August 13, 2007
Anine-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl wouldn't seem to have much in common. But David and Primrose find they share some kindred feelings in their anger and hurt. David's mother has died in an accident and he's resisting with all his might a new living arrangement with his grandmother and always-at-work dad. Primrose's kooky fortune-teller mother and long-absent father have driven her to convert a broken-down van in the yard into her bedroom. A chance meeting and an unlikely friendship follow as both kids try to cope with—and perhaps find—what they're missing. Unfortunately, the story, though filled with quirky exploits, doesn't ever lift off. Morris, who voices both children, is not as convincing in the male role. Narrator Toren's smooth, velvety voice has a slightly imperious tone and sometimes sounds on the verge of laughter. The two-person-cast approach is clunky and not very effective here, and David and Primrose's frequent bickering and teasing, as well as David's excessive coldness toward his grandmother, grow tiresome. Ages 8-up.
May 21, 2007
In Spinelli's (Maniac Magee
) latest novel, the Newbery Medalist falls slightly short of the high standard he's set in some of his previous books. The conceptually appealing story starts out with a bang as readers are introduced to David, a vulnerable nine-year-old boy whose mother died by slipping on wet pavement and falling down the stairs. He lives with his grandmother, whom he finds nagging and annoying, and his absent father, who is only around on weekends. One day while begrudgingly participating in a neighborhood Easter egg hunt with his grandmother, David stumbles upon 13-year-old Primrose under a pile of leaves—she is pretending to be dead. Coincidentally, her father is out of the picture as well, and she lives alone with her kooky, fortune-telling mother. David and Primrose become fast friends, sneaking out at night and generally ignoring their guardians. Whatever potential this “kids against the world” setup has quickly dissipates, unfortunately. The two befriend a crafty mechanic down the street named Refrigerator John, call each other names and run away from home a few times, but they don't do much else. While readers will likely get a kick out of David and Primrose's quirky behavior, they might also want to move beyond the kids' bickering into deeper, meatier territory, such as death, fear and healing—issues that clearly affect them both. While Spinelli does touch on these themes throughout, the attention given them seems only to scratch the surface. Ages 8-12.
July 1, 2007
Gr 4-8-Since David's mother died in a freak accident, the boy and his father have lived with David's grandmother in Pennsylvania. His father, who works in Connecticut, is gone all week, causing the nine-year-old to turn his grief and loneliness into anger directed at his grandmother. The symbolism of the title is apparent throughout the story, beginning when David sarcastically and rudely refuses to go to the annual Easter egg hunt in the park. Yet it is here that he meets Primrose Dufee, a quirky, equally lonely, and sarcastic 13-year-old girl whose glittery purple eyelids remind him of tiny birds' eggs. Primrose has defiantly moved into an abandoned van to separate herself from her childlike, eccentric fortune-teller mother. The two form a combative yet necessary relationship played out late at night when David sneaks out to help Primrose gather "junk" to sell at a flea market. Refrigerator John, Primrose's neighbor, serves as a safe, responsible, unassuming father figure, helping the youngsters understand themselves and sort through their losses. Spinelli's offbeat characters, wit, and unlikely circumstances are engaging yet the banter between David and Primrose and his rejection of his grandmother are at times extreme. Visual metaphors figure prominently in the multilayered plot while cracking the defensive shells built by these wounded young people."D. Maria LaRocco, Cuyahoga Public Library, Strongsville, OH"
Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
April 1, 2007
Nine-year-old David has been living with his grandmother since his mothers accidental death. Still in pain, hes determined not to make friends in his new town and not to make nice with his grandmother. Slowly, though, he forms a close albeit abrasive relationship with 13-year-old Primrose, whose single parent barely seems to notice when she moves into a nearby abandoned van. More kinship than friendship, the kids bond draws them together and thrusts timid David into adventures from late-night treasure hunts in the neighbors trash, to a highly competitive search for night crawlers, to an overnight hike to (or at least toward) Philadelphia. Funny, startling, and touching in turn, Spinellis novel portrays two children, bereft and secretive, hurt and angry, who manage to give each other things that they need and cannot getor wont acceptfrom the adults in their lives. The occasional reflections of adult characters seem out of place, but readers will find some of the scenes between David and Primrose vivid and memorable.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)
July 1, 2007
During an Easter egg hunt, nine-year-old David finds a girl's dead body at the park. At least, he's sure it's a dead body until two months later when he sees the girl, thirteen-year-old Primrose, at the library very much alive. So begins the unique, volatile friendship at the core of Spinelli's uneven yet moving novel. Both children have absent parents: since his mother's accidental death, David's been living with his grandmother while his father apparently buries himself in his work; Primrose's father left when she was a baby, and while her mother, a fortuneteller, always predicts a "long and happy life" for her customers, she doesn't seem to care much about her own daughter's happiness. Spinelli skillfully portrays David and Primrose's fragile psyches, leading them to simultaneously cling to and lash out at one another. He also sets up an almost magical nighttime world for the two. They regularly meet up after dark, sifting through trash for "treasures," eating at Dunkin' Donuts, and hunting nightcrawlers in a vacant lot. The narrative weakens when Spinelli shifts to the perspectives of adult characters, such as local eccentric Refrigerator John, whose house the kids gravitate toward to watch late-night TV. In the end, the children's psychological wounds might heal a little too cleanly, but their fierce devotion to each other compensates for that, making everything they do seem possible.
(Copyright 2007 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)