Simone Chen

Simone Chen
Heaven Looks A Lot Like The Mall
Wendy Mass
Realistic Fiction
Holiday
Pg. 177

1. The last thing Tessa can remember before blacking out is getting hit on the head really hard by a rubber dodgeball, and she's now in a coma. She suddenly finds herself in a very familiar place- and it precisely resembles the mall in her town. She thinks she's dead, and this place is her heaven. She goes to the information booth and there a lady hands her a heavy bag with about 20 random objects in it, such as a pink slipper, a hairbrush, a red t-shirt and a glass bowl. The lady says the items represent important parts of Tessa's life. Then she finds herself at different stores in the mall, and each store is where one of those items were bought. Tessa finds herself re-living her life from a little girl, and gradually getting older as she moves throughout the stores. Every chapter is Tessa at a different store. She is told that during her journey she needs to find the answer to the Big Question, but she doesn't even know what the question is.

2. I like this book a lot so far for many reasons. First of all, it is very unique because it's written in poem format- ever chapter is a poem, but it's not poorly written because the text doesn't rhyme or anything like most poems so it's not cheesy, and you just read it all the way through, and you forget that it's a poem. Also, I like how the author tells a synopsis of Tessa's life, even though Tessa isn't actually living it right at that moment. The author describes a lot of events every kid has to experience while growing up (bullying, finding friends, fighting with siblings), and I feel like I can really relate to Tessa. There are a lot of genuinely funny moments too, which you don't find in most books.

3. A theme I've noticed is jealousy. Tessa often gets very jealous of people and things. When she goes to camp she gets jealous that many of the kids there know each other and are so familiar with the place. All her emotions contribute to her sabotaging some of her bunkmates' stuff. Tessa is also jealous of the other popular kids at the school- how they have nice clothes, nice hair, tons of friends, and how they're not fat. Also, at one point she gets jealous that one of her friends was also friends with a more popular girl than herself. Tessa feels threatened and jealous that the more popular girl will steal her friends away. Unfortunately, Tessa often lets her jealousy get the better of her.

4. My favorite character is Tessa. She is not described as a "typical" teen- she has problems (for example, her weight), but she doesn't sulk and whine about it. Although she is not extremely social, she is bold and daring and does what she wants. It was interesting to see how she changed through elementary school, middle school, and high school. She makes a lot of mistakes during her childhood, but she learns from her mistakes and uses that to her advantage in the future. She's a bit quirky, but I like that about her- it makes her stand out from the rest of the characters.

5. My least favorite character is Tessa's mom because she sometimes tries to control Tessa. She thinks beauty is more important than brains, and tries to make Tessa change herself, even if she didn't want to. Her mom made her get her eyebrows waxed even though Tessa didn't think it was necessary, and often criticizes Tessa about her weight even though it's not entirely Tessa's fault. She makes Tessa stay away from all sweets and anything fatty, and I think this only makes Tessa feel worse about herself.

6. I think Tessa will find out what the Big Question is and the answer to it. Then she will figure out that she's not actually dead- just in a coma. And experiencing important parts of her life again will make her regret some of the bad things she did and change the way she thinks about things (kind of like A Christmas Carol).