Twelve-year-old Sarah Simpson joins a long list of modern-day tweens buried under negative feelings about their parents’ recent divorce, feeling jilted by a father who has moved across the country with his new young wife. Encouraged to keep a journal, Sarah’s immediate self-description—“I have orange hair and I am fat”—introduces her poor self-image and feelings of rejection as she tries to follow her own “Rules,” which include drinking skim milk and avoiding blondes. Sarah’s unhappiness is displayed through her deadpan, stilted account of life creating numerous lists of cynical and gloomy statements. Themes of inner vs. outer beauty are paralleled with Sarah’s mother’s easy acceptance of her broken marriage remedied by her new and happy relationship with relaxed, environmentally conscious and slightly overweight Jonah. Minor characters include five-year-old George (Jonah’s son) and geeky classmate Horace Zimmerman, who bring balance to Sarah’s self-centered feelings of betrayal by both parents. Despite the short, unadorned, flat writing style, Rupp manages to develop her themes and character with enough emotional integrity to underscore the overall message that personal attitude can ultimately control the way we accept inevitable change in our lives. A quick read in the over-used diary-style middle-grade fiction with expanded potential for a series or even family discussion. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-7636-3220-5
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Though it lacks nuance, still a must-read.
Tyler is the son of generations of Vermont dairy farmers.
Mari is the Mexican-born daughter of undocumented migrant laborers whose mother has vanished in a perilous border crossing. When Tyler’s father is disabled in an accident, the only way the family can afford to keep the farm is by hiring Mari’s family. As Tyler and Mari’s friendship grows, the normal tensions of middle-school boy-girl friendships are complicated by philosophical and political truths. Tyler wonders how he can be a patriot while his family breaks the law. Mari worries about her vanished mother and lives in fear that she will be separated from her American-born sisters if la migra comes. Unashamedly didactic, Alvarez’s novel effectively complicates simple equivalencies between what’s illegal and what’s wrong. Mari’s experience is harrowing, with implied atrocities and immigration raids, but equally full of good people doing the best they can. The two children find hope despite the unhappily realistic conclusions to their troubles, in a story which sees the best in humanity alongside grim realities.
Though it lacks nuance, still a must-read. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-375-85838-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
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