The search for personal identity and romance are common themes of many YA novels. In a reveling portrait of two sisters and their ambivalent relationship, this story brings a fresh perspective to the roles of dominance and love, power and weakness in the family. Penny's worship of her smart, popular older sister Cass is extreme; as the baby sister she exists on the excitement of reading Cass' diary and comforting Gary, Cass? steady boyfriend, during the couple's frequent quarrels. Cass, the center of the household, periodically tries to get Penny to work harder on homework and dress in outrageous styles. But Cass does dole out some good advice when she tells Penny, "You can't ever be like somebody else. You have to find out what the real you is and let it all hang out. You have to take a few chances." The trouble begins when Penny, discovering a skill and interest in sewing, develops a romance with Gary after Cass leaves for college. Cass lets Penny clown when the younger girl visits her sister at Harvard to get advice—the Final shattering of Penny's illusions about her "wonder-ful" older sister. When Penny announces her engagement to Gary, Cass blows up and reveals her need for Penny's adoration and praise. Characters are well developed, and the truth that one can't copy another's personality is an important one for teen readers. In her diary in a moment of lucid self-knowledge, Cass writes, "I'm not perfect. I'm arrogant, inconsiderate and intolerant. But I want my life to expand outside of myself I want my work to be more than me." Young readers may not understand the irony of such a selfish character holding such grandiose goals. But it is in the humanity of these characters and their contradictions, as well as their values, that Sachs has made an ordinary story extraordinary.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1986
ISBN: 0192716921
Page Count: 149
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1986
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A nice but not requisite purchase.
A retelling of the classic fairy tale in board-book format and with a Mexican setting.
Though simplified for a younger audience, the text still relates the well-known tale: mean-spirited stepmother, spoiled stepsisters, overworked Cinderella, fairy godmother, glass slipper, charming prince, and, of course, happily-ever-after. What gives this book its flavor is the artwork. Within its Mexican setting, the characters are olive-skinned and dark-haired. Cultural references abound, as when a messenger comes carrying a banner announcing a “FIESTA” in beautiful papel picado. Cinderella is the picture of beauty, with her hair up in ribbons and flowers and her typically Mexican many-layered white dress. The companion volume, Snow White, set in Japan and illustrated by Misa Saburi, follows the same format. The simplified text tells the story of the beautiful princess sent to the forest by her wicked stepmother to be “done away with,” the dwarves that take her in, and, eventually, the happily-ever-after ending. Here too, what gives the book its flavor is the artwork. The characters wear traditional clothing, and the dwarves’ house has the requisite shoji screens, tatami mats and cherry blossoms in the garden. The puzzling question is, why the board-book presentation? Though the text is simplified, it’s still beyond the board-book audience, and the illustrations deserve full-size books.
A nice but not requisite purchase. (Board book/fairy tale. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7915-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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