A Mango-Shaped Space, by Wendy Mass is a touching book about one girl’s experience with a disease called synesthesia. Winner of the Schneider Family Book Award, this book and it’s characters are very relatable to, and will have anyone and everyone smiling.

The main character in this book is thirteen-year-old Mia Winchell, a synesthete. A synesthete is someone who has synesthesia, or a mingling of the senses. Mia has been keeping her “ability” a secret, but when she fails two math tests at school, she is forced to tell why. The reason: her synesthesia. Mia struggles with her relationships after spilling her secret and almost loses her best friend, Jenna! She does discover many other synesthetes and ends up learning a lot about her condition though.

My favorite part of the book is when Mia attends a meeting for synesthetes and hears many different stories from all different people with her same condition. She even shares her first kiss with another synesthete named Adam!

I recommend this book to any girl who enjoyed Wonder, by R. J. Palacio. Instead of following the story of a boy though, like Wonder,  A Mango-Shaped Space follows Mia, a girl. Both books teach the similar lesson that is: we should always treat everyone with respect, no matter what they look like or how different they are. Mass shows that even though Mia sees things through way different eyes than her classmates and family, she still can be a normal girl.

This is my favorite book, and I’m sure everyone who reads it will fall in love with it!