Almost 16-year-old Elle is abandoned to an apartment when her mother begins dating a new man and wants her out of the way. Consequently, Elle shaves her head and adopts a terribly ugly, unfriendly cat in reaction to her mother’s beautiful vs. ugly world view. Upon moving into the apartment, Elle and her mother meet Frank, the gentle man next door who, along with his girlfriend Molly, offers help and friendship.
When Elle arrives at school with her new haircut, she is perceived as lesbian (she is not) and endures some bullying, but is welcomed into a group of students mostly on the GLBT spectrum. When her new friends learn that she has her own place, they convince her to have a party and when Frank drops, by they speculate whether Frank is a transman, which infuriates Elle, who abruptly kicks them out. Elle struggles with why this bothers her and finally determines that her attraction to him muddies her perception of herself.
In Jumpstart the World, Catherine Ryan Hyde explodes human binaries such as: beautiful/ugly, sane/insane, good/bad, male/female, dependent/independent and embraces the idea that there is room for people to define themselves between the extremes. I loved this gentle book that covered important topics. It encourages each person to “just be as close to yourself as you can possibly bring yourself to be,†regardless of other’s expectations. This is a great book for all high school and public library young adult collections.
Reviewed by, Sharon Flesher-Duffy
Nashua High School South
