Queen of Secrets

( 7 )

Overview

This year, Essie Green’s life is going to be different. She’s made the cheerleading squad and caught the eye of the captain of the football team. However, she didn't expect her estranged cousin to join the football team. Micah is instantly branded a freak for praying during games, and Essie doesn’t want anything to do with him. As the football team’s teasing of Micah shifts into hazing, Essie is forced to make a choice between the boy she might love and the cousin she barely ...

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Queen of Secrets

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More About This Book

Overview

This year, Essie Green’s life is going to be different. She’s made the cheerleading squad and caught the eye of the captain of the football team. However, she didn't expect her estranged cousin to join the football team. Micah is instantly branded a freak for praying during games, and Essie doesn’t want anything to do with him. As the football team’s teasing of Micah shifts into hazing, Essie is forced to make a choice between the boy she might love and the cousin she barely knows.

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Loosely based on the Book of Esther, Meyerhoff's (Third Grade Baby) poignant coming-of-age story chronicles the challenges that 15-year-old Essie, a newly minted cheerleader, faces as she seeks to understand her personal and religious identity in the context of a suburban Michigan public school community. Orphaned as a toddler and raised by her grandparents in a secular household, where topics related to her parents' deaths remain off-limits and each step she takes toward independence inspires her grandmother's fear, Essie learns to avoid questions and keep secrets. When her cousin Micah and his parents return to town after a decade's unexplained absence, their reappearance unsettles Essie's home and school life. While intrigued by her introduction to Shabbat and other Jewish holidays, Essie's uncertainty about how her football-player boyfriend might respond to knowing that the new observant Jews in town are her relatives leads to more complicated deceptions. Eventually, a wrenching dilemma proves to be a test of character. Compelling characters, dramatic tension, and thoughtful exploration of how teenagers create their own identity amid familial and cultural influences should give this story wide appeal. Ages 12-up. (July)
VOYA - Susan Allen
Taken at face value, Queen of Secrets is a cliche. It is the story of a young girl, Essie, coming of age and wanting to become popular, hence joining the cheerleading squad and making the football quarterback, Austin, fall in love with her. The blurb on the book indicates that it is loosely based on the biblical Esther. Neither gives a fair picture of the book. Essie Green is indeed a typical teenage girl, struggling with the desire to be socially accepted, a reality for a teen. She is part of a slightly dysfunctional family, being raised by her grandparents because her parents were killed when she was young. Her cousin, Micah, and his parents have moved back to town after mending a split between Micah's father and her grandfather. Micah wears a kippah to school and is ridiculed—and worse—for his religious beliefs. Essie struggles with letting her new friends know she is Micah's cousin, especially after taking part in trashing his house. The star quarterback does notice her, and they begin a relationship that has some surprising twists in it, since neither person is what they appear. The topic of religion and convictions of one's beliefs in the face of ignorance and prejudice is handled well. The characters are all well-developed and believable. In the end, neither the characters nor the story are cliche, and the book is a very satisfactory read. Reviewer: Susan Allen
Children's Literature - Deanna D'Antonio
Loosely based upon the biblical story of the Book of Esther, Queen of Secrets follows the trials and tribulations of fifteen-year-old Essie, a recent addition to the high school cheer squad eager to catch the eye of the school's star football player, Austin King. Like her biblical namesake, Essie has lost her parents and, with their passing, any connection to her Jewish heritage—until the appearance of her deeply religious cousin Micah. Singled out by the football goon squad, in part because of his adherence to Judaic law (i.e., wearing a yarmulke, observing the Sabbath by not driving and missing practice to participate in the Jewish high holy days), Micah becomes the focus of anti-Semitic aggression, resulting in actions in which Essie is complicit, despite many (unvoiced) internal objections and feelings of guilt. Though she gains the attention, affections and ear of the "King," Essie repeatedly denies Micah and her own ancestry, until one night matters are taken too far and Essie must decide who she is, what she stands for and where her true loyalties lie. While Meyerhoff does a more than serviceable job of demonstrating teen logic and the emotion governing Essie's actions and repeated betrayals, the ultimate message of refusing to conform to the dictates of peer pressure is somewhat lost within a novel that conforms exactly to a somewhat trite and predictable teen plot line—namely, unpopular girl finds popularity, but only at the expense of former friends and her moral compass. Eventually, said girl reverts to being her true self, which only endears her further to the love struck, easily swayed and oh-so-willing-to-ditch-his-friends teenage prom king/star athlete/hunk. Then, virginity and sobriety intact, they ride off together into the proverbial sunset. While the message itself may be noble and the correlations to the Book of Esther are interesting, the vehicle in which they're presented, at times, seems all too familiar. Reviewer: Deanna D'Antonio
School Library Journal
Gr 7–10—Essie Green, 15, is a diligent student and a "good girl" who tries not to worry the grandparents who are raising her. Because she has a crush on star footballer Austin, she joins the varsity cheerleading squad, and by the first game of the season she has attracted his attention and gotten her first kiss. Meanwhile, her cousin, Micah, has moved back to town with his parents and has made the football team. Micah embarrasses Essie by being devoutly Jewish, and she hides the fact that they are related. He opens himself up to taunts by always wearing his kippah, praying before he kicks, and walking home from games because he's not allowed to drive on the Sabbath; a teammate calls him "Beanie Boy" and "Rabbi." When a member of the team is injured, Micah steps into his place. After he makes a crucial kick that goes awry, the injured player vandalizes Michah's house in the presence of Essie and her friends. At first, Essie keeps the truth of the night secret, along with her plans to sleep with Austin after the homecoming dance. She's also dealing with a family feud, the origin of which is another secret. Although the novel brings up serious issues, they are treated superficially and are introduced and solved quickly and improbably. This is a fast read, but it won't fly off the shelves.—Suanne Roush, Osceola High School, Seminole, FL
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780374326289
  • Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
  • Publication date: 6/22/2010
  • Edition description: First Edition
  • Edition number: 1
  • Pages: 240
  • Sales rank: 796,378
  • Age range: 12 - 17 Years
  • Product dimensions: 5.80 (w) x 8.30 (h) x 1.10 (d)

Meet the Author

JENNY MEYERHOFF loosely based this novel on The Book of Esther. The author of Third Grade Baby, she lives in Riverwoods, Illinois.

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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 7 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(5)

4 Star

(1)

3 Star

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1 Star

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Sort by: Showing all of 7 Customer Reviews

  • Posted October 19, 2011

    I want this book really really bad

    This book sounda really good cant wait to get it . Not going to rate

    2 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 15, 2012

    Thi

    This book was soooo good! A must read for all middle school-highschoolers

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted May 20, 2013

    Awesome

    This is the greayest book ever created. Has complicated romance and family problems. Soooooo good. Has a bit of sexual interactions in there. Perfect for eigth grade and up.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted December 27, 2012

    Loved

    I've read it over and over again it was just great

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 3, 2012

    Wow

    This book was utterly gross its about s*x wow

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 20, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted November 1, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

Sort by: Showing all of 7 Customer Reviews
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