Paris for Two
by Phoebe Stone
Publisher: Scholastic/Levine,
Hardcover (350 pages) $16.99
Publication Date: April 26, 2016

ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-545-44362-3

ISBN (ebook): 978-0-545-63408-3

Praise for Paris for Two

Kirkus Reviews:
“A poetically told story
with a fairy-tale feel.”

Febuary 15, 2016:

During her father’s one-year sabbatical, 12-year-old Petunia Beanly moves to Paris with her parents and beautiful older sister. Atmospheric and charming, Stone’s intricately designed novel tells three interlocking tales: Petunia in present-day Paris; what happened between Petunia and her crush, Windel, in the near past; and the story of the building concierge and her grandmother that takes place during the Nazi occupation of France. This skillful interweaving, nicely knotted together by a hidden doll’s dress, creates a tremendous narrative drive, and readers will be whipping the pages to find out what happened. Petunia, who’s funny (sometimes inadvertently), feels like a real 12-year-old, and she turns out to be a generous and keen-eyed storyteller, peppering her narration with the agonies of little-sisterhood and the perfectly observed odd detail. The heart of the story is the relationship between Petunia and her 14-year-old sister, Ava, and it’s completely credible, clearly set up and believably resolved in a way that feels heartfelt and true. A poetically told story with a fairy-tale feel. (Fiction. 10-14)Kirkus Reviews

March/April 2016 issue:

Twelve-year-old Petunia Beanly’s father, a Flaubert scholar, is thrilled to be spending a year in Paris on sabbatical. The rest of the family, not so much. Pet’s fourteen-year-old sister Ava (their mother’s darling) is prickly on a good day, and Mom, a frustrated artist, spends her time suffering ennui and badmouthing Ava’s long-estranged biological father. Pet doesn’t mind Paris per se—she’s started to make friends (Collette, the concierge in her building; plus fellow resident Monsieur Le Bon Bon, his parrot Albert, and Le Bon Bon’s eight-year-old nephew Jean-Claude) -- but she’s mortified to be in the same city as piano prodigy Windel Watson, her ill-advised crush-from-home. And all of this is just the tip of the iceberg for Stone’s quirky, multifaceted characters. Her protagonists (The Romeo and Juliet Code, rev. 3/11; The Boy on Cinnamon Street, rev. 1/12) tend to wear their hearts on their sleeves, and here that’s almost literally true: Pet, a budding clothing designer, is working on a collection for the “Sew! You’re in Paris!” youth fashion contest, inspired by the beautiful doll clothing created by Collette’s Nazi-resistor seamstress grandmother. In her own idiosyncratic style, Stone has created a grand, romantic, heartfelt tale that will make readers long for the city of light. Elissa Gershowitz, Hornbook Magazine

“Stone has created a grand, romantic, heartfelt tale that will make readers long for the city of light.”-Hornbook

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