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Summary
Summary
Ten-year-old Allie's family moves from urban New Haven to rural Stamford, Connecticut, in the midst of the Great Depression.
Author Notes
Children's Poet Laureate Mary Ann Hoberman is the author of more than thirty-five books for children, including the critically acclaimedA House Is a House for Me, which won a National Book Award, the NewYork TimesbestsellingYou Read to Me, I'll Read to You, and the Sing-Along Stories series.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this old-fashioned coming-of-age story, set during the Great Depression, 10-year-old Allie's father finds a new job, and her family moves to a street called Strawberry Hill. Poet and first-time novelist Hoberman draws a full portrait of life on Strawberry Hill-where in fact there are no strawberries-as Allie agonizes over her conflicting feelings about the two other girls on her street: pretty, popular Martha, whom Allie wants as a best friend; and pudgy, sweet Mimi, who wants to be best friends with Allie. Circumstances of time and place are woven into the narrative, from details like the cost of popsicles to larger themes of poverty and prejudice. A number of Allie's friends' fathers are out of work, and Martha's best friend Cynthia calls Allie a "dirty Jew" at one point (Allie notes, "I wondered why I still wanted to be best friends with someone who still wanted to be best friends with someone like Cynthia"). Allie's plight will be utterly relatable to contemporary readers and the resolution is both satisfying and realistic. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8-12. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* After someone has written for 50 years and won a National Book Award, it is hard to think of her as a debut novelist. Along with the You Read to Me, I'll Read to You series, Hoberman is well known for her poetry (and was recently named Children's Poet Laureate). This is, however, Hoberman's first work of fiction. Set during the Depression, the result is a small yet highly evocative story that shows that while details may differ, issues of childhood remain the same. Ten-year-old Allie is not pleased that her family is moving, but when she learns that her new street is named Strawberry Hill, it stirs something inside her. Alas, there are no strawberries, but Allie does find friendships and hardships and her first brush with anti-Semitism when a girl calls her a dirty Jew. One of the best things about this is Allie's narrative style. Written in first-person, it nonetheless seems a bit removed, giving readers space to make up their own minds about events. For instance, Allie's incensed mother makes a scene about the invective, while her father wants to shrug it off (though he tells Allie she should inform her tormentor that Jesus was a Jew). Who is right? With story lines that are simple but never simplistic and perfectly crafted chapters in which the ordinary has the opportunity to become special, this is reminiscent of books by Elizabeth Enright and Sydney Taylor. To be illustrated.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2009 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
Even if you didn't know that Mary Ann Hoberman is the current national children's poet laureate, with a shelf of distinguished picture books to her credit, you could tell from "Strawberry Hill," her first novel, that you were in the hands of a seasoned writer. The restraint of her style is a tip-off that here is someone who knows how to bring detail and language into just the right balance to catch you up and pull you into the story. The virtues of "Strawberry Hill" may not be immediately apparent from a synopsis of the plot, which is set during the Depression and follows the narrator, Allie, from the end of third grade, when her family moves from an apartment in one Connecticut city to a house in another, to the end of fourth grade. Charmed by her new address, 12 Strawberry Hill, Allie imagines a grassy incline speckled with red, juicy strawberries; she will have only to enter a little gate "just like Alice in Wonderland" to pick as many as she wants. The elaborate picture she conjures up feels so real to her that she is deflated when the street proves very ordinary and devoid of strawberries. Hoberman maintains an exquisite balance between Allie's perspective and that of the adults around her, allowing for both a child's way of thinking and a polished narration. Allie struggles with friendships and best-friendships: she'd rather spend time with Martha from next door than with Mimi from across the street, who cries easily and whose bookie father is "always a little scary, all dressed up and fancy all the time" - even after Martha remains overly loyal to a classmate who calls Allie a dirty Jew. While the brush with anti-Semitism and the economic hardship of the period might separately furnish entire novels, this author keeps these issues lifelike in their proportions, so that Allie feels more upset when her mother marches her over to Martha's house and noisily tells off Martha's friend than she is by the slur itself; Allie knows her mother has "spoiled everything." The shifting of fortunes in Mimi's favor doesn't punish Martha or proceed without reversals, and the impact is the greater for being measured and realistic. In the conclusion, when Mimi shows Allie that strawberries grow on Strawberry Hill after all, they feel to her like magic. Magic or not, she and Hoberman have earned them; they are the fruits of Allie's year of discovery. ELIZABETH DEVEREAUX In Mary Ann Hoberman's first novel, Allie calls a friend she has met in Strawberry Hill.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-When the Great Depression hits, 10-year-old Allie Sherman's family moves from New Haven to Stamford, CT, where her father has found a job. Once there, she meets Martha, who attends the local parochial school and warns Allie about Mimi, the "crybaby" across the street whose father is a "bookie." While Martha spends time with her friend Cynthia, Allie befriends Mimi. By the novel's end Allie learns what makes a true friend when she realizes that friendship with Martha will always be limited since she is willing to accept Cynthia's cheating and mean-spiritedness. Allie also comes to realize that people can change, even adults. The story comes full circle with a satisfying, generally plausible conclusion as summer is about to begin again. Rich details bring the period to life, from books shared to the nauseating Lucky Strike cigarettes smoked by adults. This is a gentle story with the sensibility of a novel written in an earlier time. Characters are well presented, and secondary figures have telling details. For example, Allie's mother responds quickly and angrily when her child is called a "dirty Jew" by Martha's friend, though it causes an argument with her husband. This can be read independently or shared as a read-aloud.-Maria B. Salvadore, formerly at Washington DC Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Ten-year-old Allie is beside herself when she learns that her family is moving far away from her best friend, Ruthie. When her family arrives at their new home, however, Allie begins to form new friendships immediately. There is Allie's favorite friend, the rich girl, Martha, who goes to Catholic school but plays with Allie in the afternoon. And then there is Mimi, who is Jewish like Allie, chubby and desperate for friendship; she attends Allie's school but has been held back in the third grade. Petty BFF politics take center stage as the three girls, along with a few peripheral characters, vacillate among loyalty, jealousy, friendship and rejection. Predictably and unrealistically, Mimi loses weight, improves her reading enough to get promoted to fourth grade with Allie's help and earns herself the overvalued title of Allie's official best friend. Minus the few passages and scenes that serve to establish the Great Depressionera setting, the story could have happened just about anywhere. Neither a great friendship saga nor a good choice for historical reading. (Historical fiction. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
