Customer Reviews

Strays Like Us

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

 

 

Strays Like Us by Richard Peck is a fictional story about a girl name Molly Moberly. Molly is a 12-year-girl sent to live with her Aunt Fay in a small Missouri town while her mtoher is in the hospital. Aunt Fay, a distant relative, is Molly's only family. Aunt Fay works hard all over town as a home nurse. Molly waits for her mom everyday to come back. Molly is a pretty good artist but she only draws pictures of Debbie, her absent mother. She meets a boy named Will McKinney, who lives with his grandparents next door. Will tells Molly that they are two strays living with relatives. The McKinney's have a secret that will change Will's family dramatically.

School starts, and Molly has to enroll because her mom has not came back for her yet. Not making any friends, Molly meets a home-schooled girl named Tracy at the public library. Everything is so perfect. Molly thinks that it would be cool to have a girl as a friend until Tracy invites her over and Molly realizes that she is not accepted in Tracy's world. Others, including her teachers, try to take Molly out of her shell but they fail in doing that. When Molly learns the terrible truth about her mother, the dramatic experience will change her forever. This book will keep you turning the pages at the edge of your seat. Molly and Will are Strays Like Us in this unraveling five star novel recommended for everyone!!
By: Ariel, Camille, Kristen, and Stefanie
Ms. Malone's 7th grade reading class!

I think that a "Strays Like Us" is fantastic book. Molly's mother is in the hospital for her drug addiction. So Molly is sent to stay with her Aunt Fay. She meets a boy named Will who also is a stray without his parents. They go to school together and become close friends. I think that everyone who likes to read will like this book.

I picked it up and couldn't put it down. The plot had stuff going at all times so there weren't any boring or slow parts. I highly reccommend it!

It seems like every other YA novel these days has a first-person adolescent female narrator relating the story of her miserable life. I call them Gloomies, the literary equivalent of all those 50's pop tunes where young lovers were drowning in each other's arms, dying in car accidents or being run over by speeding locomotives. I have to admit that Richard Peck's "Strays Like Us' isn't as overwhelmingly bitter or dark as Norma Fox Mazer's "When She Was Good" or Brock Cole's "The Facts Speak For Themselves". It has a breezy, quick-read style and some truly likable characters. But ten years ago in a book of this ilk, Molly, our protagonist, would only have had to deal with the memory of her drug-addict mother as she struggles to adapt to a new junior high school and learns to accept living with a hard-edged aunt (who really does love her). But today, Molly must also deal with a number of secrets involving a school bully, an aging hypochondriac, child abuse, arson, and AIDS. The book is only around 150 pages long, so you see why it moves so quickly. Even so, Molly is such a well-drawn character that, as she relates it, the plot unfolds believably. Yet I liked our heroine so much, I wish she hadn't had quite so many problems piled on top of her.

I think that Strays like us is a fantastic book. Molly's mother is in a hospital for her drug addiction. Molly is sent to stay at her Aunt fays house. She meets a boy named Will also a stray wiuth no parents. They become friends and find out that they are not the only strays ther are lots more.

I have read a lot of books; three or four a week for the last 20 years. Many many of them have been very good. Few, however, are written as well as this one. Richard Peck is a fine author. I believe this may be his best book.

It is not a long story, I read it in just a few hours. The depth of character development in this book is amazing, though. Also, Peck chooses his words so well. Many times I found myself thinking, "My this is good!" I wish I could write that way.

What I find most interesting, however, is Peck's use of punctuation marks - or lack of it. About halfway through the book, I realized that he never used exclamation points. Oh, he did one or two times for a minor character, but never, not once, for the main character, Molly. Not during the fight. Not at the McKinney's on Thanksgiving Day. Not when she found out about her mother. Never once. Read the book with that in mind and notice how well it fits the story.

Highly recommended. I am buying a personal copy of this book now.

This book is twisted. It has so many twists and turns a person can get lost in the book yet know every single detail. I like it like that.

Molly Moberly is sent to stay with her great Aunt Fay a retired nurse.When her mother Debbie is put in the hospital for drug problems.While up in her tree fort she meets Will who's staying
with his grandparents The McKinney's next door.They become friends.Yet for some reason Will does'nt want Molly coming inside his grandparents house.One day Aunt Fay goes there on an emergency call.Molly begins to wonder what are the McKinney's and Will hiding ? She also wonders if her mother Debbie will ever come to get her.

I like this book 'Stays Like Us' because it's about two kis, a boy and a girl, that have the same problem and become friends over that problem. I also like the book because the girl was tough, which you don't really see, and thought she knew everything but found out you can't know everything. One thing I didn't like about the book is the girl was a little too tough, like she fell out of a tree and didn't get hurt.

My favorite part of the book was when Emma, the girl, was in the bathroom and a short boy, who was in her grade, was in there too. Emma beat him up and a teacher came in and took them to the office.

The most vivid story elements would have to be setting and conflict. The setting was vivid because the girl kept talking about what she hated about the town where she was. the conflict was vivid because Emma kept wondering when her mom would come back an get her, which never happened.

I'm sorry to say that this plot reminded me of a piece of clothing: continually washed, scrubbed, bleached, dried, and washed again. The book starts with another kid who has been forced to go live with a boring relative for a while because of parent problems. How many times have we heard that one? Molly's mother is a drug addict so she is sent to live with her retired nurse Aunt Fay. In her new neighborhood she communicates with a boy named Will, and their relashionship eventually deepens to a weak, unconvincing love. Molly also meets Mrs. Voorhees, a charectar whom I found extremely annoying because of her rash conversations and greedy nature. Even so, this book is not terrible. Molly is realistic in some ways and many charectars can come through instead of sitting, trapped, in that haze that results from bad writing. But on the whole, it's another adolescent book with a "never-see-Mother-again" feel that concludes for a very poor read. If you do pick this book up, do not have high standards. Peck has some other books that are better; read those instead of this.