At Face Value

The classic story of Cyrano de Bergerac gets a face-lift in this new version. Ms. Franklin takes the classic and twists it up a bit, this time making the lead with the troublesome extension a female, rather than a male. In this version, we have Cyrie Bergerac. Cyrie has spent so much of her high school life keeping busy with getting good grades (she's got her eyes set on an Ivy League school, but she can't get the dreaded essay completed) and multiple extra-curricular activities that she never really dwelt on the fact that she has few friends. So it comes as a bit of a surprise when she realizes that she's starting to become friends with Leyla. The surprise is that Leyla is part of the popular crowd. With a nose like the one that Cyrie sports, it's obvious that Cyrie is far from the in crowd. Cyrie is the editor for the school paper, so she has a group of people she hangs around with. The best perk of being editor is that she gets to work with her crush, Eddie 'Rox' Roxanninoff. For anyone remotely familiar with the story of Cyrano de Bergerac, it's clear what happens next. Eddie (Cyrie refuses to call him Rox like the rest of the school does) reveals to Cyrie that he likes Leyla, but Leyla gets tongue-tied and literally sick when she tries to talk to Eddie. So Cyrie agrees to help Leyla communicate with Eddie. But in this updated twist, it's via email. After all, Cyrie IS editor, so Leyla can compose the emails, and Cyrie will correct them before forwarding them on. But before too long, Cyrie realizes that Leyla is hopeless when it comes to writing interesting missives. So Cyrie starts to change the content and add other information. When Leyla discovers that Cyrie has secretly liked Eddie, she gives Cyrie an ultimatum. Their friendship becomes strained, and Cyrie is too afraid to lose Eddie's friendship by revealing more to him. Ms. Franklin has taken a well known and often told story and given it a fresh new twist. The reader will be rooting for Cyrie, even knowing that she won't win Eddie over the way she hopes to. The story moves quickly and has a satisfying ending. A love story at its root, how can anyone not cheer for Cyrie? Reviewed by: Jaglvr