Reviewed by Cana Rensberger for TeensReadToo.com
Every young girl looks forward to the day she will "become a woman" with much excitement and some trepidation. But when thirteen year-old Dusie gets her period, she has more to fear than simply feeling fatter, or wondering if the boys will be able to tell. She has sprouted snakes on top of her head! Twenty-seven of them, to be exact.
Now she knows why her artsy mother has always worn a turban upon her head. Why didn't her mom warn her? She's so angry with her mother, yet desperately needs her. She turns that anger on Troy, the boy with eyes of tarnished silver who is simply flirting by trying to touch her hair. Her snakes strike out to protect her with disastrous results. They turn him to stone!
Dusie confides in an old man named Cy, who offers to help. He creates a potion that will kill her snakes without harming Dusie. But does Dusie still want to get rid of them? Can she ever find true love with a head full of snakes? Does she need them to help her undo the damage they've caused? Dusie gets to know each of her snakes, and, in the process, learns more about herself.
DUSSSIE by Nancy Springer is a creative novel which plays with the coming of womanhood in a delightfully unexpected way. If Dusie can find her way through the mysterious changes of puberty, surely a mere mortal reader can. This was a fast, pleasurable read, one I recommend to all young ladies coming of age. If your head gets that crawly feeling, it just might be snakes!
Every young girl looks forward to the day she will "become a woman" with much excitement and some trepidation. But when thirteen year-old Dusie gets her period, she has more to fear than simply feeling fatter, or wondering if the boys will be able to tell. She has sprouted snakes on top of her head! Twenty-seven of them, to be exact.
Now she knows why her artsy mother has always worn a turban upon her head. Why didn't her mom warn her? She's so angry with her mother, yet desperately needs her. She turns that anger on Troy, the boy with eyes of tarnished silver who is simply flirting by trying to touch her hair. Her snakes strike out to protect her with disastrous results. They turn him to stone!
Dusie confides in an old man named Cy, who offers to help. He creates a potion that will kill her snakes without harming Dusie. But does Dusie still want to get rid of them? Can she ever find true love with a head full of snakes? Does she need them to help her undo the damage they've caused? Dusie gets to know each of her snakes, and, in the process, learns more about herself.
DUSSSIE by Nancy Springer is a creative novel which plays with the coming of womanhood in a delightfully unexpected way. If Dusie can find her way through the mysterious changes of puberty, surely a mere mortal reader can. This was a fast, pleasurable read, one I recommend to all young ladies coming of age. If your head gets that crawly feeling, it just might be snakes!
