<i>The Boy on Cinnamon Street</i> (review)
2012; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 65; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/bcc.2012.0295
ISSN1558-6766
Autores Tópico(s)Race, History, and American Society
ResumoReviewed by: The Boy on Cinnamon Street Deborah Stevenson Stone, Phoebe . The Boy on Cinnamon Street. Levine/Scholastic, 2012. [240p]. Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-545-21512-1 $16.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-545-39316-4 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R* Gr. 5-7. Once Louise lived with her parents on Cinnamon Street and loved doing gymnastics more than anything. Now the seventh-grader lives with her grandparents in their condo and she's quit even cartwheeling for fun, instead spending her time with friends Reni and her brother Henderson Elliot, whose warm and embracing family she adores. When a cute ninth-grader turns up on her doorstep delivering pizza, and she then finds a note under the mat confessing interest in Louise, she's transported into her first serious crush. There are the bones of a familiar plot here-it's not the pizza boy but Louise's dear friend Henderson who likes her-but Stone fleshes it out with a vivid, tender tale of loss, grief, and very first romance that's subtly woven but still easily accessible. It's clear from the beginning that Louise is trying to repress her grief from a recent tragedy, and Stone gradually unpeels the truth about Louise's mother's suicide following her father's leaving. The book is particularly original in the deft way the crush story partners with the plot of Louise's processing of her loss, but it's also a wonderful human tale in general with superlative characterization (Louise's adoring, vibrant grandparents step out of stereotype and into heroism) and observations of human dynamics (her beloved Elliots are actually as flawed as anybody else). Most winning of all, however, is the romance itself, which bursts out in a joyful, honey-sweet dénouement that's destined to be one of the great romantic moments in preteen fiction. Younger kids not ready for or interested in the steamy teen fantasy romances currently abounding will be thrilled to find a moving and delightful treatment of love among the lockers. [End Page 425] Copyright © 2012 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
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