Teen Review– Tales from My Closet by Jennifer Anne Moses

This book follows the lives of 5 different girls living in New Jersey. Each girl has their own unique taste in fashion. Justine has a hard time adjusting to her new high school in San Francisco with the fear of being laughed at by all her classmates. Becka, who spent her summer in Paris, has a distant father and a psychologist mother. Robin, who has a shopping addiction, takes on jobs to pay off her debt. While bright Ann, who wants to go into art despite her family’s wish for her to go to college, decides to make a fashion blog, the swimmer Polly, who is self conscious about her body, deals with the loss of her grandfather and the absence of her father. Each girl is different yet the same. Their love for fashion is what brings this book together as they share their stories that will make you laugh, cry and just smile.

I liked this book. It was quirky and sweet at the same time. I also liked how Moses alternated chapters so each chapter is another girl’s perspective. I don’t see this concept in a lot of books, maybe because it is sometimes difficult to connect with the audience. This can also be a difficult concept if the book as too many characters. I think Moses did a wonderful job of keeping the individual characters’ personalities straight and understandable. If you love fashion, then this book is right for you.

I got a bit upset at one of the characters in the book, but that just shows how much I enjoyed the book and got so into it. When Becka got rushed to the hospital, Justine didn’t do anything but blame her mother and sit at home. I was upset at her for not taking responsibility for what she did.

Review by Arghawan, grade 6, Dumbarton Area Library