her head. For Henry it's that of her father, whose desire to win has Henry using every psychological trick in the book to defeat her opponents; over the summer she falls in love and learns to count on her tennis skills, instead. Eva's voice is an eating disorder that slowly whittles away at her, resulting in near-deadly consequences before she accepts the gravity of her illness. With complex characters, a wrenchingly realistic portrayal of anorexia, and a friendship that is the true heart of the story, Padian (Brett McCarthy: Work in Progress) offers a well-wrought tale that makes it crystal clear that New Jersey has much more to offer than a certain reality show might suggest. Ages 12 up.
