One + One = Blue by MJ Auch (review)

"I'm the biggest loser in the seventh-grade class," says Basil Feeney, who's a low-key kid largely resigned to his status and comforted by his stable home life with his grandmother, who's cared for him ever since his mother, Carly, left to become an actress when he was five. A smart, kooky new girl, Tenzie, shakes up his world and draws him into a friendship; they bond further upon the realization that they both have synesthesia, a sensory eccentricity that makes them see numbers as colors. When Basil's flighty mother returns and signs on to direct the school play, Basil is horrified but Tenzie is starstruck; while Carly predictably takes off again, Tenzie insists that she and Basil track her down. Basil's a sympathetic guy, largely at ease with himself and his eccentricities, and his narration is plainspoken and accessible. It's Tenzie who really steals the show here, and the way she turns Basil's drama into her own is both credibly annoying and a touching indication of the depth of her need. Unfortunately, her behavior and lack of impulse control are so extreme that the book seems dismissive of the scale of her problems; additionally, the synesthesia theme, though interesting, involves some contrivance and sometimes disappears from the story. Nonetheless, it's a readable account of a kid who learns that it's okay to disturb the universe a little but also to appreciate what he has.