Myron Levoy

I loved this book, with a caveat I mention below. It reminds me of books I read in late middle school, but a quite a bit heavier than what I got back then, and I appreciate the newer books (even one this old) for that reason. I wish that it had been published a dozen years earlier because I'd have loved it back when I was 10-12. If I was on a normal reading schedule, this is a book I could read in a day or two, and I think it would have been more satisfying to read it through in a sitting or show more two.

That said, the ending, the way it was done, made me long for this book to be a more in depth for adults book. Funny because I love kids’ books so much I don’t often feel that way. If I was 9-12 or 13, the target age, the entire book likely would have satisfied me. The subject matter was covered very well, but I wanted more. I’d like to read a for adults novel about these characters/situation.

The characters and the settings were done so well. Very evocative for me, of my childhood and books I read back then, even though the books I read and my personal experiences were wildly different than the characters and subject matter in this book.

The people were done well, especially the kids, but the adults too, and many were likeable, and those who weren’t were still understandable. I like the slight mystery element, and appreciated that it’s solved fairly early on.

Even though I am not buying books and should be spending zero dollars on books, I bought this and one other. I have to try to use some of my alternative libraries. More and more, my public library doesn’t have the books I want to read. That’s frustrating. Still, I cannot buy books any longer. I might make exceptions for some vegan books (to support the authors and the ethical stance) and possibly some other reference books as well, but not many and nothing else that I can think of offhand. I’m glad I read this though.

I can recommend it to both/all genders ages 9-13, particularly kids who are interested in history, and/or in children who’ve had trauma, in bullying and fitting in with peers in the middle school and upper elementary years, and friendship stories. show less

After a scene-setting beginning in which we meet the orphans and their evil guardian aunt, the book gets somewhat exciting and very silly. To be sure, it's the kind of humor some readers will love, and others will think lame. I love to read word-play and of a kind (& mostly honest) snake-oil peddler, so I enjoyed the book. Sometimes the suspension of disbelief was a bit too much, though... from where did the hat get things like bugles and good food? Presumably somebody, perhaps somebody who show more really needs same, has been stolen from, and yet no character has a fret.

3.5 stars rounded down because I believe the GR community rates this too highly and, though I want you to consider reading this, I don't want you to get your hopes too high! show less

Alan Silverman lives in New York City during World War II. He's a Jewish boy, and his favorite past time is playing stickball with his best friend, Shawn. But when a girl and her mother, Jewish refugees from Nazi occupied France, move into the building, Alan's parents ask him to try to make friends with Naomi, because she has been deeply traumatized by what happened in France before she came to New York. (She witnessed her father being bludgeoned to death by the Gestapo.)
At first, Alan show more agrees, with extreme reluctance. He's young enough to just see girls as sissies, who he wants nothing to do with. But he goes, trying to make friends with Naomi through an old Charlie McCarthy ventriloquist's mannequin he's had in his closet for years.
There is a good stretch of the book that focuses on Alan's attempts to bring Naomi out. At first, she ignores him completely, obsessively tearing paper into tiny shreds. But soon, she allows her own doll to talk to Charlie, though she still won't talk to Alan directly. Very slowly, she opens up to Alan more and more. And when I say "very slowly," this part of the book drags a little, yet, it is necessary to properly develop the characters for the rest of the book.
There are also issues between Alan and Shawn, because he's tried to hide his growing friendship with Naomi (a girl!) from his buddy.
The last third of the book picks up the pace dramatically, but what happens there is best read without spoilers.
Excellent. Can't quite give five stars because the first half of the book is so slowly paced that it drags a little. show less

I loved these stories. ?áRetro/ nostalgic. ?áReminded me of Eleanor Estes The Alley, sort of. ?áAlso, Pushcart Wars and maybe?áRuth Sawyer's?áRoller Skates. ?áOk, those are all set in the same kind of place and time, but they also have much the same vibe. ?áAnd I enjoyed the ones I had access to as a child then, and all of them are now among my favorites.

The thing is, they help us see that even poor working class children, in an urban environment, and even beaten-down show more adults who remember pogroms and other horrifying stresses, have imaginations and can dream up ideas to make their lives, and their neighbors' lives, more joyful and more beautiful. ?áIn this the stories start out light. ?áThe title story is the first; it's light, even sort of funny. ?áThe second story is about an electric train set (in context, a very special toy), and the third about a horse. ?áThe pogroms show up in the 7th (next-to-last) story, and the very last ends with the end of a life. ?á

The writing is beautiful:

'Mommy, I'm hungry,' she called from the bedroom. 'Can I have hash and eggs and toast with jelly on it and also butter but mostly jelly and some milk?' ?áAnd Mrs. Dunn knew that Cathy was going to be well."

"He... lowered his sight to the tenement windows across the street. ?áThe windows looked warm and good in the night, like pieces of buttered toast that had just popped out of the fire escapes. ?áBut to Samuel [a toy peddlar] they weren't just windows. ?áThey were all the children who followed him in the streets, and their brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers as well."

I don't know how this got on my list, but I'm glad it did. ?áAnd even though it seems the author usually wrote for adults, I will investigate his other works." show less