Your Friend in Fashion, Abby Shapiro

 Axelrod, Amy. Your Friend in Fashion, Abby Shapiro

Holiday House     2011  261p  17.95

978-0-8234-2340-8 elm/ms      Realistic Fiction       VG 

  

“Beginning in 1959, Abby, nearly eleven, writes a series of letters to Jackie

Kennedy, each with sketches of outfits she has designed, as she faces family

problems, concerns about neighbors, and her own desperate desire for both her

first bra and a Barbie doll.” Set in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s in

Massachusetts, eleven year-old Abby Shapiro is a tween who has a love of

designing clothes and is not of expressing her thoughts and feelings.  Abby’

lives with her mother, her Aunt Rina, Uncle Max, and Uncle Morris.  Abby faces

family difficulites and struggles at school with a mean girl.  In order to earn

extra money to purchase a bra and a Barbie doll, she begins to design clothes. 

Readers begin to see Abby’s true character come of age, as she writes letters to

Jackie Kennedy, wife of Senator Kennedy, and offers fashion advice.  Abby knew

that writing to the possible future first lady, could be profitable especially

if her husband ever became President of the United States.  These letters are

sometimes humourous but also reveals how Abby is not afraid to express her

thoughts, feelings, and struggles.  Abby’s family and Jewish faith and upbrining are addressed throughout. The author includes a glossary and pronunciation of

Yiddish and Hebrew words for readers to comprehend.               Forba-

Mayer, Charleen