Doing Time Online [Hardcover]

Jan Siebold (Author)

Book Description

Grade Level: 4 and up

Twelve-year-old Mitchell played a prank that led to an elderly woman's injury. Now he finds himself at the police station--his "sentence" is to chat online with a nursing home resident twice a week for the next month.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grades 4-6--Mitchell, 12, is in big trouble. He is "sentenced" to do time twice every week at the police station because he and a friend played a prank that could easily have had serious consequences for an elderly neighbor. At the station, Mitch must be an e-mail pen pal to a nursing-home resident. Although resentful at first, he finds that his new friend gives him courage to finally admit that he is partially responsible for his neighbor's accident. Mitch's attempt to reclaim personal integrity includes just enough adventure to prevent didacticism. Siebold uses a simple diary format that includes Mitch's electronic conversations with his elderly friend to create an effective, contemporary novel dealing with everyday pressures that most students face. This is a book that will definitely appeal to a wide variety of readers, especially those who enjoy Donald J. Sobol's "Encyclopedia Brown" series or Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee (Little, Brown, 1990). E-mail gives a current twist to the idea of making the punishment fit the crime; the current plot combined with skillful writing will attract even the most recalcitrant readers.
Susan Cooley, Tower Hill School, Wilmington, DE
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 3-5. When Mitch plays a trick on an elderly neighbor, the joke backfires and she gets hurt. As punishment, he has to take part in a police program for juvenile offenders during which he chats online twice a week with a nursing home resident across the state. Of course, he and his elderly partner, Wootie, become friends and end up helping each other, but Siebold pushes beyond formula bibliotherapy here--not only because the computer chat is fun and easy to read but also because Mitch and Wootie are realistic characters, sharp and funny, assertive and needy. Mitch eventually stops blaming the bully who drew him into the mean behavior and apologizes to his neighbor. Things get a bit too upbeat and purposive when Mitch stands up to the bully and wins. But what's best here has nothing to do with bullies or computer chat: it's the background story, told by Mitch, of his home life with his widower dad, a beautifully drawn portrait of a nurturing single parent. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company (January 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807559598
• ISBN-13: 978-0807559598
• Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 5.8 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,853,273 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good Done-in-one-Sitting book.., December 13, 2002

By 

"christianrockfreak" (Billyville) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Doing Time Online (Hardcover)

When my librarian first explained to me this book, she said that this boy did something bad & had to chat with an eldrly person for 30 minutes twice a week as punishment (the plot of this story). I thought that we'd have some criminals here like in "Zach's Lie," or even "Holes." But, this wasn't that big of a misdeed. Well, yeah, it was, but...

Let's just say when you're reading the book & enjoying it, this is a four-star book. When you think back to the plot, it doesn't make all thaqt sense, and you'll probably think of it as an average book.(3, 3 1/2 stars)(note: for such a short book, the character set was VERY well-developed. Even Wootie, who will only be heard by writing) The only five-star piece of writing was with Troer & the _ _ _ _ . I thought that that was very clever.

Some of this has to do with the label. I AM above the suggested reading age (grades 3-5), but I think that this book should be for dudes/duettes 7-10.

If you're 7-10, enjoy this book, but I'd wait 'till it comes out in paperback.

5.0 out of 5 stars doing time online is the best book I have ever read, December 15, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Doing Time Online (Hardcover)

I like this book becuse the book teaches you what you should do and what you should not do.The title of the book is Doing Time Online.But you should read this book becse it is like normal day life.There is some mystries in this book.The peoples name in the story is Michell,Trotter,and Wootie there are some more people in it but there the main.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Learning from chatting with elders, December 16, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Doing Time Online (Hardcover)

This book is an awesome book if you love to chat online and like to be on the computer. It is about a boy who gets into trouble and has to chat with this elder woman at Maple Grove nursing home. He did something that he thought was funny but it got somebody hurt in the end. This woman isn't your average sweet old lady she is very independent and very strong. She gives Wottie some advice about everything. Wottie's dad is never home because he works way far from home so he gets home late and he makes Wottie cook dinner and do his homework and then allows him to answer a trivia question every night before he gets home so he can learn to find things on his own and get more educational skills. There is a lot of setting in this book. I mean he is at school and then the police station and then home. I think that someone who loves a short and sweet mystery book then you will enjoy this book. This is who i recomend it to.