Kirsten's world is falling apart. Her parents are arguing constantly. Kirsten has taken to eating junkfood, hiding it and gaining weight. Her best friend won't answer her emails or phonecalls. Kirsten isn't exactly fitting in with the other girls are her private school. Things are falling apart and she can't make them stop! ( )

Reviewed by Julie M. Prince for TeensReadToo.com

Kirsten McKenna's got a lot on her mind, and on her body for that matter. She gained 30 pounds over the summer, thanks to her dysfunctional parents and their constant arguing. Maybe that's why her best friend, Rory, has stopped hanging out with her. Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that Rory is now hanging with the popular crowd. Either way, Kirsten is relieved to find a new group of friends, including Walker "Walk" Jones.

Walk is new at this school and it's a whole different world from the City school he came from. Everyone knows he's here on scholarship, and some kids just won't let him forget it. Good thing he has one friend, Matteo, to count on. Oh, and there's that girl, Kirsten, too. She's pretty cool.

This was a quick read, but not because the content was simple. The plot kept the pages turning. The short chapters alternated between Kirsten's and Walk's perspectives, which was perfect for the pace of the book. It was portrayed as a simple middle school read, nothing out of the ordinary, but it delivered so much more. This book was very like something one might find from Judy Blume, in both voice and subject matter. Smart, insightful characters dealing with adult-world challenges while living with everyday life at school -- the good, the bad, and the downright nasty. ( )

Everyone knows how tough Middle School can be. This is a time when we start to discover who we are and the harsh realities that the world around us forms in terms of how we should look, act, talk and walk. If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period is a great book that deals with all of the complications that middle school brings. The book is told from alternating points of view. Some chapters are told in first person by a girl named Kristen who is a 7th grader dealing with many issues such as a recent falling out with her boyfriend, not to mention her parents are in the middle of a divorce, and she has managed to gain 30 pounds in the past four months. None of these issues make junior high any easier. The rest of the story is told in third person about another 7th grader named Walk. Walk is a very smart young man who is currently enrolled at the school on a scholarship. He too is facing many issues as he is an African American and finds himself struggling to fit in. The two characters find peace and friendship as they understand each other’s thoughts and views of many topics such as race, weight, wealth, honesty and so on... ( )

If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period is told from the alternating viewpoints of seventh graders Kristen and Walk. Both Kristen and Walk are late to school on the first day of classes; they feel out of place for different reasons. Kristen has gained thirty pounds over the last few months, her relationship with Rory (her best friend since kindergarten) has changed dramatically, and it seems that her parents are on the verge of divorce. Walk is the new kid at the prestigious private school in Northern California on a scholarship; he also stands out because he is African American. This book does a great job at portraying the complicated dynamics of junior high. The story examines how wealth, weight, race, identity, honesty, prejudice, and the true nature of friendship shape Kristen and Walk, their friends, and their families. ( )

Richie's Picks: IF A TREE FALLS AT LUNCH PERIOD by Gennifer Choldenko, Harcourt, September 2007, ISBN: 0-15-205753-4

" 'Wait. You aren't really friends with Matteo, are you? Do you know his mom is like a maid?' "

So asks Kirsten McKenna's former best friend, Rory.

Kirsten, daughter of a wealthy Marin County, CA physician begins seventh grade after having had a lousy summer:

"Every day this summer was like crap: dog crap, cat crap -- I even had a few elephant crap days. Trust me, it was bad."

All summer long Rory has essentially been out of contact with Kirsten. All summer long Kirsten's mother and father, despite living in the same house, have essentially refused direct contact with each other. Kirsten has reacted to all this by putting on 30 pounds over a four month period. And now, as seventh grade begins, she finds that Rory is suddenly running with the in-crowd, including the uber-popular Brianna Hanna-Hines, whose dad "made a billion bucks writing a book, Woman Are Toads. Men Are Toadstools." In fact, the Hanna-Hines family has given so much money to Mountain School (the expensive Marin County private school the book's young characters all attend) that the auditorium is named in the family's honor.

Any harsh visceral reactions to book characters I may have are typically reserved for uber-clueless adults who thoroughly screw up the adolescents in their care. There are so many adolescent characters in so many books who have done so many atrocious things, and yet I find that I follow their exploits with interest and a measure of compassion rather than with venom.

But Brianna H-H is such a piece of work, such a snake, and so brightly does her attitude of entitlement shine, that she reminds me of some combo plate of the most infamous adolescents I've ever known. I uncharacteristically spent the entire evening that I read this book being deeply pissed off at this seventh grade girl character. In fact, I'm still deeply pissed off at that seventh grade girl character.

That is not to say that clueless adults aren't also present here in full force. One of the lessons one might take away from IF A TREE FALLS AT LUNCH PERIOD is that behind every clique of snotty, privileged girls is a clique of snotty, privileged moms who still know how to play the game. I can just imagine Kirsten's own mother back in the Seventies or the Eighties, sucking up to the alpha-girl and taking part in inflicting the sort of hurtful pecking order nonsense on less-fortunate peers that her daughter is now falling victim to.

"There's always one they make fun of, Kirsten. There always is. You do not want to be that one.'
" 'Mom, please.' She's followed me into the kitchen. I grab an Evian.
" 'I want you to have fun, Sweetie. You'll never be young like this again.'
"I snort. 'Thank god.'
" 'Sometimes you have to play the game, Kirsten. You don't want to be like Debby Decaterman. God, did the girls make fun of her. It was awful. But she kind of deserved it, too. She was pathetic.'
" 'Pathetic. I know what that means. It means fat,' I whisper.
"My mother's face darkens. 'I won't have you moping around her feeling sorry for yourself, making poor food choices.' She slams the broom closet door. The dustpan crashes off the hook."

So far, I've only given you one-half of the equation. IF A TREE FALLS AT LUNCH PERIOD is actually told from two alternating points of view: Kirsten's chapters, which are told in the first-person, and Walk's, which are told in the third-person.

Walk -- Walker Wilburt Jones -- is a new student, a scholarship student, at Mountain School:

"Walk wishes Matteo were black instead of Mexican, through. He doesn't like being the only black kid in his grade -- one of three at the whole school. It makes him feel like there's a giant bull's-eye painted on his naked brown booty."

Walk is not only smart and fun, he's insightful, as well as friendly. He and Kirsten meet the first morning of school after Kirsten's mom reacts weirdly upon seeing Walk being dropped off at The School. Walk's immediately got an intuition about Kirsten, and when things are going badly for her he invites her into his own lunch crowd, which includes Matteo, whose one flaw in Walk's eyes is that he lets the popular girls, particularly Brianna, call him Burrito Boy and walk all over him.

Another notably smart character in IF A TREE FALLS AT LUNCH PERIOD is Kirsten's little sister, second-grader Kippy McKenna, who -- at the rate she's going -- will probably be passing her medical Boards before she's old enough to legally drink:

" 'You didn't ask about second grade. We are doing an in-deep study of the letter P. P is very important. How could you spell psoriasis without a p? Jenna W. said everyone knows psoriasis starts with an s. And I said, excuse me but it starts with a p. I can spell all the McKenna diseases! Corns. C-o-r-n-s. Vaginitis. V-a-g --'
" 'No. Oh please. You didn't say that,' my mother interrupts, her neck flushed.
"Kippy nods her little face dead serious."

In this exceptionally engaging contemporary tale that certainly should be taught by sixth and seventh grade English teachers and is sure to become a staple of mother-daughter bookgroups, Gennifer Choldenko has slipped in a number of especially intriguing plot-twists that actually cause the story to make even more sense than it already did. In several instances I'd picked up just enough clues to feel confident that I knew where the story was heading, but was totally and delightedly surprised to find myself wrong.

IF A TREE FALLS AT LUNCH PERIOD is Gennifer Choldenko's best book yet.

Richie Partington
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.com
Moderator, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_...
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In If a Tree Falls at Lunch Break, we get introduced to Kirsten and Walk, our two central characters, straight away.
Kirsten was a gorgeous girl that had a BFF and had boys check her out, but now she's gained 40 pounds over summer and feels awful. It doesn't help that her mum and dad are in a 'rough patch' and are arguing non-stop.
Walker is African-American and constantly feels like people are wary around him because of his skin colour. But he has...
TO READ THE REST OF THIS REVIEW, CLICK THE LINK - http://dragonflybookreviews.blogspot.... ( )

This sort of feels like a less well-written The Earth, My Butt, and Other Bit Round Things. Girl struggles with her weight as her family works through big issues stemming around her brother. Yep... very similar. The snobby girls were pretty realistic and I liked Matteo, but Walk and the main character Kirsten were just sort of there. And that's how I feel about this book... it's just sort of there. ( )

This book is about two kids who are racially seperated and they both have secrets to reveal. Her mom hates his mom and is always yelling at each other. The boy absolutly can't stand her but she likes him. It turns out her dad is also his dad and he got his mom pregnant when they got in a fight. When they become really good friends all of the secrets are revealed and it about how they have to make the big transition into a normal life to a crazy mixed up life. ( )

Kirsten is a student at an expensive private school. but this year, her best friend has abandoned her to join the clique of a mean classmate from an influential family. She becomes friends with Walk, a scholarship student from a poor part of town. Kirsten's weight and Walk's race cause issues with the popular, nasty clique. Then a long-kept secret that affects both of them is discovered. ( )

I was a big fan of Choldenko's "Al Capone Does My Shirts," so I had high hopes for this follow-up novel. "If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period" unfortunately does not quite hit the same note. Meet Kirsten, who has gained thirty pounds in the summer between sixth and seventh grades as an emotional response to her parent's endless fighting. Kirsten's mom doesn't help, telling her that thin girls are more well-liked. To further complicate matters, Mom makes sure she's in the in-crowd herself, made up of the over-involved moms of popular girls at school. Kirsten's dad is largely absent, and her only refuge is in her little sister, Kippy, who is especially bright.
At school, Kirsten's long time best friend Rory is pulling away, leaning toward Brianna, leader of the mean girls. Kirsten's weight gain makes her self-conscious, and the popular girls capitalize on that. Luckily, Kirsten finds better friends in boys Matteo and Walk who help her out in a few sticky situations. Matteo and Walk happen to be other races, which the in-crowd also exploits as a way to further their sense of self-entitlement.
While this novel touches on a lot of real issues with a subtle hand, it left me feeling in the lurch. I wanted more resolution, or for more things to happen that would later need to be resolved. ( )

Story told through the eyes of Walk and Kirstin, both struggling to fit in at an expensive private school. They become friends before realizing they are connected in a much closer way. I didn't like this as much as her other book, Al Capone Does My Shirts, but the characters ring true and it was a good story. I thought the ending was rushed. ( )

Supposedly based on private schools in Marin County, this book is very relevant to the lives of kids in this area. ( )

Kirsten is overweight and is struggling with friend issues, specifically her best friend seems to be more interested in the popular, superficial, bullying type. Kirsten befriends the new boy and discovers a family secret. Well written, but the plot was somewhat far fetched. ( )

Kirsten, whose parents are fighting all the time, is also having other troubles. She's put on 40 pounds in 6 months, and her best friend now has a new best friend who isn't very nice. Kirsten befriends Walk, a black student who is new to her private school. One day, while hiding in her garage so her parents don't discover her sneaking some food, she overhears their conversation and discovers that Walker is actually her half brother from an affair her father had. How she deals with that, and the ramifications the discovery has, makes for an exciting conclusion. ( )

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.

Alternately narrated by seventh graders Kirsten McKenna and her new classmate Walker Jones, this book tells the story of two kids struggling to fit in at their private school. Kirsten has gained weight since her parents started fighting all the time and now her best friend Rory has started hanging out with the popular girls she used to hate. Walk is one of three African American kids in the whole school and faces constant pressure to be perfect, lest one slipup cost him his scholarship. Kirsten and Walk meet accidentally on the first day of school, but neither of them would ever believe what would eventually bring them together.

Short chapters and alternating narrators kept me turning the pages. It was interesting to see the same issues seen through two very different sets of eyes with two very different world views. I didn't see the twist coming, though I thought it was believable once it came. Another book about finding your true friends and discovering that we're really all the same on the inside. I haven't heard any Newbery buzz about this one, but I wouldn't be surprised if it won a Newbery honor. ( )