Here's How I See It--Here's How It Is - Hardcover

Henson, Heather

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1416949011 ISBN 13: 9781416949015

Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2009

Synopsis

here's how i see it

Rave reviews, an endless request for autographs, my name in lights on Broadway.

here's how it is

The audience is half empty, I spend zero time onstage, my dad's midlife crisis is about to ruin the playhouse...and my family.

Junebug dreams of being a leading lady someday. A serious actress, a stage actress, a real actress. And it should be easy for her to get her start -- her parents own the Blue Moon Playhouse, after all, and her dad performed on Broadway (once). But the truth is, at (almost) thirteen, she's not even a supporting actress or a stand-in or an understudy or even a child actor has-been. In the current Blue Moon production, her role is this: thunder, props...and stagehand (gopher, actually). And lately it seems like maybe the stagehand mindset -- go unnoticed, don't say a word -- is rubbing off on Junebug's personality. She's starting to feel as though her opinions never count, her worries aren't taken seriously, that she's becoming the ultimate stagehand: invisible. And that's not a role she's happy with.

From author and former playhouse insider Heather Henson comes a novel about growing up, standing out, and what it means to live your life just outside of the spotlight.

About this title

About the Author:

Heather Henson lives on a farm in Kentucky with her husband and three children, and is the author of several critically acclaimed picture books and novels, including the Christopher Award–winning That Book Woman and Dream of Night.

From Booklist:

Junebug loves theatrical tragedy and dreams of being a revered stage actress one day. But the lineup at her parents’ summer stock theater falls well short of her expectations. June is replaced as prop woman by an awkward boy, her ingénue older sister leaves her with all the grunt work, her mother moves out, and her dad seems overly interested in the new leading lady. June embraces the line “I am in mourning for my life” as her mantra, and mopes about the theater trying to figure out where exactly she fits in. Each chapter begins with an account of how June wishes things were, before telling the reader “how it is.” By the book’s end, though, June finds that she wasn’t really seeing things as clearly as she thought after all. Readers unfamiliar with theater conventions will need to adjust to how plays appear in print (including stage directions, and names appearing in all capital letters), but June’s narration is heartfelt, and the many theatrical details provide a unique frame for this gentle story about family and personal growth. Grades 5-7. --Heather Booth

About this edition

• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1416949011
• ISBN 13: 9781416949015
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288