LOWER! HIGHER! YOU'RE A LIAR!

by Miriam Chaikin ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1984

It's a WW II summer in Borough Park, Brooklyn. Molly's best friend Tsippi is away. To her sorrow and dismay, nasty Celia, her mother, ""and the boarder"" have moved back onto the block. And, sure enough, Celia quickly makes trouble--forcing ""her slave"" Estelle to forfeit a bracelet for not making faces at poor, foolish Florrie across the street. So Molly must figure out how to get it back: after all, ""Hitler started:the same way."" The return of Celia, nemesis of I Should Worry, I Should Care (1979), is a fall-off in Chaikin's fertile inventiveness, her usual rich store of topical neighborhood conflict. At home, Mama has her good-natured troubles with the English language; the family Shabbos exudes closeness and warmth; the radio, and its theme songs, color the background. And horrible news comes, from Gabriel Heatter, of the fate of Europe's Jews. But Molly's anti-Celia campaign is a non-starter, dramatically and emotionally: Celia simply ignores the girls' boycott Molly organizes, and she's too aloof to affect them otherwise. Molly does, however, get Estelle's bracelet back--first learning that Celia's father is a convict (hence ""the boarder""), then confronting her with the knowledge. (She takes rightful pride in the direct confrontation, doesn't consider the implicit blackmail.) The one fresh if slightly suspect touch is little sister Rebecca's precocious premature feminism: why do only the ""gentlemen"" in Uncle Wiggly have fun? Can you boycott a girl? Series fans will string along, of course, taking familiar pleasure in the company and surrounds.

Pub Date: April 1, 1984

ISBN: 0595198775

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1984

Categories: FICTION