Customer Reviews

T-Backs, T-Shirts, Coats, and Suits

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4 star:		(4)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Chloe is desperately looking for a way to get away from her friends and the pressure of fitting in for the summer. She asks her mother and stepfather what to do, and her stepfather decides that she should spend the summer in Florida with his older sister, Bernadette. Chloe isn't thrilled about the idea, but it seems as though it is her only choice. She boards a plane and sets off from New Jersey to live with her aunt for a few weeks.

Bernadette is a very strange woman, but Chloe promised her stepfather she would give the woman a chance, so she does. Soon she is used to the routine--getting up early every morning to help Bernadette load up and then sell food from a lunch wagon, then off to the beach where Bernadette is teaching her to swim before dinner in the evenings. Things seem to be going really well.

Then two of the women who drive lunch wagons start wearing t-back bathing suits--thongs--to work. Suddenly they are getting all of the business and Bernadette doesn't have as many customers anymore. Soon everyone except Bernadette is wearing a t-back to work, and their story is getting coverage on the news. A local religious group is doing its best to stop what they see as a moral crisis. Bernadette is refusing to get involved on either side. She won't wear a t-back but she also won't sign a petition against them. As things heat up in town, though, it's beginning to look like Bernadette may be forced to choose a side.

I liked Bernadette's character and how she didn't change her life or herself to accommodate Chloe. I also liked seeing how the escalation of the t-back war changed things in town. I thought Tyler's character was really annoying and I couldn't figure out why Chloe would even go to the trouble of harassing him when she should have just stayed out of his way.

people may say this book is too "hippy" but i think it is a fun and enjoyable book about basicly not judging a book by it's cover. Yes i confess that i chose this book because of it's cover but i am glad i did. it jumps right in to the plot of the story and never drags on.

Cloe's stepfather sends her to FL to visit his sister. Cloe thinks that this will be boring. Cloe has always had to compete with the in and outs of styles if it is fashion or boys you have to know when to like it or hate it. She soon finds out that in some cases you need to not care if your hair is frizzy or if you are sweating like a pig but as long as you are enjoying being with the people you are with. READ THIS BOOK PLEASE!!!!

Hippies, witches and religious fundamentalists - E.L. Konigsburg brings them all together in T-Backs, T-Shirts, Coat and Suit. Twelve-year-old Chlo? does not like conformity. In order to escape the peer pressure of trying to be just like her friends, she wants to go away from her New Jersey home for the summer. She agrees with her adoptive father to go stay with his sister Bernadette in Florida and help her out when she needs it.

Bernadette is much different than people Chlo? is used to and does things in her own way. She works selling food from a van and is successful. However, that changes when other sellers begin wearing t-backs (thongs) and take away her business. Bernadette refuses to follow along, but refuses to disclose why.

Controversy erupts, as the religious fundamentalists from the Church of the Endless Horizon protest the lack of morality. They try to enlist Bernadette, but she refuses.

Meanwhile, Chlo? meets the thirteen-year-old Tyler, who is very sure of himself. In order to get the better of him, she manages to convince him that Bernadette is a witch, which later leads to disaster.

Throughout the book, characters talk about history in short anecdotes that give some of the reasons for what they did. Some of the anecdotes were from the characters' lives (this is where the hippies come in). Like some of Konigsburg's other stories, the lives of the characters are connected together in a variety of ways. Other stories included famous historical figures like Galileo, enabling the reader to learn something. All of this information shows how the past affects the present.

In this book, Konigsburg crafted another compelling story. The characters are strong and stand up for themselves, and provide good role models for standing up to peer pressure. In conclusion, the book is amusing and should appeal to a variety of readers.

I love and admire Bernadette, Chloë's aunt. She is really brave and great. I wanna be a handsome woman like Bernadette.

I loved it. I will treasure this book forever!
I really know what Chloe thinks, feels, and realizes.
E.L. Konigsburg is the greatest author in the world.

I read this book a long time after I had discovered the magic of Konigsburg's work and found more here. This is a skillful and clever weaving of fact and fiction, past and present. The story is set in northern Florida and encompasses Chloe's summer stay with her stepfather's sister, Bernadette, who is more than just a little out of the ordinary. While Chloe is at first eager to brag about her aunt's eccentricities, not expecting them to cause trouble, she finds that some less-tolerable people find a problem with them (I am intentionally vague because I don't want to give too much away.). Meanwhile, a controversy among Bernadette's co-workers, involving their decision to wear T-back swimsuits in order to get more business, envelops the town. This book explores the ideas of taking sides, standing up for what you believe in, and acceptance without being corny, cheesy, melodramatic, or preachy (especially).
One of the most intriguing things about this book is that the T-back controversy was inspired by a motion in Konigsburg's hometown to ban t-backs, and the probing of Bernadette is linked to the Salem witch trials, which, as is pointed out by Konigsburg, had its anniversary at the time of the t-back banning.
I cannot give enough praise to this book, and I must insist that you read this if you are over 12 years old (younger may not understand the complex concepts, but there is nothing inappropriate). I recommend all of Konigsburg's books, however the indispensable are Silent to the Bone (for young adults only), The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (which also has an interesting real-life connection), The Second Mrs. Giaconda (an explanation of Da Vinci and his Mona Lisa), and The Outcasts of 13 Schuyler Place (her latest, an A+++++!). Like I said, a definite must-read!

This book is outstanding! The combination of witchcraft,high society,loyalty,betrayal,standing up for what you believe in, and believing lies twisted together,your outcome is T-backs,T-shirts,COAT, and Suit. This is the tale of two people who say they're fighting to get rid of T-backs, A two piece bathing suit that only has two strips of cloth as the bottom piece,but, in truth, their fighting for something much more powerful than that.The accusations of being witches and the secret reason of why they really won't wear T-backs is what you'll find out in this mysterious book! Konigsburg is the greatest writer of them all!!

The book T-Backs,T-Shirts, Coat, and Suit is about a girl named Chloe who has to go to her step- dad's sister's house,Bernadette over the summer. The book is mostly about what she does and who she meets, and how they try to ban a kind of bathing suit called a T- Back. A good point about the book is that all the characters are all different and fun to read about, and a bad point is that the end of the book is sort of confusing. But other than that it is a great book.

The book t backs t shirts COAT and suit is a great book. I have read two of E.L. Koningsburg's books and so far this is the best. This books showed me to believe in my self and dont believe everything everone says. It covered every subject i was looking for in a book

This book really covers the bases: witchcraft, friends, family, religion, hippies and food. What more could you want? You must follow Chloe on her summer of suprises, this is one of Konigsburg's finest!