Many Points of Me

by Caroline Gertler (Author)

Many Points of Me
Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade

When Georgia finds a secret sketch her late father--a famed artist--left behind, the discovery leads her down a path that may reshape everything holding her family and friends together.

Caroline Gertler's debut is a story about friendship, family, grief, and creativity. Fans of Rebecca Stead's Goodbye Stranger, Dan Gemeinhart's The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise, and E. L. Konigsburg's From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler will find a new friend in Georgia.

Georgia Rosenbloom's father was a famous artist. His most well-known paintings were a series of asterisms--patterns of stars--that he created. One represented a bird, one himself, and one Georgia's mother. There was supposed to be a fourth asterism, but Georgia's father died before he could paint it. Georgia's mother and her best friend, Theo, are certain that the last asterism would've been of Georgia, but Georgia isn't so sure. She isn't sure about anything anymore--including whether Theo is still her best friend. Then Georgia finds a sketch her father made of her. One with pencil points marked on the back--just like those in the asterism paintings. Could this finally be the proof that the last painting would have been of her?

Georgia's quest to prove her theory takes her around her Upper West Side neighborhood in New York City and to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was almost a second home to Georgia, having visited favorite artists and paintings there constantly with her father. But the sketch leads right back to where she's always belonged--with the people who love her no matter what.

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Publishers Weekly

On the eve of her 12th birthday, Georgia Rosenbloom, daughter of a renowned late artist, feels out of sorts. Her art historian mother, a Columbia professor, is busy curating a retrospective of her father's work at the Met; her lifelong best friend, Theo, has been embarrassing her in front of cool new girl Harper; and she feels lingering resentment that Theo inspired her father's most famous paintings, an unfinished series of asterisms--unofficial constellations. Georgia, who still misses her dad fiercely two years after his death, struggles to navigate the tension between her father as a towering public art figure and as her dad, who "sang me 'Moonshadow' at bedtime." When she discovers a sketch that suggests that she would have been the subject of his final asterism, Georgia sets out to prove her role in her father's legacy. Debut author Gertler's tale of tween soul-searching, threaded with an intriguing art mystery, satisfies, and the sophisticated and privileged New York City art world milieu is depicted with an insider's eye for detail. Ages 8-12. Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties. (Jan.)

Copyright 2020 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

School Library Journal

Starred Review

Gr 5-8--Sixth grade for Georgia Rosenbloom means she is finally eligible for the huge NYC art competition of her dreams--but it also means friendship breakups, a deep secret, and eventual self-realization. Since her esteemed modern artist father Hank Rosenbloom died over a year ago, Georgia, who is white with dark hair, has been adrift in a cloud of melancholia. Georgia and her best friend since birth, redheaded Theo, talk, live, and create art. But after hearing the theme of the all-important competition is a self-portrait, Georgia shrinks from the monumental task and Theo. Instead, she befriends the popular trio at school and begins a secret investigation researching her father's art. As her mother is consumed with the upcoming exhibit of her late father's lifetime work at the Met, Georgia feels more lost and alone than ever. To create a self-portrait, Georgia must first learn who she is outside of art and her father's shadow. Like an impressionist painting, Gertler's novel provides splashes of color ultimately revealing the emotions, drama, and truths of tween life. Georgia's first-person, diarylike narrative provides readers with a fusion of her inner thoughts and realistic dialogue, helping to keep balance while moving the plot forward. Gertler's vivid word choice details color and the senses, creating an authentic and relatable tween girl voice tinged with the perspective of a budding artist. The inclusion of famous artists, techniques, and history throughout delivers opportunities for outside research and connections. VERDICT Recommended as a well written, cathartic narration of a young teen struggling with her father's death and finding her true self.--Mary-Brook J. Townsend, The McGillis Sch., Salt Lake City

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

Sensitive and thoughtful—a story about loss, friendship, and the beauty of self-discovery.——Rebecca Stead, Newbery Medal-winning author of When You Reach Me
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780063027008
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Greenwillow Books
Publication date
January 12, 2021
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV039060 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Friendship
JUV039030 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Death & Dying
JUV003000 - Juvenile Fiction | Art & Architecture
Library of Congress categories
Friendship
Death
Painters
Families
Family life
Art
Fathers
Mothers and daughters
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)
Grief
Asterisms (Astronomy)
Upper West Side (New York, N.Y.)

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