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Summary
Summary
Buddy, whose real name is Amy Kate, has never thought much about her nickname -- it is what her father has called her for years -- until three things happen: Her father, who has gone off to take a new job, disappears; she and her brother are evicted from the house in which they have been living because they can't pay the rent; and she has to leave Washington state to go live with relatives in Montana until her brother can find out what has happened to their father. It is in Montana where she encounters people who think her name is strange, who wonder why a girl is called Buddy.But in Montana, living with Aunt Addie; Aunt Cassie and her alcoholic husband, Gus; Gus's son, Max; and Grandpa, who is really Buddy's great-grandfather, Buddy has more than her name to think about. Why does Aunt Addie seem to hate Buddy's dead mother, EllaBelle? What happened to the money that Grandpa got from the sale of his store two and a half years ago, and what does that money have to do with Buddy and her mother? And finally, what has happened to Dan, Buddy's father?As Buddy confronts relatives she has hardly known, and a new school where everything seems strange and different, she must accept some of what she finds and make the best of it. She must, for example, take Grandpa as he is: old, almost blind, and afflicted with dementia. Other things she can hope may change: Her brother may find her father, Aunt Addie may forgive her mother, and maybe she'll make a new friend. And still others, she realizes, she must investigate on her own: She must solve the mysteries of her mother's past and the disappearance of Grandpa's money.Things happen quickly as Buddy explores her new and, she hopes, temporary, life. As she does, the concerns of years past suddenly come into focus, as if they were waiting for Buddy to appear. An engaging novel about a spunky heroine and a family with problems that are unique, and yet in some ways all too common.
Author Notes
Author Willo Davis Roberts was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on May 29, 1928. Her first novel, Murder at Grand Bay, was published in 1955. The View from the Cherry Tree was originally meant to be an adult novel, but was then sold as a children's book; it was published in 1975 and started her career as a children's mystery writer. Roberts wrote a total of ninety-nine children and adult books during her lifetime and won numerous awards including the Mark Twain award for The Girl with the Silver Eyes (1980) and Baby-Sitting Is a Dangerous Job (1985) and the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Megan's Island (1988), The Absolutely True Story of My Visit to Yellowstone with the Terrible Rupes (1994), and Twisted Summer (1996). She died on November 19, 2004 from congestive heart failure.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6-Buddy's father has disappeared, and she and her teenaged brother are forced to move out of their home because they can't pay the rent. While Bart goes off to look for Dad, Buddy is sent to live in Montana with her maternal aunts, who seem glad enough to have her, but have something against her deceased mother. Buddy delves into the mystery and learns that her relatives believe that EllaBelle stole a large amount of cash from the family, and the child sets out to prove them wrong. She is helped by her cousin Max and her senile great-grandfather, who occasionally remembers details. The action happens at a good pace, and the whole book takes place within a few weeks time. However, the characters are almost stock. The codependent aunt and the bossy one, the forgetful old man, alcoholic uncle, caring but absent father, and male cousin who is at first distant but who comes around color Buddy's world. While the story is fairly interesting, there are details that just don't jive. The day of the alleged theft doesn't match up with details of when EllaBelle died, and some of the plot elements are forced, including the action associated with the book's title. A well-meaning story, with a few nuts and bolts missing.-Angela J. Reynolds, Washington County Cooperative Library Services, Aloha, OR (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
A boyish nickname ("Buddy") is the least of the 11-year-old protagonist's worries in this contemporary problem novel. Concerns about her mother's recent death, her father's mysterious disappearance and the state of homelessness she finds herself in when the landlord boots out Buddy and her brother loom much larger. When Bart, Buddy's 17-year-old brother, heads out to find their missing father, she goes to live with relatives she barely knows. In the small town of Haysville, Buddy meets with little sympathy from her aunts, who think her father abandoned his children and that her mother ran off with the family's meager fortune before she died. Buddy does not believe the accusations, but has no proof of her parents' innocence. Astute readers will quickly put together the puzzle about Buddy's family history, but it takes the characters an exceedingly long time to catch on. Roberts's (What Are We Going to Do About David?) book offers a host of colorful, if sometimes stock personalities, a strong message about loyalty and a gratifying resolution for those who pine for happily-ever-after endings. However, the uneven pacing of the narrative, conspicuously placed clues and an anticlimax when Buddy's parents are cleared of suspicion ultimately give the book a hollow ring. Ages 8-12. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Eleven-year-old Buddy has more to worry about than her boyish nickname in this problem/mystery novel. Her father's inexplicable disappearance follows her mother's recent death, and Buddy is sent to live with aunts in Montana. There Buddy confronts dysfunctional family members as she tries to puzzle out secrets of the past that affect her present and possibly her future. Some stock characters and awkward plotting impede the story, whose resolution is a happy one. From HORN BOOK Fall 2001, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Instantly compelling, this is the story of two siblings who find themselves abandoned and evicted from their home. Buddy, 11, is sent to stay with estranged relatives in Montana, while her brother Bart, 17, sets off to solve the mystery of their father, who has vanished while starting a new trucking job. Buddy is uncomfortable in the madcap, financially strained, and crowded home of her doting Aunt Cassie and sharp-tongued Aunt Addie. Gus is Cassies husband, a barely functioning alcoholic who is resented by his son Max, and Grandpas dementia keeps the family on their toes. Buddy is disconcerted when she finds a photo of her father with his arm around Aunt Addie. She feels even more wretched when Aunt Addie links the disappearance of Grandpas money to Ellabelle, her now deceased mother. Meanwhile, Bart travels down the California highways as he gets closer to finding their father, dead or alive. It is a windfall of good fortune when Buddy finds the missing money, Bart saves their father, and Aunt Addie sells two manuscripts. Excluding Buddy, who lacks intensity, the characters are fully drawn and engaging, but this is supposed to be Buddys story. While Roberts is not at top form, this has stories within stories, but is more a look at family dynamics than one of her fine mysteries. She does use her characters to touch on the subjects of alcoholism, codependence, poverty, and the enduring influence of family. But the issues tend to outweigh the plot, making this a less-than-satisfying whole. (Fiction. 8-12)