From Publishers Weekly
Completing the trilogy begun with Last Summer with Maizon and Maizon at Blue Hill , Woodson revisits her heroines Margaret and Maizon as their close friendship is newly tested. Undergoing the transformations of adolescence, they also find their Brooklyn neighborhood changing, with new buildings erected and white people, such as Carolyn Berg, moving in. Lately, Maizon has been spending more time with Carolyn, and Margaret feels excluded. Developing physically, Margaret also feels overweight, a misperception that leads to symptoms of bulimia and a near-starvation diet. Maizon, meanwhile, struggles with the sudden appearance of her father, who has contacted her for the first time since he left her with her grandmother following her mother's death in childbirth. As in the previous novels, Woodson stresses the importance of friends and family, but the impact here is somewhat diluted by the movie-of-the-week problems that challenge the two girls. Her candid assessments of relations between blacks and whites are as searching as ever, however, and her characters just as commanding. Ages 10-14.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8-The story of friends Margaret and Maizon, two African-American 12-year-olds living in Brooklyn, continues in this book. Last Summer with Maizon (Doubleday, 1990) revolved around Margaret. Maizon at Blue Hill (Delacorte, 1992) focused on Maizon during her brief stay on scholarship at an exclusive boarding school. This third book gives equal time to both characters. Maizon's part of the story is about her new relationships-with a white girl who has moved to the neighborhood, and with her father, who has suddenly reappeared after a 12-year absence. Margaret is still hurting from the death of her father. She's worried about her changing body, and has resorted to fad diets and forced vomiting. In the end, their friendship is strengthened, Maizon has accepted her dad, and Margaret has accepted her body. The mood is one of familial warmth and growing friendships, but the characters are a bit flat. The plot is too thin to sustain interest, and the conflicts are tied up a little too neatly. Readers who enjoyed the first two books might want to complete the trilogy with this one, but it's doubtful that it will create any new fans for these two girls.
Marilyn Long Graham, Lee County Library System, Fort Myers, Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
