True Blue [Hardcover]

Jeffrey Lee (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

Molly hates being the new kid. Chrys hates being the weird kid. Both have secrets. Molly’s is at home; Chrys’s is under the ratty trench coat he wears to school every day. But when Molly realizes that she and Chrys would make a winning team for the science competition, an unlikely friendship develops, encouraging both to reveal their true colors.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-8-After recovering from the physical and emotional trauma of a car accident, Molly must attend a new middle school. Her prominent science-journalist father is bound to a wheelchair, his speech garbled, his facial muscles paralyzed. Her mother has moved the family to a more affordable apartment and is working as a waitress to try and make ends meet. On Molly's first day at school, she meets Chrys, a painfully shy boy shrouded in a too-large overcoat. He is teased by the other students and taunted by the school bully. The two outsiders develop a friendship while working on a joint science competition. When Molly discovers Chrys's butterfly wings unfurled from under his bulky coat, this story takes a far-fetched twist. Unfortunately, formulaic dialogue and shallow character development plague this book. Molly's response to Chrys's affliction is more of a "gee whiz, why didn't you tell me?" attitude, rather than genuine shock and wonderment. Stories of metamorphosis do work, but this one is swaddled in a community teeming with superficial characters and ill-disguised social stigmas, and it seems to be grasping for meaning. For a thought-provoking and allegorical experience in "morphing," look to David Almond's Skellig (Delacorte, 1999).
Alison Follos, North Country School, Lake Placid, NY
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A terrible car accident has crippled Molly’s father and shattered her life in this slight but moving friendship tale."— -- Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 2003

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (September 9, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385730934
• ISBN-13: 978-0385730938
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,426,926 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lovely and provocative book for middle school kids, September 29, 2003

By 

Margaret Rosenfeld (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: True Blue (Hardcover)

This fine first novel for 9 to 14 year olds by Jeffrey Lee deals with the important issue of feeling different and left out that loom so large in the life of our middle schoolers. The book also carefully weaves in the themes of love between a daughter and her father and a daughter and her mother after a car-wreck (for which the daughter blames herself) cripples her father and forces her mother to become a busy waitress in order to make ends meet. The School Library Review mentions shallow character development but I disagree strongly. The character development seems very appropriate for the targeted audience and for the slim size of the book. The hints of magic add color and depth as well. Highly recommended.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lovely book for 5th -12th graders, September 24, 2003

By 

Dave Richardson (Bethesda, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: True Blue (Hardcover)

But this old man liked it too. I picked up this book on the suggestion of a friend, and found it to be kindhearted and full of important lessons for kids. Jeffrey Lee's prose is clean, crisp and unencumbered, allowing the reader to lose him or herself in this lively and quickly moving story.

The story line itself comes as a charming surprise and a very origional twist on the theme of teenage outsiders who find each other and in the end discover the meaning of true friendship. But this tale also involves the empathy and love between a daughter and her father following the father's disabling car accident (for which the daughter blames herself), the same empathy and love between a daughter and her mother surrounding the mother's loss of her husband to a permanant disability, the stresses on a close family surrounding the move from a comfortable, predictable life into a new neighborhood, a new apartment, and for the main charactor, a new school.

At the new school, the main character, Molly, confronts a series of difficult situations, but perserveres with a strong charactor, belief in herself and clear concept of right and wrong. Both she and Chrys, her new friend who has a magical secret, discover the meaning of true friendship and mutual support. And Molly's family perserveres because, in the end, they show themselves to be people of love, depth, and character.

In short, the book is well written, a page turner, has a great, unique plot, and contains a host of very positive messages for kids. Young readers will be carried along by the story, while learning critical lessons regarding the difficult but all-important process of the development of their own unique inner moral code. Highly recomended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Links go beyond coincidence in this story of friendship, October 6, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: True Blue (Hardcover)

Jeffrey Lee's True Blue tells of two outsiders: Molly the new kid, Chrys the weird kid. The two form a bond because of a science competition, only to find other links which go beyond coincidence in this story of friendship.