Like Vanessa

In this semi-autobiographical debut novel set in 1983, Vanessa Martin's real-life reality of living with family in public housing in Newark, New Jersey is a far cry from the glamorous Miss America stage. She struggles with an incarcerated mother she barely remembers, a grandfather dealing with addiction and her own battle with self-confidence. But when a new teacher at school coordinates a beauty pageant and convinces Vanessa to enter, Vanessa's view of her own world begins to change. Vanessa discovers that her own self-worth is more than the scores of her talent performance and her interview answers, and that she doesn't need a crown to be comfortable in her own skin and see her own true beauty.

• Author
• Tami Charles, Vanessa Brantley-Newton

• Format
• hardcover

• Pages
• 288

• Publisher
• Charlesbridge

• Language
• english

• ISBN
• 9781580897778

• Genres
• fiction, historical, family, lgbt

• Release date
• 2018