A Mango-shaped Space by Wendy Mass
Meet Mia. She’s 13 years old. Compared to her newly New-Agey older sister and a little brother who obsessively keeps track of every McDonald’s hamburger he’s ever eaten, she seems pretty normal. That’s on the outside. What no one knows – and Mia isn’t about to tell anyone – is that Mia sees colors in sounds and letters and numbers. This makes it hard for her to read and especially to do algebra.
When things start getting out of control, Mia does finally tell her parents and after some tests and a trip to a few different doctors, she find out that there is a word for her condition – synesthesia* – and though it’s rare, she’s definitely not the only synesthete around. As Mia starts to explore her colors more intensely, she gets swept up in her own little world and doesn’t notice how this is affecting everyone around her until it’s almost too late.
A Mango-Shaped Space
One of the really cool things about this book – besides it being a great read – is that synesthesia is a real condition and “Mango” helps you get a taste of what it must be like to live in a world where sounds have shapes and colors and a certain word can taste of peanut butter. You can find “Mango” in the new fiction section of the YA area. If you don’t see it, ask!
Happy reading.
~Liz
* As always, Wikipedia is a great place to start, but don’t believe EVERYTHING you read there without question. If you’re really interested in the subject, you might want to check out some of the official links at the bottom of a Wiki article or ask a librarian to help find you some articles or books!
