Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Title:  North of Beautiful

Author:  Justina Chen Headley

Ratings Explanation

Language:  Every usual swear word used about once or twice; a few exclamations of Deity; no f-words.

Violence:  Terra’s brother balls his fist up to punch their father, but instead crushes a glass ornament in his hand, cutting himself severely.  Terra and her mother get in a minor car accident and almost hit a young man (Jacob.)

Sexual Content:  Terra’s boyfriend Erik gropes her when they kiss (his hand travels down her pants and along the side of her breast).  Her mother tells her she knows Terra has slept with Erik, to which Terra replies “How did you know?” but no details of that experience are given.  Erik’s cousin pulls his trousers down to show Terra a tattoo of his girlfriend’s name on his buttocks.  Terra is attracted to Jacob; she sees his well-defined stomach muscles when his shirt lifts up slightly and wishes she could touch them.  She kisses Jacob.

Adult Themes:  Terra’s father is both verbally and emotionally abusive to Terra and her mother.  Jacob’s father left his mother for a younger woman.

Synopsis

High school senior Terra is nearly perfect-looking, except for the large port wine stain covering the left side of her face that several attempts at laser surgeries have failed to remove.  For Terra, her birthmark has been a cruel reminder to her (and her tyrannical father) for her entire life that she is anything but beautiful or normal.  Her football player boyfriend Erik seems enamored with her but slightly clueless; she wonders if he is only into her for her body, but she doesn’t dare break up with him–who else would be with her?  Terra looks forward to graduation when she can finally leave home and her bullying father for college and pursue her one true love, art.  But over the Christmas holidays, a car accident introduces Terra and her mother to Jacob (a handsome Chinese boy) and his adopted mother.  While the two mothers strike up an unlikely but supportive friendship, Terra finds herself falling for Jacob, who seems to look past her birthmark straight into her soul.  When Terra’s brother sends them tickets to visit him in Shanghai, the four embark on a life-changing journey, where, like Terra’s art collages, layer upon layer of complicated emotions will be uncovered, revealing true self-realization and self-worth.

I found myself wrapped up in this novel that I unexpectedly savored.  What I expected was a typical YA novel with self-worth issues and questions about true love, but I got much more.  Ms. Headley’s writing was strong and lyrical in her usage of map and artistic metaphors, but the true crux of the story lay in delving into Terra’s quest for finding inner beauty and acceptance of herself, rising above years of stranger’s gawking and her father’s cruel efforts at dismantling her self-esteem.  In the end, she discovers what true beauty is, and that makes this book worthwhile.  Recommended for grades 9 and up.