16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Richie's Picks: IF A TREE FALLS AT LUNCH PERIOD, August 17, 2007
" 'Wait. You aren't really friends with Matteo, are you? Do you know his mom is like a maid?' "
So asks Kirsten McKenna's former best friend, Rory.
Kirsten, daughter of a wealthy Marin County, CA physician begins seventh grade after having had a lousy summer:
"Every day this summer was like crap: dog crap, cat crap -- I even had a few elephant crap days. Trust me, it was bad."
All summer long Rory has essentially been out of contact with Kirsten. All summer long Kirsten's mother and father, despite living in the same house, have essentially refused direct contact with each other. Kirsten has reacted to all this by putting on 30 pounds over a four month period. And now, as seventh grade begins, she finds that Rory is suddenly running with the in-crowd, including the uber-popular Brianna Hanna-Hines, whose dad "made a billion bucks writing a book, Woman Are Toads. Men Are Toadstools." In fact, the Hanna-Hines family has given so much money to Mountain School (the expensive Marin County private school the book's young characters all attend) that the auditorium is named in the family's honor.
Any harsh visceral reactions to book characters I may have are typically reserved for uber-clueless adults who thoroughly screw up the adolescents in their care. There are so many adolescent characters in so many books who have done so many atrocious things, and yet I find that I follow their exploits with interest and a measure of compassion rather than with venom.
But Brianna H-H is such a piece of work, such a snake, and so brightly does her attitude of entitlement shine, that she reminds me of some combo plate of the most infamous adolescents I've ever known. I uncharacteristically spent the entire evening that I read this book being deeply pissed off at this seventh grade girl character. In fact, I'm still deeply pissed off at that seventh grade girl character.
That is not to say that clueless adults aren't also present here in full force. One of the lessons one might take away from IF A TREE FALLS AT LUNCH PERIOD is that behind every clique of snotty, privileged girls is a clique of snotty, privileged moms who still know how to play the game. I can just imagine Kirsten's own mother back in the Seventies or the Eighties, sucking up to the alpha-girl and taking part in inflicting the sort of hurtful pecking order nonsense on less-fortunate peers that her daughter is now falling victim to.
"There's always one they make fun of, Kirsten. There always is. You do not want to be that one.'
" 'Mom, please.' She's followed me into the kitchen. I grab an Evian.
" 'I want you to have fun, Sweetie. You'll never be young like this again.'
"I snort. 'Thank god.'
" 'Sometimes you have to play the game, Kirsten. You don't want to be like Debby Decaterman. God, did the girls make fun of her. It was awful. But she kind of deserved it, too. She was pathetic.'
" 'Pathetic. I know what that means. It means fat,' I whisper.
"My mother's face darkens. 'I won't have you moping around her feeling sorry for yourself, making poor food choices.' She slams the broom closet door. The dustpan crashes off the hook."
So far, I've only given you one-half of the equation. IF A TREE FALLS AT LUNCH PERIOD is actually told from two alternating points of view: Kirsten's chapters, which are told in the first-person, and Walk's, which are told in the third-person.
Walk -- Walker Wilburt Jones -- is a new student, a scholarship student, at Mountain School:
"Walk wishes Matteo were black instead of Mexican, through. He doesn't like being the only black kid in his grade -- one of three at the whole school. It makes him feel like there's a giant bull's-eye painted on his naked brown booty."
Walk is not only smart and fun, he's insightful, as well as friendly. He and Kirsten meet the first morning of school after Kirsten's mom reacts weirdly upon seeing Walk being dropped off at The School. Walk's immediately got an intuition about Kirsten, and when things are going badly for her he invites her into his own lunch crowd, which includes Matteo, whose one flaw in Walk's eyes is that he lets the popular girls, particularly Brianna, call him Burrito Boy and walk all over him.
Another notably smart character in IF A TREE FALLS AT LUNCH PERIOD is Kirsten's little sister, second-grader Kippy McKenna, who -- at the rate she's going -- will probably be passing her medical Boards before she's old enough to legally drink: " 'You didn't ask about second grade. We are doing an in-deep study of the letter P. P is very important. How could you spell psoriasis without a p? Jenna W. said everyone knows psoriasis starts with an s. And I said, excuse me but it starts with a p. I can spell all the McKenna diseases! Corns. C-o-r-n-s. Vaginitis. V-a-g --' " 'No. Oh please. You didn't say that,' my mother interrupts, her neck flushed. "Kippy nods her little face dead serious."
In this exceptionally engaging contemporary tale that certainly should be taught by sixth and seventh grade English teachers and is sure to become a staple of mother-daughter bookgroups, Gennifer Choldenko has slipped in a number of especially intriguing plot-twists that actually cause the story to make even more sense than it already did. In several instances I'd picked up just enough clues to feel confident that I knew where the story was heading, but was totally and delightedly surprised to find myself wrong.
IF A TREE FALLS AT LUNCH PERIOD is Gennifer Choldenko's best book yet.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
engaging read, September 19, 2007
This book reminded me strongly of "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson, what with the clique dynamics, the dysfunctional family and the tree metaphor. It also reminded me of "Harriet the Spy" because the protagonist is also smart, different and a target of the in-crowd's hostility.
Plot: Kirsten McKenna is starting seventh grade with 30 extra pounds, parents who won't stop fighting, and a less-than-secure relationship with her former best friend Rory, who is now trying to be part of the in-crowd, led by the snobby Brianna Hanna-Hines. Kirsten's mom tries to help her daughter "fit in" but her idea of fitting in is far removed from Kirsten's. Her mother's odd behavior also has to do with the new student at Kirsten's private school, an African-American boy named Walk. The book's chapters are told alternately by both teens. Walk is raised by his single mom, Sylvia and after Kirsten overhears a startling revelation from her parents, has even more to deal with than fitting in at his new school.
I liked the novel, but thought that both Kirsten's and Walk's characters could have been better developed, and that Walk should have been portrayed as more than simply the "model minority student." I also enjoyed Brianna, the villain of the tale, but thought some of her behavior was over the top. It wasn't enough that she was a snob and shallow and stupid, she also had to be racist. It would have been nice to see at least one scene suggesting why she was the way she was (usually racist kids have racist folks). The part about the talent show also rang a bit false - it seemed odd that only one parent would have that much influence; surely there were others who were wealthy and well-connected.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Courtesy of Teens Read Too, August 20, 2007
Kirsten McKenna's got a lot on her mind, and on her body for that matter. She gained 30 pounds over the summer, thanks to her dysfunctional parents and their constant arguing. Maybe that's why her best friend, Rory, has stopped hanging out with her. Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that Rory is now hanging with the popular crowd. Either way, Kirsten is relieved to find a new group of friends, including Walker "Walk" Jones.
Walk is new at this school and it's a whole different world from the City school he came from. Everyone knows he's here on scholarship, and some kids just won't let him forget it. Good thing he has one friend, Matteo, to count on. Oh, and there's that girl, Kirsten, too. She's pretty cool.
This was a quick read, but not because the content was simple. The plot kept the pages turning. The short chapters alternated between Kirsten's and Walk's perspectives, which was perfect for the pace of the book. It was portrayed as a simple middle school read, nothing out of the ordinary, but it delivered so much more. This book was very like something one might find from Judy Blume, in both voice and subject matter. Smart, insightful characters dealing with adult-world challenges while living with everyday life at school -- the good, the bad, and the downright nasty.
Reviewed by: Julie M. Prince
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