Blog Tour and Giveaway: Gadget Girl

 

Gadget Girl: The Art of Being Invisible 

Suzanne Kamata
Publication: May 17th 2013
Genre: YA Contemporary

 About:
Aiko Cassidy is fourteen and lives with her sculptor mother in a small Midwestern town. For most of her young life Aiko, who has cerebral palsy, has been her mother's muse. But now, she no longer wants to pose for the sculptures that have made her mother famous and have put food on the table. Aiko works hard on her own dream of becoming a great manga artist with a secret identity. When Aiko's mother invites her to Paris for a major exhibition of her work, Aiko at first resists. She'd much rather go to Japan, Manga Capital of the World, where she might be able to finally meet her father, the indigo farmer. When she gets to France, however, a hot waiter with a passion for manga and an interest in Aiko makes her wonder if being invisible is such a great thing after all. And a side trip to Lourdes, ridiculous as it seems to her, might just change her life.

Gadget Girl began as a novella published in Cicada. The story won the SCBWI Magazine Merit Award in Fiction and was included in an anthology of the best stories published in Cicada over the past ten years.

Five-time Pushcart Prize nominee Suzanne Kamata is the author of the novels Gadget Girl: The Art of Being Invisible (GemmaMedia, 2013) and Losing Kei (Leapfrog Press, 2008), and editor of three anthologies - The Broken Bridge: Fiction from Expatriates in Literary Japan, Love You to Pieces: Creative Writers on Raising a Child with Special Needs, and Call Me Okaasan: Adventures in Multicultural Mothering (Wyatt-Mackenzie Publishing, 2009). Her short fiction and essays have appeared widely. She is the Fiction Co-editor of literarymama.com.

My Thoughts:  
 
This was a cute quick read that I am delighted to recommend. I loved the quirky characters and Aiko reminded me of so many of my friends that it was kind of strange, but in a good way. I thought the story flowed pretty well, although there were a few spots that were slow.

I liked that Aiko wasn't the standard version of a young adult heroine. She's living with a disability and yet that didn't seem like ALL she was. It could have been ALL about her problems and her disability and a lot of woe-is-me, but she doesn't fall into those traps. That was a HUGE plus for me!

All in all, I thought this was a fun read that I finished up in about a day! Not a life changing story, but certainly one that entertained me!

 Tour Schedule:

May 15th

-Lisa's Gadget 'N Book World >> Review

-Wintry Words >> Excerpt

-Bookwyrming Thoughts >> Guest Post

May 16th

-Izz "Pingle" Bookish Place >> Interview 

-Sab The Book Eater >> Review

-Must Read Faster >> Review

-Bookmarks, Spoilers and Happily Ever After  >>  Excerpt

May 17th

-Lola's Reviews >> Review 

-Carti nemuritoare >> Review

-Books and Insomnia  >> Excerpt

-Alexa Loves Books  >> Review

May 20th

-Cherie Reads >> Review

-Words and Tea Bottles >> Review

-Bookworm's Multiverse >> Interview

-Stephanie Parent YA Author  >> Review

-Moosubi Reviews! >> Excerpt

May 21st

-JennReneeRead >>  Review

-Mythical Books >> Excerpt 

-Word Spelunking >> Review + Interview

-Alice Marvels >> Review

May 22nd

-Reader Girls >> Review + Interview

-lilybloombooks >>  Review

May 23rd

-Actin' Up with Books >> Review 

-Curling Up With A Good Book >>  Guest Post

-She's Got Book on Her Mind  >> Review

-ReadingToTheStarsAndBack >> Review

May 24th

-Tumbling In Books >> Review

-Nazish Reads >> Review

-Total Book Geek >> Review

-Mother/Gamer/Writer >> Review

-Froggarita's Bookcase >> Interview

May 27th

-Dustykatt's Stuff >> Review

-Book Adoration >> Review

-Reviewing Shelf  >> Review

-Teen Blurb >> Review + Guest Post

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