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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Stayton Public Library | JF DOWELL | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Lyons Public Library | JR DOW | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
In the old days, when Kate had no interest in romance, she never cared what other people thought. Now, it appeared, love was turning her into a rotten human being.
Eleven-year-old Kate Faber wishes she could talk to her best friend Marylin about this. But Marylin is no longer her best friend. Or is she? Kate and Marylin had always been the kind of best friends who lived on the same block for their entire lives and who could agree on the kind of boys worth kissing (only movie stars) or who should be invited to their sleepover (definitely not Mazie Calloway or Elinor Pritchard). The kind of best friends who didn't need words to talk, but who always just knew.
But lately Marylin has started to think that Kate can be a bit babyish. And Kate thinks that Marylin is acting like a big snob. And a lot of the time, well, it feels as though they just don't know each other anymore. Somehow nothing is the same, but secretly Kate and Marylin both wish that it could be....
Edgar Award-winning author Frances O'Roark Dowell explores how far the bonds of true friendship can be stretched as Kate and Marylin struggle to navigate the inexplicable terrain of sixth grade.
Author Notes
Frances O'Roark Dowell was born on a military post in Berlin, Germany on May 30, 1964. She received a B.A. from Wake Forest University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing (Poetry) from the University of Massachusetts. She has written numerous books including Where I'd Like to Be, The Secret Language of Girls, The Kind of Friends We Used to Be, Chicken Boy, and Falling In. She also writes the Phineas L. MacGuire series. She has received numerous awards for her work including Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Juvenile Novel for Dovey Coe in 2001, the William Allen White Award for Dovey Coe in 2003, and the Christopher Medal for Shooting the Moon.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6-Kate and Marylin have been best friends forever. The 11-year-olds begin to drift apart, however, when manipulative Flannery moves into the neighborhood. Partly motivated by unhappiness and insecurity, the older girl influences the passive Marylin to turn against Kate. Marylin joins the cheerleader crowd while Kate eventually gravitates toward classmates who don't follow the herd. Told from various points of view, including those of characters closely involved with the events as well as others on the periphery, the story follows these girls as they struggle with hurt feelings, peer pressure, acceptance, and self-image. Although Marylin believes Kate to be totally immature, it is ironically Kate who ends up romantically involved with a slightly geeky boy who appreciates her kindness and growing sense of self-worth. Flannery grows increasingly disconnected, but Kate learns to stand up to peer pressure. Her hard-won self-possession serves her well when she is the target of a mean prank in which Marylin participates; the tide turns, and kids will admire Kate's handling of the situation. Perhaps a bit unbelievably, the book ends with the repentant Marylin phoning her ex-best friend. Excellent characterization, an accurate portrayal of the painful and often cruel machinations of preteens, and evocative dialogue will make this tale resonate with most readers, who will see themselves and some of their peers in its pages.-B. Allison Gray, John Jermain Library, Sag Harbor, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In a perceptive slice-of-life novel, Dowell (Dovey Coe) knowingly portrays the changing dynamics of middle-school relationships. Neighbors Kate and Marylin, who have been best friends since nursery school, find themselves drifting apart at the beginning of sixth grade. Marylin suddenly focuses on her appearance ("As much as Marylin hated to, she had to admit it: She was the sort of person who cared about toes"). Kate pays more attention to other issues, like the health of her father, who suffers a heart attack early on ("Her dad would probably never got to eat another sausage pizza in his life. For some reason, that seemed like the saddest thing Kate had ever heard"). Alternating Kate's and Marylin's points of view, the novel progresses episodically, with large gaps of time separating "milestone" incidents in the girls' movement along different paths. Marylin makes the cheerleading squad and becomes popular, but happiness always seems just beyond her grasp. Meanwhile, Kate feels abandoned by Marylin and strives to develop new friendships with other classmates at school. Much of the plot matter is familiar-both girls fall in and out of love, sample different social circles and end up realizing that they miss each other-as Dowell offers insight and evenhandedness, not novelty. Girls will recognize their own dilemmas here and feel encouraged by the author's honest and sympathetic approach. Ages 8-12. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate, Middle School) Longtime best friends Kate and Marylin go their separate ways in sixth grade--Marylin heads for cheerleading, the popular crowd, and eyelash-curling, while Kate sets a more individualistic course. Dowell's development of this familiar situation is refreshingly nonjudgmental: she continues to explore the inner lives of both girls, keeping both equally sympathetic. Along the way, she imparts much audience-appropriate wisdom. When Kate shies away from her first, too-public romance, new friend Paisley asks her: ""Why don't you quit thinking about love and boyfriends and girlfriends? Why don't you just think about Andrew O'Shea, the human being?"" At a party, Marylin plays spin-the-bottle and gets kissed--but not by the boy she likes. ""She was starting to think lips didn't have much to do with kissing...Kissing was about hearts. As far as Marylin was concerned, she was still waiting for her first kiss."" In the end, when Marylin turns to Kate in a crisis, the reader is glad but unsurprised: they've both grown, but not really apart. Dowell balances the novel's introspection with supersonic pacing (weeks go by between chapters), a perspective that swings freely between Kate and Marylin, and vivid characterization (of an overbearing seventh-grader: ""Flannery always voiced her opinions as though they were facts you could look up in an encyclopedia""). Definitely a cut above the usual changing-friendships, negotiating-middle-school story. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Kate and Marylin, best friends from nursery school, find themselves increasingly out-of-sync as the rigors of sixth grade test their friendship. Kate loves basketball and doesn't care (much) what other people think, but Marylin finds that she is turning into "the sort of person who care[s] about toes." The penetrating text follows both girls through the course of the year, the third-person perspective moving back and forth between the two as Marylin and Kate drift apart. The ructions to friendships brought on by middle school are hardly new to children's literature. What makes this offering stand out, however, is Dowell's ability to maintain the reader's sympathy with both girls: instead of painting the social-climbing Marylin as a villain, the nuanced characterization shows that she is equally a victim of forces beyond her understanding. Less successful is the use of some secondary characters: a nonconformist girl seems to be introduced solely to provide a model for Kate, and Marylin's little brother threatens to steal the show at points. Still, it's a solid treatment of a subject in which there will always be an interest. (Fiction. 9-12) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.