Thursday, November 04, 2010

The Reinvention of Moxie Roosevelt by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel

reinventionSIDE NOTE: “Moxie” used to be a soda beverage that was known for having a powerful kick along with its sweet and bitter taste. The word moxie today derives from the soda name, and refers to someone with energy, pep, courage, determination, or know-how.

Moxie Roosevelt Kipper has one unique name –a name that conjures up a person full of spunk, energy, and zip. But to Moxie, her name is burden and a constant taunt. Moxie doesn’t think she’s spunky, or full of energy and zip; rather, she feels like an ordinary boring thirteen-year-old. But Moxie realizes she may still have time to transform or reinvent herself into an un-ordinary lively girl when she transfers to the all-girls’ boarding school Eaton Academy. Before starting at the new school, she has narrowed down her personality choices to the following:

  • DUCKI= a Detached, Unique, Coolly Knowing Individual
  • MEG= Mysterious Earth Goddess
  • HHSE= Hale and Hearty Sports Enthusiast
  • ARA= Assertive Revolutionary Activist

Instead of picking one new personality, Moxie opts to mold herself to her audience, adopting a different personality with each of the many different groups of girls at the new academy. She has to keep a logbook just to remember which personality she's been using with whom! But as the story progresses, she finds it increasingly difficult to remember what she has said to whom and which role she needs to fill. It becomes exhausting, and she’s just barely holding it together until she realizes that her journal is missing. She's terrified it might land in the wrong hands. You can probably relate to Moxie –at one time or another we all tend to believe that other people's lives are more exciting than our own, and we want to make ourselves special, too. This book is filled with hilarious misadventures as Moxie embarks on her quest for identity. In the end, she realizes that true friends like you for who you are, and enjoy differences as well as similarities. Review by Lizzy Healy

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