Wendy Mass lived in my town (I'm not sure if she still does) so when I was in middle school, she came to our school library once to sign books and answer questions about the writing process. I got a free copy of this book, read it, and wondered, "Is this what teenagers are like? Will I be this way when I'm a teenager? Getting drunk and making out with people and just generally being reckless?" Nope. As it turns out, Tessa just makes really terrible decisions. And I turned out to be the type of t...

Reviewed by Andie Z. for TeensReadToo.comWhen 16-year-old Tessa sees the orange dodgeball flying at her from across her high school gym, it never even occurs to her to duck. Soon after, she finds herself floating towards heaven, which looks just like the mall where her parents work and where she has spent a good deal of her life. She is led to the Lost and Found, where she is given a bag of items: items that she has taken home from the mall during her lifetime, and each item takes her on a journ...

Heaven Looks A Lot Like The Mall Heaven Looks A Lot Like The Mall is an amazing, unique novel about 16 year-old Tessa, who has a near-death experience and goes to a place that seems like heaven, but looks identical to her local mall. When someone, who seems to be her spirit guide comes to help her, her whole life story begins to replay as her spirit guide brings the memories flooding back to her. Tessa goes through each and every memory of everything she bought at the mall and when. The items b...

I liked this book because it confronts a fear of mine. Getting knocked out by a dodge ball and going into a coma. I also found it funny that when Tessa was knocked out she went to "heaven" and it looked just like her hometown mall. Tessa was true,funny and sarcastic all at the same time. The thing that kept me reading was to find out what she saw in the mall that was so scaring to her. I did enjoy this book but it is not my favorite. I recommend it to people who enjoy cliff hangers and sarcasm.

I thought that “Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall,” was a really great book! It created a lot of imagery in my head! Whenever I read it, I always wanted to read more, because it was so interesting. I was surprised that it was so good, because I had never heard of it before. I would definitely recommend the book to the teenage audience, because it was really good, even though it had some weird and disgusting parts. I thought the title was a little misleading, because it wasn’t really about heaven,...

After being hit by a dodgeball, Tessa finds herself at the mall (she's in a coma and so her subconscious generates the environment she's most familiar with). Tessa is given a shopping bag filled with items from the mall, items that each represent an experience that has shaped her. She is instructed to watch and analyze each memory so that she can find the answer to her Question. Tessa is extremely flawed—she lies and cheats and steals. I do not condone Tessa's actions, but I find it ridiculous w...

To begin with, the premise of this book was intriguing. A girl goes to heaven, but it looks like the mall? What? But then it turns out she's just in limbo, which makes a bit more sense. In that sense, the book could've been so, so good. But then Tessa happened. Tessa is the main character, and in the beginning she is quite likable. However, whenever she starts to relive some of the memories living up to her death, the book starts to decline. Everyone makes mistakes, but Tessa did things that, al...

Hmm... little weird, little inappropriate. Just like me!

Not what I expected. I read this before but stopped because I got sucked into a reading slump but boy oh boy! I liked how it was written, the stories within the story and the overall moral of it. Definitely enjoyed it.

Well, this book was no A Mango-Shaped Space (the other book that I've read and enjoyed by Wendy Mass/the inspiration for reading this one). To start, it was written in poetry form, which was OK, but I've seen done better (see Sonya Sones). Also, the premise of the book was walking a fine line between being something that could have really worked, or sucked. Unfortunately, I think it fell more toward the "sucked" side. It didn't suck completely, mind you - but it was definitely on the "suck" side...

Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall was like a book I have never read before. The novel was written in verse form, which I really liked, and the time kept changing, which kept it interesting. The book starts off with Tessa getting hit in gym class with a dodge ball that puts her in a coma. While she is in a coma, her mind takes her to where she spent most of her time- the mall where her parents work at. Tessa then meets Nail Boy, a nickname she gave the boy, who takes her on a tour of the mall. She...

This was a quick read, because of the prose-verse style, and because I couldn't put it down. Would make a wonderful HS girl book discussion book - dig into the whys of the protagonist's actions, or whether we can even discern why she does what she does throughout her life.I know kids like her, but not to this degree. The holes that exist in her psyche are what drive her, and that needs to be discussed. The concept of running through her life via mall purchases or gifts was interesting and very c...

Why I choose this book: NOT IRP. I chose this book because I really like the author Wendy Mass. She worte many books that I have enjoyed. I realy like the way she describes things. She really uses her 5 senses when she is discribing the seting and also the characters are so well detialed. You can even really see them in your head when you are reading.Independent Reading Project: 4/22/10This is a story about a girl named Tessa who gets in an accident in gym class. This accident makes her have to

A fast, free verse novel about a girl who needs to come to terms with the fact that she is not a very good person. An interesting premise (Tessa is able to self-analyze her past mistakes while in a coma) and offers an uplifting ending.Sex and underage drinking are frequently mentioned so this is best grade 8 and up. I'm going to move this one from my middle school section to Teen.

Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall by Wendy Mass was a really interesting read. I enjoyed the book, but I felt lost and confused at different points while reading it. Throughout the book there are questions that need to be answered - but no one knows what those questions are. At times there are ghost figures that come into the book and you don't understand why until the last few pages of the book. This wasn't the kind of book you could pick up and put right back down. I had to read this book in on...

Heaven looks a lot Like the Mall is about a girl, Tessa, who is about to go to college and is writing her essay. She is asked the question, who are you? She isn't quit sure who she is. One day, while playing dodgeball in gym class, she gets hit in the face with the ball and falls into coma. While she is in her coma, she ends up at the mall. She was raised as a child in the mall because her parents worked for the mall. She meets this boy who takes her to the locker rooms and shows her a bag of th...

When Tessa gets knocked into a coma by a rogue dodgeball, she has a near-death experience in her local mall. Guided by a druggie kid with a drill bit stuck in his head, she relives a number of memories, forcing her to look inside herself and decide whether or not she likes what she sees. I thought this book was both hilarious and insightful. The protagonist's honest and sarcastic narrative is easy to enjoy and identify with. Pick it up, it's a quick and excellent read!

Tessa Reynolds is finishing up her junior year of high school. She's just had a humiliating experience at the prom, and she's constantly struggling with her weight and her obsessive mother. When she sees a dodgeball zooming toward her head in gym class, she doesn't bother to duck. As she falls to the gym floor she finds herself in heaven that looks a lot like the mall, well at least what she thinks is heaven and where she spends most of her free time over the years. Tessa's not very athletic so

Young Teen books don't get better then this! I just finished this over the course of a couple hours but I still feel I haven't fully absorbed everything that this book has to offer. I am going to pick this book up with full alacrity but not before handing this to my little sister. I don't know why I love this book so much but it probably has something to do with the anecdotes of micro crystallizing moments that Tessa lives. I loved the story in every way I loved moments, I love the ending (altho...

The book Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall is very interesting. It is written in a poetry form and the time keeps changing. It goes from present to past, and to an imaginary time. But the author does this flawlessly so it all makes sense. This book is not only interesting for how it is written but what it is about. In this book you get the whole story of a girls life. Her whole lifetime is put in one book which is very fun to read. The book is also about family, friends, school, boys, peer press