Vegan Virgin Valentine

LS 5623 Book Review
Realism, Romance and Censorship

Bibliography
Mackler, Carolyn. 2004. Vegan Virgin Valentine. Cambridge, MA : Candlewick Press. ISBN 0763621552

Plot Summary
Mara's life is very orderly; she is a vegan, she is in line to be valedictorian, and she is already enrolled at Yale for her freshman year at college. Then Mara's sixteen year old niece, V, arrives and suddenly Mara's life is not so orderly. Mara starts dreaming about her boss at the coffee shop, craving grilled cheese, and confronting V at every turn. Mara travels down the road to self discovery trying to return her life to normal.

Critical Analysis
The turning point in this novel is when Mara starts questioning why she is doing certain things, why is she a vegan? Why does she want to be valedictorian? Teenage readers can appreciate this point in life when you go from doing things your parents and teachers told you to, into transitioning to an adult and making decisions for yourself. The setting of this book, a high school in a small town add to the believability of the situations that occur. Characters are believable and engaging. An added plus to the novel is that V is a foil for Mara but, both characters grow and accept each other along the way.

If teenagers pick up this novel to relate to a vegan they will probably be disappointed. Mara admits at the beginning of the novel that she had secret reasons for being a vegan. "Basically, after Travis Hart broke up with me, I couldn't stop obsessing about him, about the rejection. Finally, after several hellish weeks, I decided I needed to obsess about something else. Something big. Which is why veganism made sense. It's all-consumingly obsessive." So students hoping to read about someone like themselves by looking at the book title will probably be disappointed in the shallow reasoning for veganism from Mara.

Review Excerpts
BOOKLIST : "By the book's conclusion Mara is no longer a virgin or a vegan, but her transformation has been entirely credible and, for readers anyway, thoroughly enjoyable."
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL : "This is a fast, often humorous read with some meat but no bite (although Mara does lose her virginity)–just the universal theme of growing up and figuring out what's important. This title will have strong appeal for teens grappling with these same questions."


Connections
* Have students research vegans and discuss pros and cons of this diet lifestyle.
* As a diary entry have students write an apology letter to someone whom they have wronged.