Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Bayport Public Library | SCD J FICTION CHO 4 DISCS | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
For Kirsten McKenna, the world is crumbling. Her parents are barely speaking to each other, and her best friend has come under the spell of the school's queen bee, Brianna. Only Kirsten's younger science-geek sister is on her side.
For Walker Jones, the goal is to survive at the new white private school his mom has sent him to because she thinks he's going to screw up like his cousin. (Walk keeps telling her,"Don't have to worry, Momma. Before I go bad I'll let you know, send a Hallmark card ready-made for the occasion . 'On the eve your son messes up.'")
But Walk is a good kid. So is his new friend, Matteo, though no one knows why Matteo will do absolutely anything that hot blond Brianna asks of him. Then Kirsten discovers something that shakes her and Walk to their cores. . . .
Author Notes
Gennifer Choldenko was born in Santa Monica, California.
Gennifer Choldenko is a Newbery Honor-winning American writer of popular books for children and adolescents. Her first novel, Notes From a Liar and Her Dog was named "Best Book of the Year" by School Library Journal and her second, Al Capone Does My Shirts, part of Al Capone on Alcatraz series, won the 2005 Newbery Honor citation.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The latest from Newbery Honor author Choldenko is an earnest contemporary story about race, set in a California middle school. Told from the alternating viewpoints of Kirsten, the overweight daughter of a doctor, and Walk (short for Walker), son of a striving single mother, the issues raised are spot-on for this age group. Kirsten's world, micromanaged by her overly involved mother, is battered by her parents' fighting and her best friend Rory's newfound chumminess with queen bee Brianna. Walk has been separated from his friends by his mother's decision to send him to private school on scholarship. One of only three African-American students at Mountain School, his outsider status makes him approachable to Kirsten, whose falling-out with Rory leaves her in dire need of lunch-hour companionship. This under-the-microscope examination of the often cruel, always dramatic dynamics of junior high will be enough to pull many readers through to the provocative if melodramatic revelation about the real connection between Walk and Kirsten. The humor that fueled much of Choldenko's Al Capone Does My Shirts is missing here, and her choice to tell Kirsten's story in first person and Walk's chapters in third person makes the narrative a little choppy. But the questions she raises about identity, race, prejudice and the true nature of friendship should provide ample food for thought. Ages 10-up. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Middle School) Two students meet outside an exclusive private school the morning seventh grade begins. Kirsten is white, with a lively, self-deprecating sense of humor that's revealed through her first-person narration. Newcomer Walker is ""bla -- African American,"" as Kirsten's status-conscious mom says, and his parts of the alternating narration are in third person. As the story begins, Kirsten is consumed by the defection of her best friend Rory (now hanging out with the mean girls), by her parents' fierce fighting, and by the significant weight she's gained. Walk's worries revolve around his conspicuousness at his almost-all-white school and the strict rules his mother imposes on him. Initially, the book seems to be a conventional school story, but two-thirds of the way through it takes a sudden twist, and all that has happened previously is seen in a new light. Choldenko explores themes of racism and wealth with subtlety and insight (as when the reader realizes just as Walk does that Kirsten is very rich and doesn't even know it). The structure can be challenging at first, with a large cast of family and friends to sort out, but the funny, thoughtful protagonists, the vivid middle-school setting, and the honest portrayal of the characters, even the adults, make it well worth the effort. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Between her parents' constant arguing and the defection of her best friend to the inner circle of A-list mean girls, the start of seventh grade is tough for Kirsten. It's no easier for her classmate Walk, who has left his inner-city school to become the only black student at an expensive private school. Kirsten's first-person narrative alternates with third-person narration centered on Walk. The two threads run side by side for awhile, occasionally touching and eventually intertwined, until they become knotted in ways that make sense only when each family owns up to its long-held secret. The author of the Newbery Honor Book Al Capone Does My Shirts (2004), Choldenko has a talent for pithy dialogue and vivid narration that brings each scene sharply into focus. With two main characters facing different challenges and several minor characters with troubles of their own, this short novel takes on a great deal and handles it pretty well, telling the story clearly and managing the shifting points of view with ease.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2007 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 7-10-Kirsten McKenna, a student at an elite private school, feels that she is a junior high misfit in this novel by Gennifer Choldenko (Harcourt, 2007). Her parents have just spent the summer fighting nonstop, and now must contend with her best friend's change of loyalties to popular Brianna. Then there's Walker Jones, an African-American transfer student who is definitely in the minority. When they are both late on the first day of class, they have to serve detention and only Walker defends Kirsten when she gets into trouble. As Kirsten and Walk relate their experiences during these opening days of school in alternating chapters, a surprising twist emerges concerning the relationship between the pair. Ariadne Meyers voices Kirsten and Francois Battiste narrates Walker Jones's story. Choldenko's spirited characters have their heads and hearts in the right place and solid values. Meyers and Battiste bring just the right amount of teen uncertainty to their narration as the youngsters learn how to handle their situation. The novel does a good job of covering some serious problems, such as racism and prejudice, but also injects some humor into the telling. Although some plot elements are rather far-fetched, listeners will relate to the issues raised and the honest look at middle-school life. For school and public libraries-Jane P. Fenn, Corning-Painted Post West High School, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Kirsten and Walk start the first day of seventh grade with one thing in common: They're both late. This earns them a detention together, and they strike up an easy friendship, which seems to make their mothers uneasy for some reason. Could it be that Walk is the only black kid at the very private school? Or that Kirsten shows signs of an eating disorder, has lost her best friend to the wiles of the rich and snobby Brianna Hanna-Hines and seems to have no desire to fit in with the popular crowd? Choldenko's talent for characters and conversation brings the two voices instantly to life in alternating points of view (Kirsten's chapters in first-person, Walk's in third, for a slight off-kilter feeling). The story of familiar middle-school tribulations is engaging, but fails to pick up steam until it lands in a late surprise twist. Completely without foreshadowing, it adds both gravitas and clarity to the entire story, which turns out to be about privilege, perception and the fallibility of parents. This will appeal to a wide range of middle-school readers and would make a great book-club or classroom discussion. (Fiction. 11-14) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Excerpts
Excerpts
one Kirsten This is lame but I'm actually looking forward to school this year, because every day this summer was like crap: dog crap, cat crap--I even had a few elephant crap days. Trust me, it was bad. For starters I hardly saw my best friend in the whole world, Rory. She was always in camp or on Maui. They probably don't even have crap on Maui. Besides Rory being gone all summer, my only other friend in the whole world, Nellie, moved away and my mom and dad fought all the time. They stopped seeing my little sister, Kippy, and me, and they definitely stopped hearing what we said. We even tried a little experiment on them. Kippy said there was a colony of worms living in the laundry hamper and my mom said: "Leave your muddy shoes outside." And I said Brad Pitt had invited me to a slumber party and my mom said: "You already had your snack." It was funny for a while. Then it wasn't. But summer is over. School is back. And all I can think about as my mom drives us up to the drop-off is how I really, really, really want to have a bunch of classes with Rory this year. Well, that's almost all I think of. I also consider my butt and how it will make its way out of our car. Nobody wants to see a gigantor butt coming out of a car first thing on a Monday morning, that much I know. "Have a good day. Eat the lunch I packed. Don't buy junk . . . ," my mom says when my feet hit the pavement. "Kirsten!" She unrolls the side window and beckons with her hand. "Do you know that boy, that bla--African American kid?" Her head cranes toward a guy who just gotout of a red sports car. Tall, nice-looking guy. Shaved head, handsome . . . dresses like he's the governor's son. I shrug. "Must be new." The red car pulls out of the drop-off and my mom's head snaps to the front. She pounces on the accelerator and her car flies forward with the door open and the seat belt clanking the side. She swerves around a big SUV, guns it, then pounces on the brakes, coming to a squealing, screeching halt. The stop sign. Her hand rotates a million miles an hour, gesturing to this poor huddled pedestrian, but the pedestrian won't move. He's afraid. I can't blame the guy. . . . I'd be afraid, too. When my mom sees the man is sticking, she shoots forward again like she's on the chase. She's hunting down the red car, going to drive right over it and staple it to the ground. Oh, great: now she's getting weird in public, too. When I turn to leave, the black kid is standing next to me. "That your mom?" I nod, then giggle. God, I hate my giggle. You have to be size three and named Barbie for my giggle. Between my giggle and the extra forty pounds, I've got to be the coolest girl in the whole seventh grade. "She hits my mom's car, gonna be trouble." He shakes his head. "You don't wanna mess with my mom and that car." "I'm sorry." My face flames so hot I could fry eggs on my cheeks. "That's a 350Z. We just got it. My mom's been shining it with her toothbrush. You should see her." "It's nice." I bite my lip. "Very red." "My mom drives it real careful. She has two speeds. One mile an hour"--he pauses--"and stopped." I laugh--my real laugh this time. "I thought the police were gonna pull us over for going so slow. Like, hey lady, get outta neutral." He shakes his head. The warning bell rings. "We gotta move!" he says. "You go. I'll never make it!" "Come on, whatever your name is, run, " he shouts over his shoulder. "My name is Kirsten," I call after him as he thunders ahead taking the stairs two at a time. I try running, even though running makes my fat jiggle. Still, I want to keep up. This guy is nice to me even though my mother nearly creamed a guy in the crosswalk and chased down his mom's car. My mother . . . I swear. What was that about, anyway? Copyright (c) 2007 by Gennifer Choldenko All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be submitted online at www.harcourt.com/contact or mailed to the following address: Permissions Department, Harcourt, Inc., 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777. Excerpted from If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period by Gennifer Choldenko All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
