LIVING WITH MY STEPFATHER IS LIKE LIVING WITH A MOOSE

bookshelf

LIVING WITH MY STEPFATHER IS LIKE LIVING WITH A MOOSE

Name: LIVING WITH MY STEPFATHER IS LIKE LIVING WITH A MOOSE
Author: Lynea Bowdish
ISBN: 0-374-34630-5

by Lynea Bowdish & illustrated by Blanche Sims ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1997

bookshelf

Matt's new stepfather, Frank, is clumsy and uncoordinated, an embarrassment to athletic Matt, whose mother keeps pushing them into joint activities. Matt's friends find Frank friendly, but Matt remains steadfast in his determination to avoid a father-son softball game that he fears will be the ultimate humiliation. Then, during a trip to band birds with Frank, Matt finds reasons to reevaluate his position. There's a low believability factor from beginning to end, with unlikable characters throughout: Matt is mulish, and his change of heart is less convincing than his well-established stubbornness; his mother appears needlessly domineering; the oafish Frank is rarely more than a cipher. Black-and-white cartoonish illustrations match the simplicities of the plot, reinforcing the notion that these are stock types, loafing through a TV sitcom. (Fiction. 8- 11)

Pub Date: March 1, 1997

ISBN: 0-374-34630-5

Page Count: 56

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1997

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

bookshelf

HOW TÍA LOLA CAME TO (VISIT) STAY

From the Tía Lola Stories series , Vol. 1

by Julia Alvarez ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay.

bookshelf

Renowned Latin American writer Alvarez has created another story about cultural identity, but this time the primary character is 11-year-old Miguel Guzmán.

When Tía Lola arrives to help the family, Miguel and his hermana, Juanita, have just moved from New York City to Vermont with their recently divorced mother. The last thing Miguel wants, as he's trying to fit into a predominantly white community, is a flamboyant aunt who doesn't speak a word of English. Tía Lola, however, knows a language that defies words; she quickly charms and befriends all the neighbors. She can also cook exotic food, dance (anywhere, anytime), plan fun parties, and tell enchanting stories. Eventually, Tía Lola and the children swap English and Spanish ejercicios, but the true lesson is "mutual understanding." Peppered with Spanish words and phrases, Alvarez makes the reader as much a part of the "language" lessons as the characters. This story seamlessly weaves two culturaswhile letting each remain intact, just as Miguel is learning to do with his own life. Like all good stories, this one incorporates a lesson just subtle enough that readers will forget they're being taught, but in the end will understand themselves, and others, a little better, regardless of la lengua nativa—the mother tongue.

Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay. (Fiction. 9-11)

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-375-80215-0

Page Count: 160

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
ALREADY A BUTTERFLY
by Julia Alvarez ; illustrated by Raúl Colón

- BOOK REVIEW
WHERE DO THEY GO?
by Julia Alvarez ; illustrated by Sabra Field

- BOOK REVIEW
HOW TÍA LOLA ENDED UP STARTING OVER
by Julia Alvarez

bookshelf

HOME OF THE BRAVE

by Katherine Applegate ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2007

Despite its lackluster execution, this story’s simple premise and basic vocabulary make it suitable for younger readers...

bookshelf

From the author of the Animorphs series comes this earnest novel in verse about an orphaned Sudanese war refugee with a passion for cows, who has resettled in Minnesota with relatives.

Arriving in winter, Kek spots a cow that reminds him of his father’s herd, a familiar sight in an alien world. Later he returns with Hannah, a friendly foster child, and talks the cow’s owner into hiring him to look after it. When the owner plans to sell the cow, Kek becomes despondent. Full of wide-eyed amazement and unalloyed enthusiasm for all things American, Kek is a generic—bordering on insulting—stereotype. His tribe, culture and language are never identified; personal details, such as appearance and age, are vague or omitted. Lacking the quirks and foibles that bring characters to life, Kek seems more a composite of traits designed to instruct readers than an engaging individual in his own right.

Despite its lackluster execution, this story’s simple premise and basic vocabulary make it suitable for younger readers interested in the plight of war refugees. (Fiction. 9-11)