Nobody's Family Is Going to Change (Sunburst Books) [Paperback]

Louise Fitzhugh (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Series: Sunburst Books

In the world of children's literature, Louise Fitzhugh's Harriet the Spy and The Long Secret are widely recognized as epoch-making. They have been received by young readers, year after year, with excitement and love. The new Fitzhugh novel shares the vigorous sense of comedy and the unflinching fidelity to the real world that distinguished her earlier books. Many readers will feel, however, that Nobody's Family Is Going to Change is even finer than its predecessors.
Willie, seven years old, wants to dance. Emma, his older sister, wants to be a lawyer. Is there something wrong with them? Or is there something wrong with their parents, whose dreams for their children, the ordinary dreams of New York's black middle class, have little to do with what the children want? For Willie won't stop dreaming of the day he will dance with his uncle Dipsey on Broadway, and Emma is determined that someday she will address a courtroom. In this novel, the work of a matchless storyteller , Emma finds an answer for children with families that will not change.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"At 11, Emma has a mind like a steel trap and her heart set on becoming a lawyer, much to the disgust of Mr. Sheridan, himself an attorney, who favors Willie [her brother] for such a profession. But Willie yearns to dance...The clashes begin and grow in intensity until an Armageddon of sorts [occurs] between Willie, Emma, and their father." --Booklist

About the Author

In the world of children’s literature, Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy and The Long Secret are widely recognized as epoch-making. They have been received by young readers, year after year, with excitement and love. This Fitzhugh novel shares the vigorous sense of comedy and the unflinching fidelity to the real world that distinguished her earlier books. Many readers will feel, however, that Nobody’s Family Is Going to Change is even finer than its predecessors.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (September 1, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374455236
• ISBN-13: 978-0374455231
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,325,391 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Louise Fitzhugh was born in Memphis, Tennessee on October 5, 1928. She was the only child of attorney Millsaps Fitzhugh and Louise Perkins. After attending an exclusive girls' school, Miss Hutchison's, she attended three different colleges but never obtained a degree, and traveled in Europe, before finally settling down in New York City to pursue a career as a painter. In the late 1950s she and a friend, Sandra Scoppetone, began work on a beatnik parody of Kay Thompson's Eloise, which was published in 1961 as Suzuki Beane. In 1964 she published her first novel, Harriet the Spy. Although it received mixed reviews from adults at the time, today it is widely regarded as a forerunner to the sort of realistic children's fiction that would dominate the late 1960s and 1970s. Two novels about Harriet's friends followed: The Long Secret in 1965 and Sport, published posthumously in 1979.
Contemporary social issues figured prominently in much of Fitzhugh's work for children: Bang Bang You're Dead was a 1969 picture book with a strong anti-war message and Nobody's Family Is Going to Change (1975) explored both women's rights and children's rights. Ironically, it became the basis of the Broadway musical The Tap Dance Kid with the book's minor male characters taking a lead role, thereby completely overshadowing Emma, the female protagonist. Needless to say, this happened after Fitzhugh's untimely death in 1974 at the age of 46. After her death, three picture books were also published: I Am Three, I Am Four, and I Am Five.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book for Parents to Discuss with Kids, January 25, 2002

By 

Imperial Topaz (Marrakesh, Morocco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nobody's family is going to change (Hardcover)

This was a very interesting book, and it has kept me thinking about it for the two days since I finished it. I enjoyed Louise Fitzhugh's (author of Harriet the Spy) other books, and purchased this one solely for this reason, knowing nothing about this book. I am a third-grade teacher, and after reading this book, and considering carefully, do not not feel it is appropriate for elementary school. It is very appropriate for middle school. It was written in 1975, and some of the issues in the book reflect that--when American society was still going through the Women's Liberation movement. It is the story of two kids--a 7-year-old boy, and a teen-aged girl--in a black family. It deals with issues of not getting along with your parents, and finishes with the kids coming to grips with that, and ends by the kids feeling better about themselves and gaining self-confidence. The reason I feel it is inappropriate for elementary school is that these issues are dealt with in a teenage way, menstruation is mentioned several times, and the word "faggot" is used as an insult between kids in the dialog. But actually, while some younger children could read this book and understand it, a lot of the deeper meanings the book is intended to convey would go right over their heads. This would be a great book for kids and parents to read together and discuss.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is one book which has MOST POSITIVELY affected my life!, May 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Nobody's Family Is Going to Change (Sunburst Books) (Paperback)

In 1975, my mother chose this book in hard-bound to give me for my 5th grade graduation. I read it right through and really liked it, but never realized the affect it would have on me. As my life has progressed and through all the seemingly impossible glass ceilings I've bumped my head into, I've turned to this book and remember Emma and Willie. They had to be themselves even though 'those who knew better' didn't want to allow them to. I used this book (and The Phantom Tollbooth) in a composition for a college English examination because unlike any other piece of media, I continue to learn from this novel. Now, at age 33, I'm buying a copy for my mother to learn from. I think she's ready for it!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nobody's Family is Going to Change, December 13, 2002

By 

R. J Metz (Blacksburg, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nobody's Family Is Going to Change (Sunburst Books) (Paperback)

I discovered this book when I was in the tenth grade. I had read Harriet the Spy, and loved Louise Fitzhugh's books. This is the last book that Fitzhugh wrote before her untimely death from a brain hemmorhage.

Eleven year old Emma and her eight year old brother Willie don't really get along. Their parents won't let them grow up to be what they want. Overweight Emma wants to be a lawyer like her father, while slim Willie wants to be a Dancer. Emma's father is against female lawyers, and finds Willie's dancing most irritating.

I really liked the part when Martha, the babysitter asked them if they wanted custard or ice cream for dessert, and Emma asked for both and Willie asked for neither. ... Other than that, this is a great book, and I would reccomend it to any teacher or student. Buy it at once.