Animal House and Iz [Hardcover]

Betty Hicks (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up

Do stepbrothers and stepsisters have to hate each other? Not is this book.

Meet Iz--a girl with three wacko stepbrothers, one cool dad, and an amazingly hard-to hassle step-mother. She's part of a wild and lively household, with praying matises everywhere--not to mention snakes, crickets, crabs, a crazy parrot, road rage trips, unmade beds, a rubber slab of vomit, and one zany plot to get a dog.

How can Iz leave her new and nutty family to visit her boring mom, even for a day, without missing out--big time?

This hilarous romp with the Becker family also looks at love, loyalty, and guilt. Betty Hicks has written another winning novel that delivers humor, pet poop, and a refreshing new take on family ties.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-7-After her parents' divorce, the young narrator goes to live with her father, his new wife Alice, and Alice's three sons, moving from a quiet, well-ordered house where she was the only child to a messy house with a large family and a collection of pets. The narrator's name sums up the extent of the change and the personalities involved: "Mom calls me Elizabeth. Dad and Alice call me Liz. My stepbrothers call me Iz. One part perfection, two parts casual, three parts crazy." Gradually, shared interests and time allow seventh-grader Logan; twins Joey and Jack, three years younger than Logan; and sixth-grader Iz to become close. Together they create a GAD (Get-a-Dog) plan, which proceeds with some good, some bad, and some very funny results. Iz's voice, her growing realizations, and the situations she creates or in which she finds herself are genuine. The children are real and their growth is sometimes painful, such as Iz's feeling of alienation when she realizes that her best friend and Logan like each other. Adults are fully developed characters, not simply obstacles for the children to overcome. They, too, are capable of growth. All together, this contemporary novel rings true and presents a likable family of individuals with insight and humor.
Maria B. Salvadore, formerly at District of Columbia Public Library
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-7. When her parents divorce, 12-year-old Elizabeth desperately wants to live with her perfect, efficiency-expert mother. Instead, she winds up with her laidback dad, an artist who has remarried an equally easygoing woman with three wild sons, who immediately rename Elizabeth "Iz." The thing is, Iz discovers she loves her new, crazy, noisy, exotic-pet-filled house. Things become more complicated after she and her stepbrothers launch the GAD (Get-a-dog) Plan, and Iz's mom announces she wants Iz to move in with her. Yes, Iz still loves her mom, but does she love her enough to abandon her dad and her new, blended family? Hicks, the author of I Smell Like Ham [BKL S 1 02], also about a blended family, does a nice job of mixing humor and heart in a setting of congenial, barely controlled chaos that dramatizes how America is re-defining family. Kids in nontraditional households will find comfort and cheer in this amiable agreeably told story. Michael Cart
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Roaring Brook Press (March 12, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761327460
• ISBN-13: 978-0761327462
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,881,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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