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Summary
Summary
Everyone in Sam Keeperman's fifth-grade class thinks the new boy, Buddy White, is strange. Buddy won't talk, or smile, or even pick up a pencil, and he walks all hunched over, like someone caught in the rain. Some of the kids make fun of Buddy, but not Sam. That's because Sam knows what's bothering him: Three months ago, Buddy's mom was killed in a car accident. She used to clean Sam's house, and ever since Sam found out what happened to her, he can't get her out of his mind. Sam sticks up for Buddy, but the other kids start picking on Sam, too. Even Sam's best friend turns against him. The more time Sam spends with Buddy -- and the more Buddy comes out of his shell -- the more Sam understands what it means to lose someone you love. And what it means to be a friend.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6-Fifth grade Sam wishes he could stop wondering about Laura White's death. After all, he barely knew his family's cleaning woman before she died in a car accident trying to avoid hitting a deer, "-but it's hard not to [wonder] when I knew the person who died and her son sits like a zombie three desks away from me." Laura's son, Buddy, is withdrawn and unapproachable, and after an initial failed attempt, Sam stops trying to talk with him. He does not, however, join his friend Alex in taunting Buddy, quietly at first, then openly. And that leads to trouble. Kornblatt draws his cast of believable characters with a gentle hand, allowing readers to identify and empathize with each of them. Sam struggles to make sense of his world and relationships that are suddenly reshaped by death, and Buddy, too, is struggling desperately with his loss. When he and Sam finally begin to weave a tentative web of friendship, Buddy confides that he is angry at his mother. The two have obvious differences: Sam is Jewish, Buddy a Jehovah's Witness; Buddy is poor and harassed by his classmates for wearing one of Sam's cast-off shirts. However, as they move into their new friendship, their awareness of one another grows. The author skillfully imbeds the central conflict into a familiar childhood world of sports, family challenges, school, and growing self-awareness, creating a thoughtful, believable resolution.-Lee Bock, Glenbrook Elementary School, Pulaski, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Kornblatt (Eli and the Dimplemeyers) offers readers much to think about in his promising first novel. When Buddy White joins Sam Keeperman's fifth grade class, he is so withdrawn that he doesn't even say hello or pick up his pencil. Only Sam knows what is troubling him over the summer Buddy's mother (who was the Keepermans' housecleaner) was killed in a car accident. For not altogether convincing reasons, Sam keeps the news about Buddy's mother from everyone, including his best friend, Alex. When Sam tries reaching out to Buddy, even defending him from the taunts of their classmates, he opens a rift between himself and Alex, complete with a fistfight that gets both of them kicked off the soccer team. Sam's first-person narration touches on religious differences (Sam is Jewish, Buddy is a Jehovah's Witness) and uses, somewhat clunkily, Sam's Hebrew class discussions as a springboard for his questions about life and God (a lesson on God testing Abraham with the sacrifice of Isaac leads to "Did God let Laura die to test Buddy and his father?... Did God bring Buddy to Mrs. Bobson's class to test me?"). The issues and concerns are commendably large, even if the contrived setup diminishes their impact. Unobtrusive subplots (does Naomi Shrager have a crush on him?) round out the story. On balance, this fast-paced novel demonstrates the author's compassionate understanding of his subject. Ages 8-12. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate) Fifth-grader Sam is such a good kid that he agrees to dress as Ken for Halloween to please his younger sister, who's going as Barbie. So it's no surprise that sensitive Sam reacts feelingly when his cleaning lady dies suddenly, or that he wants to comfort a grief-stricken classmate, Buddy, who happens to be her son. Sam, probably unwisely, keeps his knowledge about Buddy's mother from his best friend Alex long enough to make Alex jealous of his attention to Buddy. Sweet Sam is always thinking, and Kornblatt uses the opportunity to inject some hefty religious questions into his short novel: Where do the souls of dead people go? Is there a heaven? Does God let people die to test those they love? In synagogue, Sam and his classmates talk about biblical stories; Kornblatt introduces these tales rather baldly to echo events in Sam's life and to accent the book's meaning. Because all of this philosophy is filtered through eleven-year-old Sam, it works at its own unsophisticated level: Sam finally realizes some things ""make no sense, and no matter how hard you try to understand them they may never make sense, but they can still make you laugh. Or cry."" (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A fifth-grader extends the hand of friendship, and keeps it extended until a bereaved classmate is ready to take it, in this unpolished but uplifting novel. Three months after the death of his familys housecleaner in a car accident, Sam can still hear her voice in his head; so when her son Buddy, mute and withdrawn, becomes a new classmate, he makes friendly overtures. Buddy responds by either turning a cold shoulder or slugging him in the faceand meanwhile, because Sam decides to keep quiet about Buddys background, suddenly hes on the outs with his jealous best friend Alex. Sam isnt the only one to take a beating; a tendency for insults to turn without warning into fistfights not only gets Sam, Alex, and Buddy kicked off the soccer team, but ultimately earns Alex a concussion. As Sam tracks Buddys gradual thaw, he also recounts a series of debates in Bar/Bat Mitzvah class over issues brought up by several Bible stories, speculates about Buddys lifestyle and beliefs as a Jehovahs Witness, and demonstrates such a broad streak of decency that hes even willing to play Ken to his little sisters Barbie on Halloween. Despite the gratuitous violence, and the likelihood that readers will wind up understanding Sam more than Buddy, since Sam and Alex have mended fences by the end and Buddy has begun to talk again, at least the future looks brighter. Earnest, but only ankle-deep. (Fiction. 10-12)
Booklist Review
Gr. 3^-5. Two boys' friendship across class and across religion is at the heart of this eloquent first novel set in Madison, Wisconsin. Sam is shocked when his family's housekeeper, Laura, is killed in a car accident. Then Laura's son, Buddy, turns up as the new boy in Sam's fifth-grade class. Buddy won't talk, won't interact with anyone, even when Sam tries hard to express his sympathy. The only place Buddy does participate is on the soccer field, where he's a star. When he comes to school in Sam's old tie-dye shirts and Sam defends him against the other kids' teasing, bloody fights erupt, even between Sam and his longtime best friend. There are some awkward plot contrivances (how come the other kids don't know that Buddy is grieving for his mother?) but Sam's first-person narrative is beautifully told, with fast, often funny, dialogue that's also edgy with anger and grief. Sam gets close to Buddy and visits him at home, but there are no greeting-card solutions: Sam and his longtime best friend make up, but things will never be the same between them. Rare in children's fiction is the focus on religion. Buddy and his family are Jehovah's Witnesses. Sam is Jewish, and though he finds synagogue services "so boring," he does enjoy the ethical discussions based on Old Testament stories. They make him wonder about God's purpose. Why did Laura die? Is she in heaven? What's heaven? --Hazel Rochman