Beverly Donofrio

The subtitle is "confessions of a bad girl who made good" and this memoir of a seventeen-year-old who gets pregnant in 1968, marries a drug-addled good-time boy and manages to raise her son as a single mother and get an advanced degree is all about voice. The writing is captivating, her characters are well-written but throughout it's Bev's voice that spurs you on and lets you now she will get through it all. And every spare moment she got, when not watching TV or playing with her kid or show more smoking dope, she read. It's a paean to the written word as much as chutzpah which gets her into a good college and a writing life. show less

In this delightful sequel to their Mary and the Mouse, the Mouse and Mary, a picture-book in which a little girl and a little mouse become secret friends, author Beverly Donofrio and illustrator Barbara McClintock one again spin a magical dual-narrative tale. Here we have Maria and Mouse Mouse, the offspring of the original Mary and Mouse, who (like their mothers) are secret friends. When both children want their mothers at bedtime, only to find them missing, they go in search of their show more wayward parents, discovering in the process that the elder generation too had a cross-species friendship...

Like its predecessor, Where's Mommy? is an immensely engaging picture-book, one which pairs an appealing story of a girl-mouse duo with beautiful artwork. Children who enjoy stories about worlds in miniature - think The Borrowers and its sequels, or the Brambly Hedge books - will appreciate the side-by-side depiction of Maria's human home and Mouse Mouse's tiny murine one. As always, I absolutely loved Barbara McClintock's illustrations, which managed to be both cute and beautiful at the same time. The scene in which the father mouse tweaked Mouse Mouse's nose was just adorable, while the one in which the daughters discover their mothers together was likewise well done. Recommended to anyone who read and enjoyed Mary and the Mouse, the Mouse and Mary, as well as to those looking for picture-books featuring mice, cross-species friendship and/or dual narratives. show less

It's another picture-book triumph for Barbara McClintock (and Beverly Donofrio, of course)! As its name suggests, Mary and the Mouse, The Mouse and Mary features a dual narrative, one in which a little girl named Mary, and a little mouse living in Mary's home, grow up side by side. Becoming aware of each other quite by accident, the two develop a fond but distant friendship, forced to create little "accidents" in order to catch a glimpse of one another. But when Mary and the mouse both move show more away, it seems the friendship is at an end... or is it?

This charming tale is just the sort of story I would have taken to heart as a girl, delighted at its opening of hidden vistas (the mouse house within a house), and thrilled at the idea of friendship across seemingly insurmountable barriers. The watercolor, ink and gouache artwork of Barbara McClintock is top notch, perfectly capturing the sense of discovery and wonder in the tale, making this a definite must for all of her fans! show less

An interesting read, regardless of one's views of Marian apparitions or the author's self-centeredness. The biggest flaw to me was that it seemed a bit disjointed and incomplete, but that's probably more true to the author's life and experiences than writing a more cohesive narrative. I appreciated that the author's voice seems honest -- sometimes cringingly so -- and accessible to non-Catholics or the non-devout. Yes, it's a conversion tale, but it's well-written and individual rather than show more falling into the tropes and cliches of many conversion narratives. It's most fascinating as a glimpse of how one woman relates to the Virgin Mary, including interaction with Marian objects and apparition sites, and uses such interactions as a mode of personal healing. show less