Makeovers by Marcia

West Creek Middle School

by Claudia Mills

Pretty is as pretty does Pretty, popular Marcia Faitak is not her usual self. Over the summer she gained five pounds, and when school begins, Marcia, desperate for an invitation from Alex Ryan to the October dance, goes on a diet. In art class, she's supposed to bring a red apple to life on paper, but all she wants to do is eat it. Mr. Morrison doesn't like her work disdainfully, he calls her drawing of a beautiful girl "Barbie." Worse than art is social studies. This is the year that kids have to choose their community service project. When Ms. Williams signs up Marcia to work at the local nursing home, she's aghast. What can she possibly do for a bunch of old people in wheelchairs? Since experimenting with makeup is Marcia's favorite activity, her half sister suggests "Makeovers by Marcia." In the fifth and final story in Claudia Mills's funny, philosophical series about the West Creek Middle School kids, Marcia discovers the nature of true beauty - and even learns to draw it.

Genres: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Claudia Mills is the author of Nixie Ness, Cooking Star, 7 x 9 = Trouble!, Zero Tolerance, Write This Down, and many other books for children. She was born in New York City in 1954. She received her bachelor's degree from Wellesley College, her master's degree from Princeton University, and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University. She also received an M.L.S. degree from the University of Maryland, with a concentration in children's literature. She had a second career as a professor of philosophy at the Colorado at Boulder, until leaving that career in 2014 to write full time. She now teaches in the graduate program in children's literature at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. All of her books have been written between 5 and 7 in the morning while drinking Swiss Miss hot chocolate.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/claudi...

Reviews

[Kayla James · Rating 5 out of 5]

The mom has probably sent Marcia to therapy, but I enjoyed the book.
Lizzie sounds more like me, so I’ll read her book soon.
Life is short. Beauty should enhance and brighten a person’s day, but should not be everything. This story taught me that.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Claudia Mills is consistently great in all of her work.

[ukuklele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Awal pembacaan terasa membosankan seperti sewaktu dengan buku tentang Julius Zimmerman, mungkin karena Marcia tipikal cewek populer yang senang berdandan dan mengkhawatirkan berat badan serta cowok yang dia suka. Di samping pernak-pernik klise kehidupan remaja seperti itu, alurnya terasa lambat.

Sepertinya cerita mulai menarik--dan sebetulnya bagus malah--sejak Marcia memulai tugasnya di panti jompo.

Selain itu, pikiran saya terpancing ke berbagai hal seperti:

- Lebih mudah untuk tampil sempurna kalau dari sononya sudah good looking dan/atau dibesarkan oleh orang tua yang memang memperhatikan penampilan (apalagi kalau bekerja sebagai sales representative produk komestik seperti ibunya Marcia). Lebih mudah untuk memperbaiki kekurangan fisik yang hanya satu-dua jerawat atau beberapa kilogram kelebihan lemak sedang selebihnya bagus-bagus saja, daripada kalau memiliki banyak cacat sekaligus seperti bekas kecelakaan yang tidak bisa hilang sepenuhnya, fitur yang pada dasarnya kurang menarik (badan pendek, hidung pesek, rahang maju, betis gede, dan sebagainya), hiperpigmentasi, orang tua yang juga acuh tak acuh akan penampilan, pertumbuhan jerawat yang tidak terkendali, selulit, stretchmark, ... ya, sudah malas duluan kan. Itu baru soal fisik, belum soal yang lain-lain. Terlalu banyak yang mesti diperbaiki.

- Di samping suka berdandan, Marcia juga berbakat menggambar. Kepekaan visualnya terwujud dalam beberapa keterampilan. Lantas apakah orang yang berbakat menggambar sudah pasti pandai berdandan juga? Atau tidak mesti?

It was several shades darker than Mrs. Getty's hair, but hair like hers needed toning down, not bringing out. (pg. 49)

- Di sini juga ada teori-teori mengenai berhubungan dengan cowok, meskipun ternyata Marcia tidak selalu benar.

Boys didn't care about subtlety or nuance .... (pg. 51)

Boys don't get hints, boys can't drop hints. The gene for hinting is completely missing from their DNA. (pg. 65)

You know how boys are, utterly oblivious to anything that doesn't concern them. (pg. 72)

The rattlesnake strikes when he's afraid. .... ... we were told that you could catch more flies with honey than you could with vinegar. Maybe you can catch more rattlesnakes with honey, too (pg. 81-82)

- "Kata-kata bijak" mengenai seni yang sekarang ini sebetulnya saya sudah tidak mau peduli, hahaha ....

That's what art is all about. Drawing and painting what you see in front of you. .... It's every portraitist's dilemma, the duty to tell the truth versus the need to cater to vanity. Especially if you want to get paid. The great artists told the truth, most of them. That's why they're great. Wander through the galleries of any of the world's most famous museums, and you'll see portraits of some seriously ugly people. (pg. 51-52)

Ini adalah buku terakhir dari seri West Creek Middle School. Saya memfavoritkan seri ini secara keseluruhan. Memang ceritanya tampak tidak istimewa karena mengenai persoalan sehari-hari yang biasa-biasa saja, penokohannya cenderung stereotip, dan tidak selalu relatable. Namun ada sweet, heartwarming feeling yang membekas seusai membacanya.

[Maria Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: Realistic fiction
Reading level: 7th grade
Interest level: 6th grade and older
Summary: Makeovers by Marcia is the story of conceited and materialistic young girl, Marcia, who is worried about her looks and if the boy she likes, Alex, is going to ask her to the school dance. She get assigned to work at the nursing home to do makeovers. At the beginning she does not like the fact that she has to work there, but throughout the story she learns about love and life. Working with elder women helps Marcia realize that in life there are more important things to cherish and worry about that self-image and boys.
Classroom connections: Social studies, Independent reading.
Awards: None

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't think I would like this one as well since Marcia was my least favorite character in the other ones, but really liked it. I loved seeing her growth from doing something she didn't want to do, but was a terrific experience anyway. I loved reading about the wise, older, grand-ma types, who have a wealth of knowledge, but are still not so different from the young girls who came to visit them.

[Mallory · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I thought I wouldn't like this book, but as I went along I found a very interesting story hidden in its pages. This story is about a self concious girl and a will to help the less fortunate, in fact, to give old ladies manecures! Very funny and interesting!

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as lame as the title would suggest. Marcia is obsessed with appearance like most 8th grade girls are, but when more important things come up she rises to the challenge and looks beyond surface beauty.

[Jillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful book. very sweet and heartwarming. It made me cry. I'm serious. It's great.

[Indigo D'Avalon]

Pretty good! I really enjoyed reading it!