An African-American fifth-grader develops a sturdy sense of responsibility and weathers some personal crises in this value-driven story. Troubled by his parents' divorce, his mother's remarriage, and a class bully, Joey lets schoolwork slide and gives his stepfather the cold shoulder, refusing to call him anything but ``Mr. Johnson.'' But after several incidents of fighting, shoplifting, and sullen behavior, Joey doesn't like what he's becoming and, with the help of pep-talks from adults and friends, begins to turn himself around. When he accidentally lets his stepfather's beloved Airedale out, Joey mounts a search, finds the injured animal, and gets a part-time job to help pay her medical expenses; by book's end, he's also helping his stepfather at work and has even qualified for an accelerated ``young scientists'' program at a university. While celebrating the importance of honesty, integrity, and supportive family relationships, Boyd also tries to raise consciousness on racial issues, through both dialogue (``Mr. Johnson, does being an African American make everything harder for you?'' ``The short answer is yes and the longer answer is yes'') and incident (Joey's teacher, pegging him as a troublemaker, tries to ease him into a ``special ed'' class instead of recommending him for the gifted program). Boyd has messages to deliver, but she's not strident about them; her characters aren't always consistent- -Joey's calm, intelligent, loving stepfather explodes with rage when he learns that his dog is gone—but she respects them, young and old, and stresses their better qualities. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: May 31, 1993
ISBN: 0-02-711765-0
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
Year-round fun.
Set in 1937 during the so-called “Roosevelt recession,” tight times compel Mary Alice, a Chicago girl, to move in with her grandmother, who lives in a tiny Illinois town so behind the times that it doesn’t “even have a picture show.”
This winning sequel takes place several years after A Long Way From Chicago (1998) leaves off, once again introducing the reader to Mary Alice, now 15, and her Grandma Dowdel, an indomitable, idiosyncratic woman who despite her hard-as-nails exterior is able to see her granddaughter with “eyes in the back of her heart.” Peck’s slice-of-life novel doesn’t have much in the way of a sustained plot; it could almost be a series of short stories strung together, but the narrative never flags, and the book, populated with distinctive, soulful characters who run the gamut from crazy to conventional, holds the reader’s interest throughout. And the vignettes, some involving a persnickety Grandma acting nasty while accomplishing a kindness, others in which she deflates an overblown ego or deals with a petty rivalry, are original and wildly funny. The arena may be a small hick town, but the battle for domination over that tiny turf is fierce, and Grandma Dowdel is a canny player for whom losing isn’t an option. The first-person narration is infused with rich, colorful language—“She was skinnier than a toothpick with termites”—and Mary Alice’s shrewd, prickly observations: “Anybody who thinks small towns are friendlier than big cities lives in a big city.”
Year-round fun. (Fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 978-0-8037-2518-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
If Rotten Ralph were a boy instead of a cat, he might be Joey, the hyperactive hero of Gantos's new book, except that Joey is never bad on purpose. In the first-person narration, it quickly becomes clear that he can't help himself; he's so wound up that he not only practically bounces off walls, he literally swallows his house key (which he wears on a string around his neck and which he pull back up, complete with souvenirs of the food he just ate). Gantos's straightforward view of what it's like to be Joey is so honest it hurts. Joey has been abandoned by his alcoholic father and, for a time, by his mother (who also drinks); his grandmother, just as hyperactive as he is, abuses Joey while he's in her care. One mishap after another leads Joey first from his regular classroom to special education classes and then to a special education school. With medication, counseling, and positive reinforcement, Joey calms down. Despite a lighthearted title and jacket painting, the story is simultaneously comic and horrific; Gantos takes readers right inside a human whirlwind where the ride is bumpy and often frightening, especially for Joey. But a river of compassion for the characters runs through the pages, not only for Joey but for his overextended mom and his usually patient, always worried (if only for their safety) teachers. Mature readers will find this harsh tale softened by unusual empathy and leavened by genuinely funny events. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-374-33664-4
Page Count: 154
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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