The Adventures of Sugar and Junior [Hardcover]

Angela Shelf Medearis (Author), Nancy Poydar (Illustrator)

Book Description

Santiago Antonio Ramirez, also known as Junior, enjoys playing games, making cookies, and going to the movies with Sugar, the new girl next door.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-3-In four chapters, Medearis relates the friendship and adventures of Sugar Johnson, a black girl, and Santiago Ramirez, a Hispanic boy known as Junior. The first story is the best as the two new neighbors meet and Sugar relates how she got her name. The other chapters cover cookie baking, a scary movie, and buying ice-cream cones. One of book's strengths is the easy and open friendship between the two children. Poydar introduces each chapter with a large watercolor painting and then sprinkles the text with smaller pictures that capture the expressions and action of the characters. The school-age children, large-print type, easy vocabulary, and chapter format make the book most appropriate for beginning readers, who will relate to the activities and see themselves as Sugar and Junior, meeting new people and making friends as they move beyond the family circle and out into a larger world.
Judith Gloyer, Milwaukee Public Library
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 2^-3, younger for reading aloud. This chapter^-picture book about the interracial friendship between Junior Ramirez and Sugar Johnson has a simple style, repetition, and plenty of dialogue. In the first chapter, African American Sugar tells the amusing tale of how she got her unusual name ("Sugar is not my nickname" ). The watercolor-and-colored-pencil drawings set against crisp, white space show the two new pals in perpetual motion. The remaining vignettes feature a cookie recipe gone bad, a scary monster movie, and the dilemma of choosing ice cream. While there's some predictability here, Medearis has done a fine, understated job of showing what it means to be a friend. Julie Corsaro

Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Holiday House; 1st edition (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823411826
• ISBN-13: 978-0823411825
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,060,462 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Adventures of Sugar and Junior, March 25, 2000

By 

Carolyn Garner (St. Philip's School and Community Center, Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Adventures of Sugar and Junior (Hardcover)

The Adventures of Sugar and Junior is a charming collection of four short stories by Angela Shelf Medearis. These stories tell, in simple but not babyish language, how Santiago Antonio Ramirez (also known as Junior) met Sugar, an African American girl his age, how Sugar got her name, the results of the pair's unsupervised first attempt at baking, their attendance at a scary movie, and the selection of ice cream cones. The uncluttered illustrations by Nancy Poydar complement the script perfectly. This book will be popular for story time and an excellent addition to any private or children's library collection.