Flip-Flop Girl [Paperback]

Katherine Paterson (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Wishing for a miracle that will bring her father back to life and restore her family, Vinnie Matthews protects her younger brothers from the bullying kids who tease him for refusing to speak and finds a needed friend in Lupe. Reprint. H. AB. SLJ.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

PW starred its review of this powerful and sensitive novel about a girl obliged to move to her grandmother's house after her father dies. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6-Sorrow and loneliness sweep over Vinnie and her little brother, Mason, after their father dies and their mother moves them to a small town to live with their grandmother. Mason has been mute since the funeral, and Vinnie's mother, overwhelmed with worry about him and her struggle to support the family, seems to have nothing left to give her daughter. Thrust into a new school, without friends or the right clothes, and with rumors about her troubled brother wafting around her, Vinnie is drawn to a very tall, very odd girl who wears long dresses and orange flip-flops. Lupe is more of an outcast than she, and has suffered tragedy and rumor as well. But Lupe is strong, confident, and intuitive, and is able to offer support to Vinnie and her brother when it's needed, to stand back when it's not, and to accept whatever befalls her with grace. It's Lupe and a gentle, generous teacher who help the girl through her grief and her guilt and give her back her family. Life has been reckless with the children in this book, but Paterson has not-she's given them complex problems and personalities, compassionate adults, and a compelling story that is as strong as the power of redemptive love that prevails in this thoughtful tale.
Susan Oliver, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Puffin (February 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140376798
• ISBN-13: 978-0140376791
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #579,602 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Katherine Paterson has twice won both the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award. She received the 1998 Hans Christian Andersen Medal as well as the 2006 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for the body of her work. An active promoter of reading and literacy, she lives with her husband, John, in Barre, Vermont. They have four children and seven grandchildren. Visit Katherine Paterson on her web site at www.terabithia.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent, but not great, September 24, 2006

By 

M. Keogh (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flip-Flop Girl (Paperback)

It must be tough to be Katherine Paterson. She's won three Newbery Awards, and penned what is unarguably one of the most emotionally moving books of all-time, "Bridge to Terabithia." Since she has consistently written great stuff, people expect everyone of her books to be great. However, things don't work like that, and "The Flip Flop Girl" is an example of a decent, but not great Paterson book.

This book does contain many of Paterson's usual themes- her main character is a social/economic outcast with a troubled homelife which is almost a stock situation in Paterson's books. It's one of Paterson's most unique traits- her characters are not from well-to-do, stable homes, and it's one of her greatest strengths in that she enables young readers to empathasize with characters who in real-life they might ostracize.

Here the main character is Lavinia "Vinnie" Matthews whose father has just died, and whose family, consisting of a working mom and younger brother, has moved from the Washington, D.C. area to a small Virginia town to live with her step-grandmother. It's tough enough being the new kid, but money is tight so Vinnie goes to school in clothes bought from the Salvation Army. Also, life is even made more difficult because her younger brother, Mason, stopped talking after the death of their father and has developed into a serious behaviorial problem. Vinnie is further distressed by the fact that Mason's issues have gathered almost all of their harried mother's attentions.

A dead father, a "weird" little brother, a clueless grandmother, an inattentive mother, and a completely new (and not particularly friendly) environment have led Vinnie almost to despair. However, she finds solace in the attentions and praise of a kind-hearted teacher, Mr. Clayton, and the awkward "friendship" with a girl who is even more of an outcast than she is- Lupe Mahoney, "the flip-flop girl." Tall, quiet, and always wearing orange flip-flops, Lupe stands out among her classmates not only in appearance, but also in that there seems to be a stigma about her that has led the other kids to avoid her and adults, not as kind-hearted as Mr. Clayton, to suspect her first in any wrongdoing. By learning about Lupe and her life, Vinnie starts to come to terms with her father's death and the effects it's had on her family.

The strength of the book is that the characters are eminently believable, a Paterson forte. Further, it does a wonderful job of showing how the death of a parent can emotionally effect a child, and offers comfort that one can deal with the pain. However, the book wraps things up a little too quickly and neatly which is very unusual for a Paterson book. Also, the emotional high point just seems to be something recycled from "Bridge to Terabithia"- a child rescued by another which results in an understanding between siblings. It also contains a cheesy "made for tv movie" like transformation. Overall, this is a decent Paterson book, but she has written a lot better ones.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Flip-Flop Girl, August 5, 2000

By 

Dr. Mervel S. Lunn (Bethany, OK USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flip-Flop Girl (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) (School & Library Binding)

This book should be required reading for every school administrator, teacher, and student teacher to help them better understand the behavior of children who have encountered the death of a parent. This book also reminds us that every student has potential. The author has blended suspense with sorrow.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Flip-Flop Girl, November 19, 2002

By 

"staceylynn32" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flip-Flop Girl (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) (School & Library Binding)

I really enjoyed the way that I was drawn into Vinnie's life in the story of the Flip- Flop Girl. Since the story was written in first person, it really helped me to understand how Vinnie was feeling about the obstacles she was facing in her life. I could feel her frustration as I turned the pages and all I wanted to do was give her a hug and tell her that she was important and that everything would be okay. It irritated me to think that the adults around her were ignoring her in a time when she needed them the most.
I have never had to personally face moving away from home or losing a parent, but I could tell how painful it must be to go through these things after reading the way the author described them in this story. Losing her father was hard enough, but then her mother moved them to live in a new town and start a new life with their grandmother. I honestly do not understand how this poor girl dealt with these kinds of changes for as long as she did. I personally could not have held up the way she did.
This book would be great to put into my own classroom. It isn't a "sugar coated" book and I like that about it. It shows students that things will not always be happy and cheery all of the time. It also shows them that kids their age do face obstacles and successfully overcome them. This book might also touch a child that has personally gone through a tough time in their own life experiences and they can relate to what Vinnie went through. This might help them to get through the issues in their life a little easier.
Katherine Patterson did a great job once again! I loved Bridge to Terabithia and I loved Flip-Flop Girl. The way she brings your emotions into her stories really makes them more meaningful and they stay in that special place in your heart. She would have had my vote for another Newbery Medal winner with Flip-Flop Girl.