Like a modern-day Cyrano de Bergerac, Elisa ghostwrites love notes for the boys in her school. But when Elisa falls for Theo Moses, things chang... read full description
reviews
Sep 15, 2008
Kimberly
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There were some truly beautifully lyrical passages in this book...but they were too few to actually make this book worth reading. Beautiful words and a beautiful writing style do not make a good book; it is necessary to also have a plot worth reading and characters that are well-developed.
I got the sense that Kephart was trying to do too much with her book...trying to tell an angsty tale of a shy teenage with an affinity for words, trying to tell the tale of a family on the verge of More...
I got the sense that Kephart was trying to do too much with her book...trying to tell an angsty tale of a shy teenage with an affinity for words, trying to tell the tale of a family on the verge of More...
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Jun 25, 2008
Snorkle
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Elisa is a girl who has spent most of her life in the shadows, quietly observing from the sidelines, content to think her own thoughts and write poetic thoughts in her head. As a hobby she writes love poems for some of the boys at school to give to the girl they like. Elisa's father seems to be constantly away on business trips, the one person that she feels she can talk to and to cope, she starts ice skating. Things get really slippery when Elisa starts to suspect that she has feelings for one
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Jan 03, 2009
Lynne
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I was touched by this book even though I didn't really identify with any of the characters. I liked its emphasis on words and writing, and it was a good book to read at this time of year, too.
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Feb 21, 2011
Florinda
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While most high schools seem to stratify into various subgroups - jocks, brains, leaders, followers, trendies, what have you - there's a larger breakdown that overlays them, and within the subgroups the same breakdown occurs: those that are in the thick of it, and those on the sidelines. The ones on the edges are the watchers, the less sure of themselves - like Elisa Cantor, they're the 'undercover operatives.' Beth Kephart's novel Undercover explores the year when Elisa slowly began to come out
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Sep 17, 2008
Melody
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I was certain that this book wasn't going to work for me- it began with more than one cliché and I mentally rolled my eyes. I don't know when I started noticing Kephart's extraordinary facility with language, maybe by the second chapter. The words in this book are muscular, flexible and entirely beguiling. The main character is a nascent poet who is gradually coaxed into herself with the assistance of a phenomenal teacher and a pond.
Read it for the glorious use of language, if nothin More...
Read it for the glorious use of language, if nothin More...
Aug 13, 2011
Emma
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Oh, Beth Kephart, how I adore your writing.
As usual, this book isn't fast paced or exciting. It's slow and reflective and beautiful. The words sparkle on the page. Even when they're not saying much, they're fun to read and come off as deep and insightful. I have to say, there's a little bit of envy.
That being said, as far as the storyline went, there seemed to be a few holes. Like, why does Elisa ghost write love letters? Is she getting paid? Do people request them?
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As usual, this book isn't fast paced or exciting. It's slow and reflective and beautiful. The words sparkle on the page. Even when they're not saying much, they're fun to read and come off as deep and insightful. I have to say, there's a little bit of envy.
That being said, as far as the storyline went, there seemed to be a few holes. Like, why does Elisa ghost write love letters? Is she getting paid? Do people request them?
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Sep 03, 2009
Kathy (Bermudaonion)
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Elisa Cantor is a plain girl – rather like a tomboy. She’s not into dresses or make-up or fashion at all. She does love the outdoors and writing metaphors, though. The boys at her school get her to write little notes for their girlfriends, much like a modern day Cyrano de Bergerac.
This suits Elisa just fine until Theo starts asking her for notes. Theo makes Elisa’s heart skip a beat, but he just thinks of her as a friend, since he’s dating the oh, so popular Lila.
Elisa’s More...
This suits Elisa just fine until Theo starts asking her for notes. Theo makes Elisa’s heart skip a beat, but he just thinks of her as a friend, since he’s dating the oh, so popular Lila.
Elisa’s More...
Jun 04, 2009
Jennifer
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Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com
Having recently read NOTHING BUT GHOSTS, I was anxious to crack open another Beth Kephart novel. UNDERCOVER was her first novel, and I'm surprised I missed it. According to the cover, Kephart was a
"National Book Award Nominee" and a well-deserved one, I'd say.
Elisa has always viewed herself as more of her father's daughter. Her sister, Jilly, and her mother share a passion for make-u More...
Having recently read NOTHING BUT GHOSTS, I was anxious to crack open another Beth Kephart novel. UNDERCOVER was her first novel, and I'm surprised I missed it. According to the cover, Kephart was a
"National Book Award Nominee" and a well-deserved one, I'd say.
Elisa has always viewed herself as more of her father's daughter. Her sister, Jilly, and her mother share a passion for make-u More...
Apr 21, 2009
sarah
rated it:
“undercover” is such a sweet and lovely read– in fact, it’s more like a poem than a book, which is a bit unusual in YA-land. the story centers on elisa, a girl who delights in weaving words together while her family falls apart. her talent as a wordsmith has transformed her into the cyrano of her school, with boys asking her to write little love poems in order to win the hearts of more popular girls. elisa prides herself on being an observer, but while she finds tiny bits of beauty around her, s
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Dec 06, 2008
Jess
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A sort of small, intimate story - not the kind of thing to pick up if you want plot and action, because it's more about the emotions pushing the characters than what they're actually doing as a result. Elisa, the narrator, is a poet, and the language of the story is very lovely in a way that will appeal to readers who live very much of an interior life. All of the things she does to push out her boundaries, like teaching herself to skate, letting herself feel the risk of affection - feel more
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Oct 29, 2010
Jill
rated it:
A few things bother me so far:
1. The actions and words of these characters make them seem like sixth or seventh graders, but they are supposedly sophomores in high school.
2. The main character teaches herself to do complex ice skating moves without much effort.
3. She also just happens to be a modern day Cyrano who is reading Cyrano in her English class which is unusual because A. That play is rarely read in high school. B. I don't think there are actually dozens of high school bo More...
1. The actions and words of these characters make them seem like sixth or seventh graders, but they are supposedly sophomores in high school.
2. The main character teaches herself to do complex ice skating moves without much effort.
3. She also just happens to be a modern day Cyrano who is reading Cyrano in her English class which is unusual because A. That play is rarely read in high school. B. I don't think there are actually dozens of high school bo More...
Jul 28, 2011
Tess
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Elisa writes poetry. She captures the metaphor, the moment, like a tiny butterfly in a box and hands them to her clients at school, so that they can let their feelings fly. Her clients are boys like Mr. Sue, a boy who once asked for a love note for a girl he was courting and is now known as Mr. Sue. She speaks for people who can’t find the words, bridges them through her words, and lets them rephrase what they feel in their own way. But what happens when she finds a boy she wants to give her
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May 10, 2009
Steph Su
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UNDERCOVER is simply stunning. There are some books you read for the sake of the story, and there are some you read just to see the words fall perfectly together, to hear the way they sound in your mind. Beth Kephart’s words do not conjure up vivid scenes involving the characters and their predicaments; instead, they push the boundaries of language and remind us of the multidimensionality of words—that language is not simply a means to a message, but rather a form of art itself.
Elisa More...
Elisa More...
Aug 05, 2011
Absolutely beautiful. The way the author put together words to create this amazing story is simply magical. Though the plot is really simple at its core, the beauty of the book comes more from the way Elisa tells her story, the way she sees her world, and the way she comes to fall in love with the poetry of words.
This is one of my favorite books. I really couldn't put it down. I wanted to read it in one sitting but I found myself lingering on every page, absorbing how the words fell together so More...
This is one of my favorite books. I really couldn't put it down. I wanted to read it in one sitting but I found myself lingering on every page, absorbing how the words fell together so More...
Mar 23, 2011
Vonny
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Con(s): In regards to the actual story line, reading this book was an experience somewhat similar to the one I had when I read Leap Day. I kind of felt like the story had no point really....Maybe its just me, but I feel like a story is not good unless it has a solid ending. The ending to this book wasn't a cliffhanger, but it was just as bad as one. Bu, I guess this was the author's idea of being realistic (because let's be honest: we all have our own definitions of realistic. The more cynical o
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Jan 19, 2009
Courtney
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I really liked this book and can appreciate it for what it strives to be: a story for younger (perhaps middle school girl?) readers. That said, there's plenty here for older readers to identify with -- like the sometime disconnect between writing and the ideal, and speaking and reality. Elisa feels best able to make connections with the males in this story (i.e., the love-interest Theo, and her absent father) through letters and poetry. But she seems less able to do this in the real-time and two
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May 26, 2009
Laura
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I read this YA novel b/c my 11-year-old son brought it home and it looked like a romance, so I thought I'd read it before he did to make sure it was not too risqué for him (it's not). The author was nominated for a National Book Award for a novel for adults (_A Slant of Sun_ ?), which I'll have to check out sometime. I thought her twist on the Cyrano story was quite inventive. While I found some of the metaphors the main character writes more poetic than others, the interesting thing about he
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Jan 02, 2011
It wasn't so much the story that I loved (although the story was just fine--) but the words that Kephart used to tell it that earned this book the 4 star rating (maybe 4.5? 5??) I gave it. This is wonderful writing--the story is as much about poetry--and the art of writing--as it is about high school relationships and the complexity of family dynamics and, of course, love. The story moves forward slowly--and ends with a less clear resolution than Sarah Dessen's books--but readers who like the
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Jan 25, 2009
Sherry
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I wish I could have had this book to read as a teen, but am thankful to have read it now. I know my teen will like it. I've never been too much of a competitive person, of which my basketball coaching sister could attest. But when the protagonist, in Undercover, enters the interpretive freestyle ice-skating competition at the end of the book, for the reasons she does, I could see myself There, precisely because of those reasons. Life gets fragile. Along with that fragility comes an undercurre
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May 19, 2010
Sarah
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Aug 05, 2010
Serena
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Elisa, a adolescent Cyrano de Bergerac, uses her love of words, nature and skating to navigate not only school and peer pressure, but also her family’s problems. As a spy in Undercover by Beth Kephart, Elisa creates lines of verse to help her fellow male students make their girlfriends and soon-to-be girlfriends swoon. She does so with stealth and folded scraps of paper without much thought, until Theo comes along.
“Dad likes to say, about both of us, that we’re undercover operative More...
“Dad likes to say, about both of us, that we’re undercover operative More...
Jun 04, 2009
Staci
rated it:
his book is absolutely lovely. The words contained within these pages are poetic and I guess they're meant to be right? Because Elisa has a way with words, in fact, she hides behind the words that she writes. Kephart hit a home run with her first foray into YA fiction. There is so much going on underneath the facade of Elisa. She lets her guard down when she's writing for others and when she writes for herself. The poetry in this book is wonderful. At times in my life I've been intimidated by po
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Aug 18, 2009
mari
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Elisa has a way with words. Her metaphors and similes come in handy for the boys at her school who come to her for poems to pass on to the girls they pine for. She is a female Cyrano d' Bergerac of her school. She considers herself an "undercover operative", not quite on the radar of the boys or the girls, sometimes not even with her teachers but always there watching and seeing things they don't. UNDERCOVER tells the story of Elisa as she discovers that she is not as "undercover"
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Aug 22, 2009
Kristen
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The first things I must say about the book is I really love the tie to literature in this book. Elisa is a poet and helps boys win the hearts of their dream girls by writing for them. Unfortunately, the one boy who keeps coming back for more poems to keep his popular girlfriend is the one she falls for. And let me tell you, Theo's girlfriend Lila is not a girl to mess with. She is the ultimate evil popular girl, ready to do whatever it takes to keep her life exactly the way she likes it.
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Jul 04, 2010
Nian
rated it: 
The buzz about this book is lost on me. It’s one of those highly anticipated books—because it’s a National Book Award Nominee for the author—that turns out to be deeply dissatisfying and disappointing. I hate it when that happens.
I’m not going to deal with a summary like I normally do, because I’ll admit, I did not finish the book. I stopped on page 139. I read the book flap’s summary, which makes the book sound more interesting than it is. That should be a sin.
As far More...
I’m not going to deal with a summary like I normally do, because I’ll admit, I did not finish the book. I stopped on page 139. I read the book flap’s summary, which makes the book sound more interesting than it is. That should be a sin.
As far More...
Apr 12, 2008
Brooke
rated it:
Gorgeous, shimmering prose. Golly, this is one of those books I wish I could have read when I was fifteen. Perhaps this is mainly because the protagonist so closely resembles my fifteen-year-old self! (Eh, except for the ice-skating bit. Coordinated physical movement has never been my strong suit.)
Elisa considers herself to be "undercover" -- an ordinary girl who blends in with the crowd, friendless and lonely. She spends her time ruminating at the shores of her " More...
Elisa considers herself to be "undercover" -- an ordinary girl who blends in with the crowd, friendless and lonely. She spends her time ruminating at the shores of her " More...
Mar 05, 2008
Susan
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Apr 09, 2009
Soriah
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Oct 25, 2011
Beth Ann
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I loved this book. The words were wonderfully crafted and Elisa was 6th grade ME. I spent all my time outside collecting bits of nature. I skated everywhere (rollerskates, not ice skates, though) I was always the "friend" never the girlfriend. I had a cute girlie sister who loved make up and clothes whereas I wore what was comfortable, and could care less. I wrote poetry, stories... not for other people, but still, could I ever relate to this book! It's a good thing it was beautiful
Mar 31, 2010
Sarah
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I read this right before we left on a long trip last fall, but I still find myself thinking about the narrator of this pensive story. Her journey towards finding herself, through secretly teaching herself how to ice skate, in some ways echoes HOUSE OF DANCE. And, like HOUSE OF DANCE, it's another deceptively simple jewel of a book. Still waters run deep--the quiet surface of the story hides an intense internal journey.
