Fourteen-year-old Graham is looking forward to another summer helping at Mariposa Downs, but his pal Leslie has turned into a girl over the space of a year, and he wonders if he can handle the changes. Reprint. H. AB. K.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
A boy recounts his adolescent angst during a summer helping his father train racehorses; in PW 's words, "Graham's soul-searching is neatly counterbalanced by snappy dialogue and the sheer excitement of horse racing." Ages 12-up. (Mar.) Green by nature , blue from gloom--this downcast amphibian searches (while his slothful sister snoozes) for Felix's Hat (Four Winds).
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 7-9-- Not much of a plot here. Graham, 13, suffers the usual adolescent anxieties, commiserating with his long-time best friend, a girl named Leslie. The backdrop for the story is a race track, where Graham's father is a trainer. Graham, against his father's judgment, takes an interest in a young filly named Pepperoni; Leslie, meanwhile, takes an interest in a boy named Todd. At the novel's end, both Pepperoni and Todd are proven disappointments (horse: too slow; boy: too weird). Through it all Graham, Leslie, and others trade observations and wisecracks with sit-com rapidity. And, as in many sit-coms, not all the one-liners hit the mark with equal success. The biggest letdown, however, is the book's failure to make use of its setting; the story could be set in the suburbs. Lacking depth and interest, this has some funny lines, but is largely forgettable. --Todd Morning, Schaumburg Township Public Library, IL
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent read,
This review is from: Mariposa Blues (An Avon Flare Book) (Paperback)
Wonderful dialogue, touching coming of age story, and a refreshing setting: a racetrack. I have come back to this book again and again.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Meh.,
By
This review is from: Mariposa Blues (An Avon Flare Book) (Paperback)
Ron Koertge, Mariposa Blues (Avon, 1991)
I've never been a big fan of Ron Koertge's work, and this from back in the days when he was publishing "adult" stuff in books like Six Poets. I am, however, a sucker for all things Thoroughbred-related, and so when I stumbled upon Mariposa Blues, Koertge's young adult novel set at the mythical Mariposa Downs in central California, I couldn't resist it. The first ten pages seemed to cement my dislike of Koertge's writing-- good lord, how the metaphors are belabored (and spelled out afterwards!)-- but eventually these started to balance with some snappy writing, and I have to say, the book did win me over in the end-- though not nearly as much as it could have with a little more polish. The plot is pretty straightforward bildungsroman-- a horse trainer's kid is heading into puberty, chafing under the ministrations of his parents, starting to see his longtime best (female) friend in an entirely new light. What sets this one off, aside from the setting, is Koertge's way with a one-liner; some of the remarks bandied about by the various characters had me laughing out loud, which does a lot to mollify the painfully transparent scenes where our fearless narrator is mulling things over and comes to the same conclusions that the reader did back on page one. This sort of thing isn't so terrible when it's more skillfully executed, but here, every revelation falls flat. This is one of Koertge's earlier young adult novels, and I have one of the more recent sitting on the stack ready to go; I'll be interested to see if he's gotten any better at this. But this one will certainly do for horse freaks and folks who like their dialogue with a good shot of pizzazz. ***
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