Starfish Summer [Hardcover]

Ona Gritz-Gilbert (Author), Yong Chen (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 5, 1998 | Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up

A young girl learns how to be more independent from her mother during a summer at the beach.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gritz-Gilbert's quiet, languidly paced first novel takes place in a small beach community, where New Yorker Amy spends the summer with her great-aunt Jenny, who makes dolls from socks and smells "like tangerines and yellowed books." Though Amy is determined to shake her "Mama's girl" image and make new friends, she's homesick for her overprotective mother and greatly misses "not just the feel of Mom's hugs but their smell, like a loaf of oatmeal bread baking." Crystal, the girl next door who feels abandoned by her most recent close friend, exacerbates matters when she rebuffs Amy's attempts to get to know her, remaining "as sharp and cold as the salt water when you first step in." Amy's relationship with a kind, elderly blind man who shows remarkable insight into Amy's feelings provides some warm moments in the narrative. Yet the standoff between the girls grows tiresome, as does the author's heavy-handed, often flowery similes and imagery (e.g., Crystal's voice "made Amy think of lacy, old fashioned dresses"). Even the most poetic-minded young readers may find this tale a bit old-fashioned. Ages 7-10.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-5-While Amy's mother is away, the child stays at the beach with her Great-Aunt Jenny. During the summer she hopes to overcome her "Mama's girl" image and become more independent. Crystal, the only other girl her age in the neighborhood, snubs her and Amy soon becomes frustrated. The elderly people in the community witness this, but only blind Mr. Fine understands the problem. He tells Amy that Crystal was hurt when a friend she made last summer did not keep in touch after she left. He also helps Amy deal with her own homesickness by telling her about starfish and their "magical" ability to grow back a lost arm, explaining that the space left in her heart by missing someone can be filled once again. When Amy describes this analogy to Crystal, she reaches out and helps Amy learn to ride a bike. The characters tend to be one dimensional and the story has no surprises. Black-and-white pencil drawings appear throughout. The theme of understanding others from their point of view and finding one's place is better dealt with in Patricia MacLachlan's Arthur, for the Very First Time (Harper, 1980), but Gritz-Gilbert's book is easier reading and will appeal to fans of seashore stories.
Marlene Gawron, Orange County Library, Orlando,
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1St Edition edition (June 5, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060271930
• ISBN-13: 978-0060271930
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,865,038 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

This past year has been an exciting one for me as a writer. My book, Tangerines and Tea, My Grandparents and Me, was chosen by Nick Jr. Magazine as Best Alphabet Book of 2005 and one of six best children's books of the year by Scholastic Parent & Child Magazine; my first poetry chapbook was published; and I was taken on as a columnist by one of my favorite literary websites, literarymama.com. My books (including my first children's book which led a quiet, unassuming life) are all available here at Amazon. My column, Doing It Differently, is about my experiences as a woman with a disability, with a particular focus on how disability informs my life as a mother.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great reading, written with much clarity and sensitivity., July 8, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Starfish Summer (Hardcover)

I was delighted to give this book to my grandaugter who is spending her first summer away from home, staying with me in Manasquan. Being away from home for an extended period, for the first time is a difficult adjustment at best. I feel the author did a superb job of dealing with the insecurities and universal feelings that can easily overwhelm a child. Most important she helps children understand they are not alone in their feelings, even adults can be insecure with change.

The book helped my grandaughter to aggressively seek out new friendships, delight in new experiences, and understand that missing home is very normal.

As a grandmother, I was grateful to find a book written with such clarity and sensitivity.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for young readers. Intelligent and funny., June 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Starfish Summer (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful book and I would love to see more work from this writer. I read Starfish Summer after my daughter raved about it and I agree wholehearteldy with her. The characters are beautifully constructed and are warm, funy and most of all, approachable. Amy, the main character, is in the process of learning who she is. For a long time, a Momma's Girl, on her first time away from her Mother, she begins to understand the "remarks "of her peers calling her a Momma Girl. Through a series of encounters with some dynamic and quirky characters at the beach, she begins to find her inner strenth and wins the friendship of a unwilling girl her age. What was most impressive in a book for this age was that the author didn't try to solve all the worlds problems nor lecture about how parents should be. One little girl with a big heart and a lot of courage shows us simply and subtley how by looking at the things we fear on their own terms, we can begin to solve them and grow in the process.