Customer Reviews

Melanie Martin Goes Dutch: The Private Diary of My Almost Bummer Summer with Cecily, Matt the Brat, and Vincent van Go Go Go

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When you open this book, you will find yourself peeking into the private diary of Melanie Martin, a ten year old girl living in New York with her mom, dad and Matt the Bratt (aka little brother!). Her mom is an art teacher who teaches her kids to appreciate art, and she loves when they do, even if its only because it includes naked people or blood scenes!

The story starts when summer vacation has just got out, and our girl Mel is getting bored. She and her mom do puzzles. It is one utterly boring day when Melanie's mom gets a phone call telling her that she's got the grant (for her teaching) and they're going to Amster Amster Dam Dam Dam!

They barely get this news before it is discovered that Cecily's mom (Cecily is Melanie's best friend) has got breast cancer.

Mel's mom invites Cecily on the trip and Melanie is overjoyed!

They all leave together for Amsterdam. They all expirience lots of adventures including lost luggage, a topless beach, LOTS of museums and a HUGE argument.

Mel thinks Cecily is getting way too much attention so they silently fight.

Will the fight turn this best-friend bliss into a bummer summer?

Read and find out!

Melanie Martin Goes Dutch is a great book that plenty of kids can empathize with - even grown-ups too!

I hope everyone will enjoy this book as much as I have, including Carol Weston's other fantastic books!

3 cheers, two thumbs up, plus five WHOLE stars as well!

The sequel to The Diary of Melanie Martin is just as charming and rings with the same truthful voice, as Melanie records the ups and downs of a vacation in Holland with her family and best friend. Melanie is reading the Diary of Anne Frank on this trip, and this historic diary lends a thoughtful note to Melanie's own diary, which includes dealing with the threat of the cancer which has infected her best friend's mom. With the heroine's observations as witty as ever, Melanie Martin Goes Dutch will delight young readers as they experience both van Gogh paintings and topless beaches through Melanie's eyes.

Wishing you could take a trip this summer? The title of this book just makes me smile. Melanie's mother has a grant to study Van Gogh in Amsterdam for the summer and the whole family gets to go along. Melanie's diary of their trip is a fun read. Travel disasters such as lost luggage, an annoying little brother, and a fight with her best friend are not what she imagined her vacation would be like. Melanie is reading Anne Frank: the diary of a young girl. As events unfold on their trip Melanie finds herself empathizing with Anne. Her visit to the Secret Annex is very poignant.

I loved "hearing" the Dutch phrases (complete with pronunciation,)smelling the food and seeing the sights through the eyes of a character who is the same age I was when I lived there. This is a very funny book. The presence of Anne in the background of the story gives the story a sweetness beyond the humor.

I read a book called Melanie Martin Goes Dutch. It is about a girl named Melanie. Melanie is a girl who has a brother named Matt. Well their family has to go to Holland. She writes a Diary about her summer to Holland. Her friend Cecily goes with them. She pictured her dad showing her The House of Ann Frank. She also pictured her mom showing her Van Gogh Paintings. This is what she didn't picture, going to a topless beach, and getting their luggage lost! She didn't expect to all get into a BIG fight with her VERY BEST FRIEND CECILY!

This book has a message. It is that you shouldn't expect everything to go your way You need to expect things when you don't expect them. You shouldn't fight with your friend. If you hope your vacation will turn good again. I also learned that you should spend time with your family and friends.

This book was a great book. People should read it more often. You should buy this book or borrow it from your local library. People and kids should read it if they like diary entries. Melanie and Cecily get in a big fight, but you have to read it to find out how they worked it out. I give this book.

I love the Melanie Martin books! They are everything children's literature should be: smart, funny, and quietly instructive. This second installment of Melanie's adventures takes us to Holland and is every bit as delightful as the first. It made me want to hop on a plane to Amsterdam immediately. You'll learn a lot about a foreign country (its art, architecture, cuisine, customs, and even language) and you'll think about significant issues like friendship, jealousy, loneliness, charity, etc. And you'll constantly laugh. Melanie is sassy, without being abrasive, and very real. Although intended for a younger crowd, these books deserve the recognition that other "diary" literature has received recently (e.g., The Princess Diaries and Louise Rennison's Georgia books). Read the book and then tell all your friends to read it, too.

This is the best book ever! It taught me a lot about Holland, and I learned a LOT of dutch. Now I can speak a little of a different language!

Title: Melanie Martin Goes Dutch
Genre: middle grades ages 8-12
Author: Carole Weston
http://www.carolweston.com/
Line/Publisher: Dell Yearling
ISBN: 0 440 41899 2
Interesting read Recommended 5 stars

The Review
The book opens with Melanie excited as can be. She has a brand new diary, and something exciting to write in it. This was the best day ever... it was the last day of school and the last day of fourth grade. Before long Melanie is facing the prospect of that long `nothing to do' summer. Cecily her best friend has gone on a trip to visit her dad, and Melanie is missing her friends from school. Melanie's diary continues with day to trials of a ten and a half year old girl.

Things are about to change, in early July Melanie's school teacher Mom receives a grant. Before leaving for Holland so that Mom can use her grant to study artist Vincent Van Gogh Mom gives Melanie a copy of `The Diary of Anne Frank.' When Cecily's mom is diagnosed with breast cancer Melanie writes her fears and worry in her own diary along with her notes about the upcoming trip. At last the day comes to fly to Holland, and horror of horrors; all the luggage is lost. Melanie is beside herself when day after day the luggage remains lost and they are wearing the same clothes. After several days pass with no luggage they all go shopping. Whew! Melanie was happy for that. At least Cecily got to come along on the trip while her mom is having surgery back home.

Before long Melanie is getting really out of sorts with Cecily and her penchant for always saying and doing the right thing. And before you know it Melanie and Cecily have a big fight at one of the most important museum's Melanie's Mom has come to visit. Of course Melanie records every bit of the lost luggage, the sights and sounds of Holland and that quarrel with Cecily in her diary. The trip to Holland and the trip home add more fuel for Melanie's writing.

Melanie Martin Goes Dutch is a refreshing read sure to please girls of the 9-14 group. Author Weston obviously knows this age group well, she proves her prowess as a gifted writer by producing a nicely wrought narrative sure to appeal to girls and their Moms. With out coming off as stilted or preachy Author Weston deftly weaves a bit of geography, the story of Anne Frank, a good bit of art including one of my own favorite artists Van Gogh, along with a discussion of breast cancer and the import it can have on the lives of others into the work.

The format of diary entries with all the squiggles, cartoons and verbiage to be expected from a ten-year-old girl are a delight to read. The reader is caught up in the narrative immediately. Melanie is a typical girl who grumbles, laughs, finds her parents a source of embarrassment, argues and resolves the quarrel as she writes it all down to remember forever. Humor abounds as the travelers deal with the lost luggage and a visit to a topless beach. Melanie's feelings of not doing quite as well as her friend, finding her little brother a pain in the neck and not always wanting to `go along with the program' are all feelings most youngsters know well. Writer Weston gently guides the reader into an understanding that Melanie, the reader and most likely everyone has these same feelings at one time or another.

Melanie Martin Goes Dutch is a book sure to fit well into the classroom `free reading' program, a home library and pleasure reading for middle grades. Look forward to reading others in the series.

Enjoyed the read, happy to recommend....

I was really happy when I found out that there was a new Melanie book because I LOVED The Diary of Melanie Martin which we read for my book club. She went to Italy In that book. In this one, she goes to Holland and it is GREAT too. Both books are very funny but have serious parts and you find out a lot about another country, it's food and artists and tourist places. In Melanie Martin Goes Dutch, I also learned about Anne Frank. I really like how Melanie doodles and makes up little poems and spells out foreign words. Since she gets in bad moods, she seems like a real person. ...I would definately recommend this book. My brother is 9 (he's like Matt the Brat!) and he liked it too. I hope there gets to be a whole series. I would read them all...

We used this book for our 4th grade girls book club. They really liked it. Melanie is very precocious and aware, and the girls liked her personality and could identify with her thoughts and feelings. They liked reading all the information and history on The Netherlands. The book has humor (the girls loved the poems Melanie wrote) and also covers serious subjects, i.e. breast cancer. Everything is handled very appropriately. The book is well-written and holds your interest, whether you're 9, 10 or an adult. Several girls expressed interest in reading other Melanie Martin books.

Are you ready to go to the Netherlands where bicycal riding, canal site seeing, and tulips are done almost all year long? Do you want to know the real story? Know what's happening with Cicily's family. Join me into a world where the Netherlands are the best place to be!