BEGINNING TO FEEL THE MAGIC

by Linda Weltner ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 30, 1981

For the first time ever, the sixth grade at Julie's shabby but friendly elementary school is putting on a play, and Julie is chosen for the lead--Snow White. When she comes home full of the news, her mother, busy with a new baby, is too preoccupied to listen--so Julie decides to surprise her family. Despite some misunderstanding (the class insists the queen wants Snow White's liver, not her heart) and some initial criticism--""What I can't see is why Snow White would want to be like a cleaning lady to a bunch of dwarfs""--the sixth grade throws itself into casting, rehearsing, and painting sets. Then Julie, heartbroken, comes down with double pneumonia . . . and, though she bewilders parents and doctor by insisting feverishly that she has to go to school, she misses the play. (""Don't let them doctors near your liver,"" reads one classmate's get-well note.) Things get worse and better after that: There's a boy who seemed to like her but now, teased in her absence, seems not to. Back at school Julie gets in trouble for clobbering him in class, but in the end they are happily together on a Ferris wheel. Meanwhile Julie and her harassed, unhappy mother become closer and attend therapy sessions together, and Julie realizes that her unsupportive father will never change. Weltner doesn't project much magic, but she does give Julie's concerns a rounded family and social context and brings them all together sympathetically.

Pub Date: April 30, 1981

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1981

Categories: FICTION