Fresh Off the Boat by Melissa de la Cruz follows the story of a 14 year old girl named Vicenza, who has just made the long move from Manila to San Francisco. Her family was once rich in manila, but her father's co-worker embezzled the company's money. Her parents decide its the best choice to move to the US to try to expand business there. Vicenza who is used to living with money, is shocked to find that her new life is nowhere near as fancy. The only prestigious thing in her life now is the private school she got a scholarship to. At her school, at her new high school, all the students come from money, and it is a predominantly White school. Vicenza’s only friend is a French exchange student named Isobel who understands her struggles of not being from the country they are studying in. Vicenza also writes to her friend Peaches in Manila, she doesn’t want Peaches to know she is struggling so she makes up lies and stories about how great her life is, and how a girl named Whitney who hates her is her best friend. Vicenza tries desperately to be popular and join Whitney’s crowd, but in the end she realizes that her true friend is Isobel.

I definitely enjoyed Fresh Off the Boat, the book was entertaining in that it had twists and turns that kept me wanting to read on. It wasn’t like any other clique teen novel, and it was not predictable. I think I would recommend this book to a friend. ( )

Fluffy chick lit for teens about an immigrant girl's yearning to fit in with the social scene at her posh private school. It's not a deep story about the immigrant experience but it's one of the few American books for youth featuring Filipino characters.

Vicenza and her family have immigrated to the Bay Area from Manila for a new start in life. Vicenza attends a posh private school on scholarship and never feels quite part of the "in" crowd: the family shops at Goodwill and runs an employee cafeteria at Sears. She has rapport and empathy with Isobel, a French student, but Vicenza still longs to catch the eye of popular Claude Caligari and go someplace happening on Friday nights. During an argument with her mother, Vicenza learns that the family moved because her father's company collapsed in an embezzlement scandal and she realizes how hard her parents have worked to start the family anew in America.
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A fast, fun read; easy to booktalk (I.e., "Do you ever exaggerate the truth online?"), by an author who is a cool person and a library lover. Melissa de la Cruz kindly visited my library (at the time West Covina) to promote her books to my teens. I was surprised at who showed up --- this writer is well-loved! ( )

Sounds like something i would like...i mean duh! it's about fashion!

YA chicklit about a new Filipino immigrant on scholarship at an upper-class all-girls private school in San Francisco.

The voice is perky and fun (the requisite opening scene of profound embarrassment is especially well-executed), however, I found the deeper tone quite sorrowful. Vicenza is lonely and embattled, and keenly feels the social demotion from the wealthy, high-status position she held in Manila to her current status as a poor and mostly-ignored immigrant in the U.S. Especially poignant are her emails to friends at home in Manila, wherein she details a fantasy life exactly the opposite of what she is experiencing.

However, the plot proceeds exactly as the genre mandates it should: Vicenza re-negotiates her relationship with her parents, acquires loyal friends, sorts out the good-and-decent true boyfriend from the popular-but-not-good-for-her decoy boyfriend, and earns herself some respect among her classmates. Oh, and her emails back to Manila begin to reflect her actual life, too.

So, in the end, the future comes up rosy within the covers of pink-clad books. Just like it's supposed to.