Haddix, Margeret Peterson. Because of Anya. New York: Children’s Publishing Division, 2002. 112 pages. (Fiction) Keely and Anya are ten-year old girls in school, just normal girls with friends and a happy family. Anya was an only child and Keely had brothers but no sisters. Keely had friends that were the most popular in the fourth grade. Stef was the meanest and bossiest of them all, but she was still Keely’s friend. One day Anya and Keely were in class and Keely was passed a note. She usually always got caught and one time Mrs. Hobson made her almost read it, but Keely begged her not to read it aloud. But she didn’t get caught this time because Mrs. Hobson was writing on the board. Keely read it and it said ‘Look at Anya’. So from there it goes on. Stef is telling everyone that she thinks that Anya has cancer. Stef is trying to make her group of friends pull Anya’s wig off. Anya is really suffering from alopecia areata. It’s a disease that makes you lose your hair, and almost lose all the hair on your body. Anya is afraid of people noticing she wore a wig, and she was being very shy around people. One day she has to go to gym which is her worst part of the day. They are doing gymnastics and have to do flips and cartwheels. Anya’s mom takes her to the wig place and buys a tight but helpful headband the helps keep her wig on. But while she was trying to do five summersaults in a row, her wig got caught under her back and came off. Everyone thought Stef pulled it off and Anya won’t come to school. What will happen to Anya? Will she ever come to school?
I thought this book was very good and well written. The tragic disease made me sad that it happened to a little ten-year old, very nice, young girl. Keely reminds me of myself, almost. She tries to show off sometimes to her friends so she can stay in the group. Also she used to be friends with Anya and be in the same classes with her. That was me and my friend, but we never saw each other again after fifth grade because she moved to Hamilton. Keely always tried everything she could think of, cutting her hair and donating it to Anya, making her hair a wig. So did Stef, the beautiful little red head. I loved this book, and I might even have to read another book from her sometime with another book review or for fun. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a very good fiction book.
