Ethan, Suspended [Hardcover]

Pamela Ehrenberg (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

After getting suspended from school, Ethan Oppenheimer is uprooted from his comfortable suburban life in Pennsylvania and sent to live in Washington, D.C., with grandparents he hardly knows. At Parker Junior High, he stands out as the only white student. Making friends there is difficult; fitting in, impossible.It doesnt help that his overprotective grandparents expect him to live their old-fashioned, frugal lifestyle. As he tries to find his way in this new world, Ethan also struggles with issues from the world he left behind - guilt about the events surrounding his suspension, anxiety about his parents separation, loneliness for the company of his family and friends. Slowly, Ethan adjusts. He makes a few friends; he joins the jazz band and learns a new instrument; he even gets used to dried-out dinners at 4:30 pm. Along the way he learns a lot about prejudice and acceptance - and about himself and his changing family situation. As he tries to find his way in this new world, Ethan also struggles with issues from the world he left behind - guilt about the events surrounding his suspension, anxiety about his parents separation, loneliness for the company of his family and friends. Slowly, Ethan adjusts. He makes a few friends; he joins the jazz band and learns a new instrument; he even gets used to dried-out dinners at 4:30 pm. Along the way he learns a lot about prejudice and acceptance - and about himself and his changing family situation.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* After Ethan is suspended from his suburban Philadelphia junior high, his soon-to-be-divorced mother sends him to the grandparents he barely knows in an inner-city neighborhood in Washington, D.C. Suddenly the white, privileged kid finds that he is the "cracker" freak in an almost entirely black and Latino school. He feels as if he is in a time warp—no IM, cable, or malls. And he feels alone, often eating lunch by himself at school. But as he makes some friends, falls in love with smart, beautiful Kameka, learns to play oboe in the jazz band, and works on a school project on civil rights, he comes to redefine his meaning of home. In her first novel, Ehrenberg focuses on themes of race and class without sounding preachy, and the politics are right at the surface in an unforgettable scene, in which Ethan's friend, Diego, connects segregation and poverty: "You don't need no laws to keep people out if people can't afford to go there." Ethan's first-person narrative about his family conflicts drive the story and reveal the issues. Best of all are the portraits of his scrappy Jewish grandparents. Along with the hilarious details of how they obsess about weird stuff, eat healthy food, and irritate each other and Ethan, there is also Ethan's growing respect for their decision not to leave their neighborhood. Rochman, Hazel
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"funny and touching story" --Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (June 12, 2007)

"fresh and funny voice" --Washington Parent, September 2007

Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers --VOYA

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 266 pages
• Publisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers (March 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802853242
• ISBN-13: 978-0802853240
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,126,429 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Pamela Ehrenberg grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and now lives in Washington, D.C., with her two young children. She loves to hear from readers and to visit schools and libraries everywhere via Skype technology. For more information, visit her website at www.pamelaehrenberg.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Encore! Encore!, June 30, 2007

By 

Janet Gingold - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ethan, Suspended (Hardcover)

The world needs more books like Ethan Suspended, where today's real kids wrestle with today's real problems. After a series of unfortunate events in his suburban middle school, Ethan is left hanging, high and dry, in his grandparents' neighborhood of Washington, D. C. Like an immigrant from another planet, he has to adapt to survive. Some kids might try to blend in. Ethan knows that's not an option. Instead he becomes a standout as the first ever jazz oboist at Parker Middle School. Ehrenberg unflinchingly lays bare the challenges that middle school kids face every day. Ethan, Sherita, Daron, Felix, Diego - each is a real ordinary kid who might be just like the kid sitting next to you on the bus. Each has a story worth telling. This story will give kids plenty to talk about as they compare the people and problems in the book to people and problems they encounter every day. Readers who like Ethan Suspended might also enjoy Danger, Long Division where another real kid growing up in the shadow of our nation's capital struggles with school problems and absent parents. Also, coming soon, Finch Goes Wild tells the adventures of another middle school musician just across the river from Ethan's neighborhood.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid YA Debut, December 28, 2007

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ethan, Suspended (Hardcover)

This debut YA novel takes the classic fish-out-water setup and applies it to a good Jewish kid from suburban Philadelphia. After getting into some minor trouble with friends, Ethan Oppenheimer is suspended from school. His timing is bad though -- his parents are in the midst of a separation, his mother can't cope with anything, and so she dumps him with his grandparents in Washington, D.C. The real kicker is that it's not just for the holiday break... Unbeknownst to him, Ethan is supposed to finish the school year at a public high school in D.C. where he'd be the only white kid!

This setup (more or less the opposite of "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air") allows the story to explore plenty of social and political issues from the perspective of a middle-class white kid (ie. pretty much the target audience for most YA fiction). Ethan is confronted for the first time with issues of race (both the experience of being a minority, and the tensions between his black and Latino classmates), class (the relative poverty of his classmates, and the spendthriftiness of his grandparents), friendship (none of his friends from back home try to reach him, and figuring out how to make friends in DC is tough) and family (his sense of isolation from his sister who's in college, his dad who never calls, and his mother who calls seemingly against her will). These issues arise organically out of the story and never feel contrived, which is quite an accomplishment.

The book has a few minor flaws, for example one reason for Ethan's feeling of isolation is lack of internet access, however that could have been easily resolved by a trip to any public library, something Ethan would definitely had known. A subplot involving Washington's history during the civil rights era and Ethan's family doesn't lead to much of anything. And I felt that Ethan's experience as being the only white kid in a D.C. public school was probably much easier than it would be in reality. But these are relatively minor quibbles about a book that would be excellent for a teen or middle-school book/discussion group.

In general, the book feels wholly authentic, probably because the author taught in a junior high school in Washington, D.C. and has parents not unlike Ethan's grandparents! It's also to be commended for avoiding the kind of neat, tidy ending common to YA novels. Readers will face a little ambiguity at the end and not everything is spelled out, which might be frustrating to some, but feels true to life. Some answers can be found in "Ethan's" MySpace page where he blogs about what happens after the book ends...