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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
RAZZLE is both funny and touching., July 29, 2004
"Life has been one long snooze," Kenyon Baker tells us in the fist line of Ellen Wittlinger's new novel, RAZZLE. He's been the nice boy for so long. None of the girls at his mother's private school notice him at all. No one questions his goody two shoes status and no one asks Kenyon if he is happy. So when Ken's parents retire and move to Cape Cod, Ken isn't too upset --- especially after striking a deal with his parents. In exchange for his helping to rehabilitate some rundown cottages, Kenyon gets the use of one for the summer. He savors the idea of having his own place. And he really likes the idea of having his own darkroom.
Ken decides to explore his new environment through the lens of his camera. Or at least that's the plan. Then he meets a strange girl during a trip to the town dump with his mother. Razzle, named for the angel of mysteries, lives with her grandmother, brother, and a dozen dogs. Her mother isn't around very often. She has never left Cape Cod and doesn't want to. Razzle likes Ken but she doesn't like Harley, the local cool girl. Harley has all the boys begging for her attention and when she begins to take an interest in Kenyon, Razzle warns him that Harley will eventually hurt him. Ken, being male, refuses to listen. He doesn't want to believe such a beauty could be evil. Razzle must then watch as Harley has Ken running in circles, twisting their friendship and getting him to make compromises with his photography.
RAZZLE is both funny and touching. Wittlinger unfolds a story about friendship and change with great skill. I especially appreciate her portrait of the people who live year-round in a place where most other people only go for pleasure. While she shies away from the most famous towns on the Cape, like Provincetown, she does manage to give a glimpse of what life there is like for natives while showing a complete picture of a smaller town.
People on Cape Cod say that once you begin to recognize the smell of the Cape, or get its sand in your shoes, you'll always return. Take Ellen Wittlinger's invitation and get sand in your shoes by reading RAZZLE!
--- Reviewed by Cassia Van Arsdale
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Richie's Picks: RAZZLE, July 6, 2006
Ellen Wittlinger has done it again!
Count me among the multitude of readers who have been impatiently awaiting the next young adult novel from the author who's extraordinary HARD LOVE (1999) was awarded a Printz Honor. The wait is just about over, and the new book is a delightful and stunning must-read for teens and anyone associated with young adult literature.
Meet Kenyon Baker:
"Consider me confused. Aren't there any other people on this planet like me? There never seems to be a place I fit in. Unless I'm alone in my darkroom, of course. But I don't think you can count it as fitting in if you're alone."
Meet Razzle Penney:
"She was as tall as me but even skinnier, and even though she was walking fast, her long arms and legs seemed to sort of swirl around her in this lazy way, like all the joints weren't connected up quite right. Her buzz cut hairdo and the black short shorts and tank top added to the vision of a leggy bug or a jellyfish swimming over to us."
We meet Kenyon, the last-born of relatively older parents, after he is transplanted from Boston to Cape Cod where his newly retired parents have bought a group of vacation rental cottages. He meets Razzle at the town dumps where she runs the Swap Shop (the recycling center).
In RAZZLE, as with HARD LOVE, the author writes in a seductively warm and gentle manner as she draws us into an important and entertaining story about growing up, first love, loyalty to yourself and others, friendship, prejudice, and dealing with your parents as you become yourself. The fashion in which Wittlinger can capture so many relevant themes in such a reader-friendly story firmly places her among today's great YA authors. Her characters are unusual, unpredictable, and unforgettable.
Furthermore, as was the case with HARD LOVE, the mother-child relationships are central to this story. It makes me wonder if, deep down, Wittlinger's greatest aspiration is to guide today's future mothers to an understanding of
how their behavior and beliefs will reverberate in the actions and reactions of their future children. Whether or not this is the author's intent, it will be the fortunate result for the perceptive teen reader.
Finally, this book offers another lovely view of Cape Cod. Despite my growing up on and near the lovely beaches of Long Island, I've nevertheless mourned for ages over never having gotten to see the Cape, where Dicey and the other Tillerman kids had grown up. I think that RAZZLE has pushed me over the edge in my resolve to experience it sooner or later.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Razzle, December 16, 2005
Razzle, by Ellen Wittlinger is a very good book. I think the main theme in this book is that you should never turn your back on one friend, just to please another. Razzle is a Fiction book. I really like the way Ellen made her characters, because you can really connect with them.
"Adept characterization takes the lead in this absorbing narrative." ~ School Library Journal.
This book is set in Cape Cod Massachusetts, where 15-year-old Kenyon Baker moved because his parents bought a line of vacation cabins. Kenyon meets a girl named Razzle, who helps him meet other people in the town. At first, he thinks Razzle is weird, but he ends up getting attached to her.
I think that every teenager should read this book, because I think that we can all relate to it at one point in our lives or another.
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