Now Is Not Too Late [Paperback]

Isabelle Holland (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1985

What is it Cathy finds so fascinating and frightening about the reclusive artist that children call the Wicked Witch? Author Isabelle Holland also wrote Toby the Splendid. "Elegantly crafted . . . Wonderfully pungent and wise."--The Horn Book.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this pungent novel, 11-year-old Cathy makes some intriguing discoveries when she encounters the reclusive local artist whom the children call the Wicked Witch. Ages 9-up.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Bantam Books (Mm) (January 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 055315334X
• ISBN-13: 978-0553153347
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,591,666 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reading, January 31, 2008

By 

M. Epps "Book Lover" (Halifax,VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Now Is Not Too Late (Paperback)

I read this book as a child and I still remember how much I loved it...which is saying a lot since I am now 32! I read it several times and enjoyed it each time. My fourth grade teacher gave the book to me as a Christmas gift and I couldn't have asked for a better present. I recommend this for children ages 10 and up...it is a story you will remember.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Just a Question of Time?, February 13, 2002

By 

BeatleBangs1964 (United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Now Is Not Too Late (Paperback)

Cathy, an 11-year-old teetering on the brink of the "terrible teens" has learned to juggle some issues. She tilts at windmills and looks for excuses to rebel, such as insisting on riding a bike on the sidewalk instead of in the park. She has a loving father, stepmother and stepbrother who is a year her senior. Her biggest ally is her paternal grandmother, who is a very astute woman.

Cathy is very silly and infantile, even for eleven. She believes that her mother is dead and has no memory of her. Every year she leaves Manhattan for the bucolic tranquility of rural Maine, the home of her grandmother. In Maine she reconnects with her boy-crazy, irritating, not too bright friend Marianne. Marianne is really for the birds.

Once ensconsed in Maine, Cathy meets a woman summering there. The woman has rented a cottage and asked Cathy if she would pose as a model for a children's book she is illustrating. Cathy jumps at the chance to model and earn money for a bicycle she wants to buy.

The summer appears to drift along up to a point. Cathy's stepbrother Andrew and his delinquent friend Donny arrive towards the latter part of the summer. Marianne hooks up with Donny and entices the other two to eavesdrop on an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. It is there, in the darkness of a church parish hall that Cathy recognizes the woman she thought was just a summer resident in Maine. Masks come off and the results are...well, somewhat of a revelation.

It is Cathy's wise grandmother who puts the pieces together for them all. She was the most appealing character. I like the intelligent conversations she had with her spoiled, silly and very immature granddaughter. I also didn't like the way she playacted at "being a woman with a past" (talk about a very bad cliche) and quoted trite lines from old movies. Cathy was a very annoying, unappealing and tiresome character. A pie in the face for Cathy! Although I didn't like Cathy, I liked the way her extremely articulate grandmother brought truth and logic in where it was sorely needed.

The wise, well-spoken grandmother was what kept this book from receiving 1.5 - 2 stars.