Charles, Tami.
LIKE VANESSA
Watertown, MA : Charlesbridge, [2018]
IL 5-8
ISBN 9781580897778

“And your new Miss America is...Vanessa Williams!” For thirteen-year old Vanessa Martin, the crowning of the first African-American Miss America is the start of a journey of which she has long dreamed. When the new music teacher announces that there will be a beauty pageant at her Newark, New Jersey, school, Vanessa is both excited and apprehensive: excited that she will now have something in common with the mother who “disappeared” years ago, and apprehensive because Vanessa sees herself as “too dark” and “too fat.”  Despite the fact that her father, who is rarely at home and is withdrawn when he is, would never give her permission, Vanessa decides to participate in the pageant. With the encouragement of her alcoholic grandfather, her cousin, who is a whiz at designing and creating dresses, and the music teacher, who sees tremendous potential in her, Vanessa begins her journey to become “like Vanessa.”  Come along this journey with Vanessa, as she unravels the secrets her family has been keeping, where she learns that maintaining old friendships and creating new ones is often challenging, and most importantly, that true beauty comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors. (Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Awards, 2020)