Customer Reviews

Ronnie and Rosey

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I read this when I was in high school over and over again. It was one of my favorite books, and 20 years later I still remember it. I was disappointed to see it was out of print. This story is about a girl, Ronnie, a nickname for Veronica, and Rosey, a boy who has the misfortune to have a flowery last name. They meet and become friends and move awkwardly toward a deeper relationship. Then suddenly just as Ronnie thinks her world could not be any better, her father is killed in a car accident. Her mother becomes a depressed recluse and does not want Ronnie to go anywhere. It drives Ronnie to sneak out of the house to be with Rosey and that's when trouble happens. This story has a lot of common elements with many teen novels; however, the author does a great job of showing healthy relationships between a girl and her parents, a girl and her teacher, and a girl and the boy she loves. Although some misguided choices are made by mother and daughter, it shows how love, communication, and forgiveness can bring a family through the worst pain - a death in the family. It also shows that bad things can happen to good people and how they cope and learn to survive. I highly recommend it to any middle school or high school girl who likes a good love story.

My third book for reading workshop was Ronnie and Rosey, a book by Judie Angell. Ronnie, believe it or not, is a girl whose real name is an old-fashioned name from her grandmother. She is an only child, and she moves to a new town with her parents. All is going well; she makes some friends, develops a crush and begins to feel at home. Everything is going fine until disaster strikes. Ronnie's father is killed in an automobile accident. The accident and her father's death changes everything. Her mother is depressed and is very strict now. She makes up impossible and unrealistic rules that Ronnie is forced to follow. Ronnie attempts to go around them, even bend them, but it just ends up getting her into more trouble and getting her more rules. It seems everything she does seems to give her a harder time than she started out with.

I really liked this book. It not only shows the hardships of going through middle school and moving to a new town, but also the affects of the after death of a loved one. Sometimes it was exciting, other times it was not. For instance, when Ronnie would sneak out to be with her friends or Robert, her boyfriend, it would be exciting because she wasn't allowed to do it and it made you wonder what was going to happen. There are some other exciting events, but you'll have to read the book yourself to find those out. I did feel like I was in the book because you knew so much about the characters and it felt like you were really in Ronnie's head, like you were her. The main conflict did interest me because I have yet to lose a loved one, or someone close to me, so it was interesting to see how someone copes and how to deal. The characters seemed very real. The book's ending was okay-it could have been better. I guess overall it was reasonably satisfying.

The "voice" was through Ronnie's point of view, though it wasn't a narrative. There wasn't much interesting or different vocabulary words. I knew pretty much all of them. It was a pretty easy book to read. All of the language was like the daily language we use now. There weren't any very unique characteristics, though it was very realistic. The writing styling was really average; not anything special. There was a lot of dialogue, and a lot of description, too. If there wasn't dialogue, which there normally was, it was getting into Ronnie's head. Even though Judie Angell's writing was not very special nor unique, I did like it a lot. She used a good amount of detail and I loved how she got into Ronnie's head. Sometimes it was as if you were Ronnie.

I'd rate this book a 7 ½ out of 10. It was pretty good, and I liked the plot and the story itself. The writing was good, too. I would recommend this book to the class. It's probably more of a girly book, though. I highly doubt that any of the guys would really enjoy this book. I also kind of knew how Ronnie felt because I had a similar moving experience, so that helped. Also, there were twists that you weren't expecting at some parts, like Ronnie's mother being selfish and making a up a stupid rule, such as she could only talk to her friends ten minutes each on the phone. Then she'd try to bend or go around the rule, but only end up getting into more trouble. It wasn't the best book that I've ever read, and I don't think that it's one of my favorites, but it is good. If you're a girl, looking for a dramatic read, I suggest that you choose this book.

Often, there are books for our age group that are silly and happy or very much so a fantasy, so it's interesting when you finally find a good book that maybe shows a different side. One that you can actually read, and actually understand, unlike many of the more dramatic books out there that I've read. Also, it's funny how the author made the names-Ronnie is really a girl, and Rosey is a nickname for a boy name Robert's last name, Rose. It's switched, and it kind of throws you off for a second when you're reading the back cover.