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Summary
Summary
Jenny makes friends with a new student from Saudi Arabia.
Reviews (4)
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate) Here's a story that's been told before: a young girl with a few self-esteem questions works under the tutelage of a wise adult to help a less fortunate child accomplish a dream, all the while realizing her own potential. Although Nagda's first novel follows this familiar plot, it delivers far more than formula fiction for beginning chapter book readers. Fourth-grader Jenny is assigned a second-grade pen pal with whom she will exchange letters; the fourth graders must invent a fantasy story and write their letters as if they were mice living in the younger children's desks. Jenny just can't get into the spirit of the lesson. But finally she composes a prosaic note to her pen pal, a child named Sameera. When the second-grade letters come back to Jenny's class, the students read them. As children will do, they take full responsibility for the quality of their pen pals' responses, assuming that the creativity of their letters led to the completeness of the younger children's replies. Sameera's letter marks Jenny as a failure: it makes little sense, and the spelling is so invented that it renders the communiqu+ indecipherable. At her teacher's urging, Jenny gets to know Sameera, a recent transfer student from Saudi Arabia, and recognizes that the younger girl, in dire need of a friend, has great difficulty communicating with her classmates. Characterization rises above the stereotypical, with Jenny tapping her own strengths of kindness and problem solving and Sameera displaying traits other than her own cultural differences. Nagda's liberal use of natural dialogue and her plot-driven narrative move the story along quickly, while Roth's black-and-white illustrations allow opportunities for readers to pause and reflect on the action. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Gr. 2^-4. When Jenny's fourth-grade class writes letters to the second-graders, she is paired with Sameera, a Saudi Arabian girl who knows little English. Though frustrated and discouraged over Sameera's lack of response to her letters and her overtures of friendship, Jenny perseveres. Finally, she makes a breakthrough that helps them both to feel better about themselves and each other. Vividly re-creating classroom culture, Nagda portrays the seesawing emotions of schoolchildren with empathy and finesse. Stephanie Roth's expressive illustrations capture the tone and characterization as well as the incidents of the story. A satisfying chapter book for young readers. --Carolyn Phelan
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-Fourth-grade Jenny longs to receive the praise that other students hear. As part of an assignment, she must write to a second grader pretending that she is a mouse living in the child's desk; unlike her classmates, Jenny struggles with the letter. When everyone begins receiving replies from their young pen pals, the girl is first embarrassed by her correspondent's brief missive, then put out by her pen pal's lack of interest in writing back. However, Jenny soon discovers that Sameera has just arrived from Saudi Arabia and is not fluent in English. This match was clearly made by an insightful pair of teachers, and before long the two girls become invaluable in boosting each other's self-esteem. This warm story with a positive message will make a great choice for newly independent readers, as a read-aloud, and as a wonderful introduction to a letter-writing unit.-Leslie S. Hilverding, Schuster Elementary School, El Paso, TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Nagda (Tiger Territory: A Story of the Chitwan Valley, 1999) offers middle readers a taste of the pleasures and rewards of helping others. The assignment: to write a letter from a mouse and send it to a penpal in second grade. Unlike her overachieving neighbor Susan, fourth grader Jenny has trouble thinking of things to write, and the exercise becomes even less appealing when her correspondent Sameera returns either perfunctory responses or none at all. After some gentle teacherly prodding, Jenny plods down the hall to meet Sameera, who turns out to be a shy, sullen new arrival from Saudi Arabia with only a few words of English. Soon, almost despite herself, Jenny is sharing favorite picture books with Sameera, writing more letters, and, after a flash of inspiration, sharing homemade mouse cookiesa ploy that not only breaks through Sameeras reserve, but attracts the rest of the second graders too. Jenny earns a commendation from her own teacher, and to the envy of her classmates, an invitation to spend a period baking more cookies in the teachers lounge! Roth plants smiling, natural-looking people into everyday settings, perfectly capturing this episodes relaxed, uncontrived atmosphere. (Fiction. 7-9)
