Customer Reviews

Razzle

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"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

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.

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.

This is the best Ellen Wittlinger book I have ever read - high praise for a wonderful author with other amazing books.

Fifteen year old Kenyon is resentful that his parents bought a group of vacation cabins in Cape Cod and moved him there without asking so they could enjoy a peaceful retirement in picture perfect settings. He's been enlisted to fix up the dilapidated buildings when he'd rather be taking endless rolls of film and exploring the different angles and facets of photography.

As the summer progresses, he develops a friendship with Razzle Penney - weirdo extraordinaire, but great person and wonderfully crafted character. A relationship with sexy but shallow Harley threatens to ruin everything he has with Razzle and others in the small town.

You won't want to put this book down. The characters are some of the most vivid I have ever read about. I wanted it to keep going forever.

When young photographer Kenyon Baker moves to Cape Cod with his predjudiced, elderly parents he expects to face a summer of boredom fixing up the resort his parents bought. But when he meets eccetric, crazy Razzle at the town dump he begins to love his new town and Razzles oddness.But when sexy, beautiful Harley, Razzle's sworn enemy takes an interest in Kenyon it threatens to ruin his friendship with Razzle, and when Razzle's mother comes into town and tells more than anyone wanted to know about Razzle's past evryone is forced to realize diffricult things.
The best thing about this book are the funky,original characters.It is one of the best books I have ever read.

Razzle is one of the most diverse and interesting book I have read. I am a 15 year old girl and can relate to what happens in the book whether it happens around me everyday or it has happened to me personally. Many many people could relate to this book in some way or another. That, I believe, is why everyone loves the book if I ask them about it.

Someone is always wanting to have the prettier girl or guy,leaving behind someone they care for along the way, getting hurt by that prettier girl or guy, going back to the person they hurt and then get rejected. It happens in high school. But knowing about it and reading about it are two different things. You get a better understanding for what can really happen.

This book gives you a mixture of feelings that can embrace your heart or break it. If you are one of those people that doesn't like to read a book that takes a long to get into you will like this book from the very beginning. Once I picked up the book I couldn't put it down. You'll love it!!

THis book was wonderful. you can read some of the other reviews if you want a summary, but i dont want to waste my space with that. Its not one of those corny happy ending books where everyone is happy. those can be good if your in the right mood, but this is more of a truthfull real life book. there are some parts where you are worried for the characters, or sad. it makes your heart ache sometimes. it is very good and even though i dont like the other books by this author, this ones a keeper. i would like to comment on a review a little further down the list, by airwhacka i think. dont listen to her. she is a very closeminded person. she says she is shocked from this book, but i am shocked that she can be so closeminded that she doesnt want her daugther to read this. i mean, yes this book includes a gay man, and teenagers feeling each other up , and confrotational things like abortion and teen pregenency and suicide, but it is all done very tastefully and realistically. she is in denial if she thinks that this book isnt the way things are some places. This book makes you want to be one of the people in the story, they are so wonderful and unique (well, i want to be razzle. i like her) i hope this helped you.by the way, i am a high school student, 16, and other kids in my school have been doing these kinds of things since eight grade for some. this is how things really are.

razzle is a book about a 15 year old boy named kenyon baker. kenyon moves from boston to cape cod. he thinks he is losing all of his friends, but does not realize he may gain some on the cape. he meets a nice, but very weird girl named razzle. their friendship strenthens over the summer. and they eventually become best friends. the author shows great detail. for example, when kenyon is taking pictures of his beautiful, yet snobby girlfriend harley, he describes it like this. "harley, heavily made up and barefoot, vamping her way down the sand hill- me capturing every twist and pout on film. this is a great way to describe a 15 year old's reaction to a subject he finds appealing. however the plot moved somewhat slowly. frank, kenyon's plumber comes into the picture when he knows a secret about razzle's father. the secret is not revealed until the very end, and it seems like forever until the reader discovers what the secret is, but it does keep you involved.this book can be picked up and read by anyone. even though the plot moves slowly it is easy to read. it is a story about growing up and maturing at an age where you might not make the best decisions. it is a great book for children 13 and up.

I think the book "Razzle" is a great book! It is suspenseful and thrilling. It's about a guy named Kenyon who moves to Cape Cod with his family. There he meets a girl named Razzle at the city dump. Razzle is a weird girl you wouldn't expect to ever meet. She lives with her grandma named Billie and her brother named Ezra. Her mom doesn't live with them because Billie never gets along with her. Razzle's father died before Razzle was even born. Later Razzle introduces Kenyon to a guy and his girlfriend named Harley. Harley and Razzle are like enemies. Harley starts to like Kenyon and obviously Kenyon likes Harley. Harley is gorgeous. Kenyon's mom ends up giving Harley a job working as a sort of maid at the huts that Kenyon's family is renting out to tourists. Also Kenyon befriends the plumber his dad hires. I recommend this book to everyone it is a fun read and I know people will enjoy it.

Kenyon, who has always been a good kid, but lonely, friendless, and dorky, moves to a small town at the tip of Cape Cod when his parents buy a cluster of vacation cottages there. The first person he meets is Razzle. Razzle is...different, a freak and a half, but is interesting and real. Then Kenyon falls for Harley who is beautiful, sexy, but toys with people's feelings, and has an ongoing feud with Razzle. Kenyon must choose between normalcy, with the "I have a beautiful girlfriend" benefits package, and ostracism(for being friends with a freak like Razzle), with a benefits package of having a real friend.
Very intense and funny in parts, and well-written and sincere.