Review: Alma Presses Play
Alma Presses Play
by Tina Cane
Make Me a World (imprint of Penguin Random House)
Category: Young Adult
Reviewer: A.R. Vishny
Alma Presses Play by Tina Crane is a historical novel in verse, set in
New York City’s East Village in the 1980s. Alma Rosen, who is Jewish and
Chinese, loves music, her neighborhood, and her parents, who are
inching closer to divorce by the day. As their marriage comes apart and
as Alma matures, she must decide where she belongs.
This is a gorgeous verse novel, that renders Alma’s world in
rich, effortless detail. Alma’s struggles with getting older, managing
her friendships as they reach various cross-roads, and navigating
complicated family dynamics make for a quiet and yet immersive read.
Readers who tend to find that parents are typically footnotes in YA will
appreciate the way this book portrays Alma’s family. Her mother’s
evasiveness and her father’s frustrated dreams emerge in the text in
interesting, nuanced ways and create a unique sense of realism
throughout the book.
Alma Presses Play occupies an interesting space between middle grade and
YA. While this book was published and marketed as a YA, Alma is
thirteen and still in middle school. The book does not shy away from
difficult topics from divorce, prejudice in interracial families, drug
use, homophobia, and poverty. The book’s deft and sensitive exploration
of these topics make it a suitable book for both younger and older
readers alike.
The book is a contender for the Sydney Taylor. It is a literary YA, the
verse format used to great effect. The level of detail in portraying the
East Village at a particular historical moment is impressive, and comes
across authentically. Though New York is a frequent topic of
exploration when it comes to Jewish children’s literature, the choice of
time period as well as Alma’s biracial identity, offers welcome
diversity to the landscape. Alma has a positive relationship with both
aspects of her identity, and frequently mixes references to Chinese and
Jewish food, history, and customs. Alma also frequently discusses her
Jewish grandmother, who died when she was younger, and her fascination
with The Diary of Anne Frank. It was also a welcome change to see a YA
“near” historical where the Jewish characters were not upper middle
class. Alma’s Jewish father is a cab driver who is still trying to find
himself, and financial struggles inform a lot of the conflicts Alma
experiences and witnesses in her life.
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