Libby on Wednesday, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Read-a-thon # 5
In this children's book by the author of The Egypt Game, precocious writer Libby was home-schooled by her eccentric, intellectual relatives in their rambling house, until her mostly-absentee mother decided Libby needed to be socialized and enrolled her in school. Libby was bullied and miserable, and matters seemed to get worse when she got stuck in a writer’s workshop with four other kids: Barbie doll Wendy, punk Tierney, weirdo Alex, and bully GG.
But as these stories always go, there’s more to people than the stereotypes and personas that meet the eye, and people who are forced to interact sometimes become friends. This is an excellent version of this particular story, very predictable in plotting but charming in execution.
The kids are likable, their emotions are well-delineated, and the stories they write, and the interactions in their critique group, are the best part of the book: Tierney’s exasperation at her trope-heavy genre stories constantly being mistaken for parodies, Wendy’s tendency to have her stories all turn into Sweet Valley High, even when they’re set on a desert island, and GG’s endless iterations of bloody slaughter on an island, on a ship, in spaaaaace!
Out of print, but many cheap copies are available on Amazon.
Libby on Wednesday
Crossposted to http://rachelmanija.dreamwidth.org/898882.html. Comment here or there.
But as these stories always go, there’s more to people than the stereotypes and personas that meet the eye, and people who are forced to interact sometimes become friends. This is an excellent version of this particular story, very predictable in plotting but charming in execution.
The kids are likable, their emotions are well-delineated, and the stories they write, and the interactions in their critique group, are the best part of the book: Tierney’s exasperation at her trope-heavy genre stories constantly being mistaken for parodies, Wendy’s tendency to have her stories all turn into Sweet Valley High, even when they’re set on a desert island, and GG’s endless iterations of bloody slaughter on an island, on a ship, in spaaaaace!
Out of print, but many cheap copies are available on Amazon.
Libby on Wednesday
Crossposted to http://rachelmanija.dreamwidth.org/898882.html. Comment here or there.