Under the Watsons' Porch [Paperback]

Susan Shreve (Author)

Book Description

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

Twelve-year-old Ellie Tremont is bored, and she wishes something, anything, would happen to make her feel alive. So when 14-year-old Tommy Bowers moves in next door, Ellie knows her summer is about to get a lot more interesting. When Tommy suggests they start a camp for the kids on their street under their elderly neighbors’, the Watsons, porch, Ellie quickly agrees. And when Tommy gives her a diamond necklace that he says he bought, she’s suspicious, though smitten. But by the time her parents don’t want her spending time with him, she’s already given him her heart.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8–The novel opens on Ellie Tremont's 12th birthday; she is the quintessential bored preteen. Her summer begins to look up when she meets her new neighbor. Tommy Bowers, 13, is a foster child with lots of swagger, a mysterious past, and bad-boy appeal, and Ellie senses right away that her parents won't like him. He decides that they should run a camp under the elderly and deaf Watson sisters' porch on Saturday mornings for the little kids in the neighborhood. The children love the charismatic boy and he genuinely enjoys entertaining them. Not wanting to leave him, Ellie asserts her independence and refuses to go away to camp. She stops going out with her friends and family, waiting for presumptuous and controlling Tommy to call. He steals an expensive necklace from his foster mother and gives it to Ellie; she is suspicious, but wants to believe everything he says. When he shoplifts some candy, she eventually confronts him. In an ending that seems abrupt and too neat, Tommy inexplicably wins over Ellie's parents. Although Shreve nicely captures emerging adolescence and adeptly explores the thrill and complexity of a girl's first infatuation, some didacticism and the lack of resolution are disappointing.–Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Gr. 5-8. Twelve-year-old Ellie, sitting alone on her birthday, having not been invited to a more popular girl's birthday party, meets Tommy, a foster kid whose family has just moved in next door. Tommy puffs on unlit cigarettes, shrouds himself in lies, and is absolutely adorable. By the time Tommy gives Ellie a beautiful diamond necklace, readers will have fallen for him every bit as hard and as fast as she has. Most will realize that a kid like Tommy couldn't afford such a necklace, but it's hard not to love him in spite of his problems, particularly when he suggests to Ellie that they run a camp for younger kids under the old Watson sisters' porch. There, Tommy intends to have kids plant seeds that will magically sprout into lollipops. Tommy's believable mix of sweetness and danger makes him a compelling love interest, and Ellie's first-person narration is utterly and immediately believable. As in her previous novel, Trout and Me (2002), Shreve imagines a troubled kid with unusual sensitivity and depth, and this novel will be treasured by readers for the way it renders the mundane magical, making seeds sprout love and lollipops. John Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Paperback: 199 pages
• Publisher: Yearling (April 11, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440419697
• ISBN-13: 978-0440419693
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.4 x 7.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #271,226 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartwarming story about life-altering relationships, September 10, 2004

By 

A Customer (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Under the Watsons' Porch (Hardcover)

Twelve-year old Ellie Tremont feels like the hot summer days in suburbia are blending into each other, with one as boring as the next. Everything changes when the Bowers family moves in next door. The Bowers are older parents who adopted fourteen-year old Tommy just four years ago. The neighborhood is already bursting with gossip, even before the new family moves in. Tommy is known to be a "handful" and "had been in trouble with the police."

Ellie meets Tommy Bowers at the peak of her boredom. It's her birthday, and instead of celebrating with friends, Ellie is home alone drinking lemonade out of a wine glass. She had to cancel her birthday party because Rosie O'Leary from school was having hers on the same day, and she sent out her invitations before Ellie. And to make matters worse, Ellie wasn't even invited to Rosie's party!

Tommy Bowers sees Ellie on her front porch and calls her over. He's examining the Watson's porch and looking under it. The Watsons are elderly sisters who live together and would never notice or hear them. Under the Watson's porch is spacious and private --- the perfect place for a secret hideout! Tommy proposes that they use the space to hold a special magic camp for all the neighborhood kids on Sunday mornings. Ellie agrees to help, and thinks that she may always go along with Tommy's plans: "There's something about Tommy Bowers that makes me want to say yes to everything he asks. He could ask me to run away from home with him or skip school or take a nap in my parents' bed, which even I'm not allowed to do. And I'd probably say yes. I'm thinking this could be the rule to our friendship from now on."

Ellie's parents are not happy about their daughter hanging out with a troublesome boy. Despite their concern, Ellie finds herself completely smitten with Tommy. She has a crush on him that is very different from her other crushes: "This is something else. I feel as if I've swallowed a space capsule and I'm launched in a flash of light, my stomach full of Day-Glo or sequins or something sparkling inside."

When Tommy gets in trouble again --- this time involving Ellie --- it's up to him to prove to both Ellie's parents and his own that he can change his ways.

UNDER THE WATSON'S PORCH is a tender story about an important relationship in a young girl's life. Author Susan Shreve does a nice job of telling a simple story with a lot of heart. Shreve masterfully develops the characters of the young Ellie and Tommy. Tommy is very similar to James Dean. Although he's charming, he gets into trouble. Ellie is overwhelmed with feelings and doesn't know what to do with them. UNDER THE WATSON'S PORCH is an enjoyable read that will leave you thinking about why people do what they do and how they can change for the better.

--- Reviewed by Kristi Olson ([e-mail])

5.0 out of 5 stars Her new friend faces the challenge of providing his worth, August 8, 2004

By 

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

This review is from: Under the Watsons' Porch (Hardcover)

Ellie is bored and looking for action, so when a boy two years older moves in next door, the pre-teen is thrilled - increasingly so when a secret club and a 'real' diamond necklace are offered. Her newfound romance causes her parents alarm, and her new friend faces the challenge of providing his worth in Under The Watson's Porch.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Under The Watson's Porch By: S. Siegler, November 22, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Under the Watsons' Porch (Hardcover)

The book I am reading is Under The Watson's Porch. So far it is really great. The main charcters are Ellie Tremont and Tommy Bowers. One main event that I have read through so far is, when Tommy Bowers throws a birthday party for Ellie under the Watson's porch when he just met her the other day! You might not want to read this if you are under twelve years old because it is kind of disgusting and wrong. Even though I am only on the first part of the book, the suspense is killing me and I want to read more. So as you can see, the book really gets you reading and Under The Watson's Porch is definitely interesting.