First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover

by Mitali Perkins

Book Overview

In time for election year, meet America's first daughter! Adopted from Pakistan when she was three, Sameera ?Sparrow? Righton is not your typical all-American girl. None of this used to matter, but that was before her father decided to run for president of the United States. Now some of her father's campaign staffers think that maybe a dark-skinned, adopted daughter could hurt his chances. They begin to pressure Sameera to change her name to Sammy...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 014241154X
• ISBN13: 9780142411544
• Release Date: July 2008
• Publisher: Speak
• Length: 277 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Just in time www.joyfulreality.blogspot.com

Here's a feel good book just in time for the election season. But it's more than just that. Perkins weaves an exquisite cultural sensitivity into her Presidential election drama, drawing on personal experience and what I can only describe as a really big heart. The characters: An adopted South Asian teen. A flower child mom who is a church-going political liberal! Her husband: the kindest, most tolerant Republican (since Abe Lincoln), but not a church goer. The opponent: Hill sans Bill, with a handsome son to boot. But the best character of all is Uncle Mohamed. I can't wait for him to reappear in the sequel. And yes, there are "bad guys"--an over-the-hill (at 30!) media know-it-all, and the usual paparazzi. While marketed as a teen novel, ADULTS WILL REALLY WANT TO READ THIS as an antidote to the evening news. Perkins is clearly anchored in reality, even as she tries to bring out the best in (nearly all) of her characters.

Such a Great Read!

You know that great feeling when you read a book for the first time and just fall in love with the character or the author? That's what happened to me when I read this book. No, I'm not fourteen, but if you haven't ever read children's or teen literature just for you, you might be missing out. Not only that, but occasionally reading what they are reading is a great way to connect with your teen or preteen. Sixteen-year-old Sameera Righton is the adopted Pakistani daughter of white parents. Her father James Righton is running for President. Between boarding school and tagging along with her ambassador father, Sameera has lived much of her life abroad, and the campaign team thinks that she needs to look and act more "American." Sameera, or Sparrow, as she is known to her friends and family, is a typical American teen--she texts, she blogs, she's interested in sports, and well, yes she's glad that this makeover sponsored by her dad's campaign team might make her visible to the opposite sex. It's an inspiring book, because we get to see a teen on the cusp of adulthood who respects herself and stands up for herself. What mom doesn't want that for her own daughter? It reminds me a great deal of the movie The Princess Diaries (Special Edition) because it is an accurate portrayal of the many teens who don't choose an R-rated lifestyle or attitude, but are still modern and fun.