From School Library Journal
Grade 4–6—"Why can't everyone just accept everyone else?" Alice Bunt asks her father when she discovers that popularity and individuality do not always go hand-in-hand. The 11-year-old has just moved to the Boston suburbs from the city and is looking forward to making friends with kids who share her interests. She soon finds Zen, a flamboyantly dressed, fashion-magazine-addicted boy who is definitely a far cry from sports-minded, go-kart-building Alice. When middle school begins, she quickly realizes that a friendship with him could lead to ridicule by classmates. The less-challenging path is to mirror the behavior of the mall-going in-crowd. Alice's dilemma is familiar—to conform or not to conform—with one key difference: Zen. Alice's journey from impressionable naïveté to courageous pluck is a convincing lesson on friendship and tolerance. The story line is a bit contrived, and many of the characters are not fully developed, but Alice's struggle to just be herself is an important one. The happy ending, though manufactured, will give hope to readers experiencing similar conflicts.—Erin Schirota, Bronxville Public Library, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Alice Bunt moves to the suburbs during the summer between elementary and middle-school. A tomboy with a stay-at-home father (and a nice mom who works in Boston, where the family had been living), Alice explores her new neighborhood in search of a friend. Zen, close to her age, isn’t what she had in mind: he’s verbose, flamboyant, and obsessed with remaking her into popular-girl material for the first day of school. Alice goes along with his plans, however, until she discovers she’s heading into a mean, heartless clique. Despite a story line stretched to accommodate some odd or stock characters (Zen’s needlessly batty grandmother and his quirky but supportive fellow church members; Alice’s stereotyped new neighbors; and teachers who are either mean or clueless), Atkinson describes Alice’s ethical development credibly and engagingly. Consider this as comfort food, especially for readers wanting insight into that first foray into a new community—a time when kids can remake their image or accept themselves without apology. Grades 5-7. --Francisca Goldsmith
