If a tree falls at lunch period
Record details
- ISBN: 9780152057534
- ISBN: 0152057536
- ISBN: 9780152066444 (pbk.)
- ISBN: 0152066446 (pbk.)
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Physical Description:
216 p. ; 20 cm.
print - Publisher: Boston : Sandpiper, c2007.
Content descriptions
Summary, etc.: | Kirsten and Walk, seventh-graders at an elite private school, alternate telling how race, wealth, weight, and other issues shape their relationships as they and other misfits stand up to a mean but influential classmate, even as they are uncovering a long-kept secret about themselves. |
Target Audience Note: | 010 and up. |
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Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Bibliomation.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Other Formats and Editions
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bethel Public Library | J CHOLDENKO (Text) | 34030112712036 | Juvenile Fiction | Available | - |
Electronic resources
School Library Journal Review
If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period
School Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Gr 7-10-Kirsten McKenna, a student at an elite private school, feels that she is a junior high misfit in this novel by Gennifer Choldenko (Harcourt, 2007). Her parents have just spent the summer fighting nonstop, and now must contend with her best friend's change of loyalties to popular Brianna. Then there's Walker Jones, an African-American transfer student who is definitely in the minority. When they are both late on the first day of class, they have to serve detention and only Walker defends Kirsten when she gets into trouble. As Kirsten and Walk relate their experiences during these opening days of school in alternating chapters, a surprising twist emerges concerning the relationship between the pair. Ariadne Meyers voices Kirsten and Francois Battiste narrates Walker Jones's story. Choldenko's spirited characters have their heads and hearts in the right place and solid values. Meyers and Battiste bring just the right amount of teen uncertainty to their narration as the youngsters learn how to handle their situation. The novel does a good job of covering some serious problems, such as racism and prejudice, but also injects some humor into the telling. Although some plot elements are rather far-fetched, listeners will relate to the issues raised and the honest look at middle-school life. For school and public libraries-Jane P. Fenn, Corning-Painted Post West High School, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publishers Weekly Review
If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period
Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
The latest from Newbery Honor author Choldenko is an earnest contemporary story about race, set in a California middle school. Told from the alternating viewpoints of Kirsten, the overweight daughter of a doctor, and Walk (short for Walker), son of a striving single mother, the issues raised are spot-on for this age group. Kirsten's world, micromanaged by her overly involved mother, is battered by her parents' fighting and her best friend Rory's newfound chumminess with queen bee Brianna. Walk has been separated from his friends by his mother's decision to send him to private school on scholarship. One of only three African-American students at Mountain School, his outsider status makes him approachable to Kirsten, whose falling-out with Rory leaves her in dire need of lunch-hour companionship. This under-the-microscope examination of the often cruel, always dramatic dynamics of junior high will be enough to pull many readers through to the provocative if melodramatic revelation about the real connection between Walk and Kirsten. The humor that fueled much of Choldenko's Al Capone Does My Shirts is missing here, and her choice to tell Kirsten's story in first person and Walk's chapters in third person makes the narrative a little choppy. But the questions she raises about identity, race, prejudice and the true nature of friendship should provide ample food for thought. Ages 10-up. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
BookList Review
If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period
Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Between her parents' constant arguing and the defection of her best friend to the inner circle of A-list mean girls, the start of seventh grade is tough for Kirsten. It's no easier for her classmate Walk, who has left his inner-city school to become the only black student at an expensive private school. Kirsten's first-person narrative alternates with third-person narration centered on Walk. The two threads run side by side for awhile, occasionally touching and eventually intertwined, until they become knotted in ways that make sense only when each family owns up to its long-held secret. The author of the Newbery Honor Book Al Capone Does My Shirts (2004), Choldenko has a talent for pithy dialogue and vivid narration that brings each scene sharply into focus. With two main characters facing different challenges and several minor characters with troubles of their own, this short novel takes on a great deal and handles it pretty well, telling the story clearly and managing the shifting points of view with ease.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2007 Booklist
The Horn Book Review
If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period
The Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(Middle School) Two students meet outside an exclusive private school the morning seventh grade begins. Kirsten is white, with a lively, self-deprecating sense of humor that's revealed through her first-person narration. Newcomer Walker is ""bla -- African American,"" as Kirsten's status-conscious mom says, and his parts of the alternating narration are in third person. As the story begins, Kirsten is consumed by the defection of her best friend Rory (now hanging out with the mean girls), by her parents' fierce fighting, and by the significant weight she's gained. Walk's worries revolve around his conspicuousness at his almost-all-white school and the strict rules his mother imposes on him. Initially, the book seems to be a conventional school story, but two-thirds of the way through it takes a sudden twist, and all that has happened previously is seen in a new light. Choldenko explores themes of racism and wealth with subtlety and insight (as when the reader realizes just as Walk does that Kirsten is very rich and doesn't even know it). The structure can be challenging at first, with a large cast of family and friends to sort out, but the funny, thoughtful protagonists, the vivid middle-school setting, and the honest portrayal of the characters, even the adults, make it well worth the effort. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period
Kirkus Reviews
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Kirsten and Walk start the first day of seventh grade with one thing in common: They're both late. This earns them a detention together, and they strike up an easy friendship, which seems to make their mothers uneasy for some reason. Could it be that Walk is the only black kid at the very private school? Or that Kirsten shows signs of an eating disorder, has lost her best friend to the wiles of the rich and snobby Brianna Hanna-Hines and seems to have no desire to fit in with the popular crowd? Choldenko's talent for characters and conversation brings the two voices instantly to life in alternating points of view (Kirsten's chapters in first-person, Walk's in third, for a slight off-kilter feeling). The story of familiar middle-school tribulations is engaging, but fails to pick up steam until it lands in a late surprise twist. Completely without foreshadowing, it adds both gravitas and clarity to the entire story, which turns out to be about privilege, perception and the fallibility of parents. This will appeal to a wide range of middle-school readers and would make a great book-club or classroom discussion. (Fiction. 11-14) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.