While No One Was Watching [Hardcover]

Jane Leslie Conly (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up

Frankie tags along when his older brother and cousin go out to steal bicycles from people in the "rich" part of town. On the spur of the moment, his cousin steals a pet rabbit from a stranger's backyard and gives it to Frankie. Frankie takes the rabbit home, and keeps it as his secret. Both the rabbit and the secret are dearer to him than anything he has ever possessed. On the other side of town, however, Addie and her neighbor Maynard aren't about to give up searching for Addie's beloved pet. One small incident sets off a larger chain of events in which the youngest citizens of two very different worlds collide.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As in her previous novels, Conly (Crazy Lady; Trout Summer) once again explores vivid characters living on the fringe of society, this time taking the point of view of the misfits themselves. Earl, Frankie and Angela Foster are temporarily left in the care of their Aunt Lula while their widower father is away seeking work and housing. The novel's shift in perspectives among the three children give readers a well-rounded view of their destitute home life. As Lula's drinking escapades take her away for longer stretches, the children must fend for themselves, and the eldest sibling, Earl, falls under the influence of his 18-year-old cousin, Wayne. On one occasion, the pair steal bicycles from an affluent neighborhood and seven-year-old Frankie, tagging along, kidnaps a rabbit he finds in a hutch. The hunt for the rabbit by its owner leads to help for the Foster children, as well as the intervention in a near murder. By writing from the children's points of view, Conly achieves a riveting immediacy and a wistful sense of irony (as when Frankie recalls, "Lula said to watch out for trouble, and he tried to, but he wasn't always sure what trouble looked like"). Their situation is all the more poignant because of the children's ignorance of its severity. Readers will likely overlook the tidy wrap-up for the suspenseful plot and the fully rendered portrait of this memorable trio. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-In a poor section of Baltimore, Earl, Angela, and Fat Frankie have been placed in their errant Aunt Lula's care by their father, who is working on the Eastern Shore to earn money for a house. However, Aunt Lula is more into drinking and dating than responsible mothering and Earl, 11, is left to care for his younger siblings when she takes off. Out of fear, Earl has allowed Lula's son, Wayne, to use him as an accomplice while stealing bicycles but he becomes increasingly uneasy as their forays escalate into robbing the homeless. Conly's grittiest characters are the most believable and interesting. Tough-talking, whopper-telling Angela is afraid of monsters and wets the bed. Too young to understand he's stealing, Frankie is so starved for affection that he takes a pet rabbit during one of Wayne's thefts and unwittingly sets two children from affluent and caring homes on their trail. Conly is at her best when depicting the working poor in their struggle for survival. Angela's first interaction with the tonier part of town is highly amusing, but the author's take on the upper-class children seems flat and stereotypical. The third-person narration has a revolving point of view that may confuse readers. While this novel is similar in setting and subject matter, it lacks the unity and impact of Crazy Lady (HarperCollins, 1993). Still, it is worth a read for its humorous parts and for the realistic portrayal of the way bad luck and poor choices chew on poor people and how basically decent children can be pressured into doing the wrong thing.
Cindy Darling Codell, Clark Middle School, Winchester, KY
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); 1st edition (April 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805039341
• ISBN-13: 978-0805039344
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,437,420 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "'I want...' Frankie stopped. All at once he knew he couldn't have what he wanted.", November 19, 2005

By 

Avid (NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: While No One Was Watching (Paperback)

While No One Was Watching is a very powerful book about the struggles of three children left on their own. This realistic fiction tells the story of Frankie, Earl, and Angela the summer they are left with Aunt Lula. They have a struggling father who has left to earn money and a permanently absent mother. Aunt Lula is all the children have and one day she doesn't come home. Left with no money and no one to turn to, the three children try to survive. The oldest son turns to stealing bikes and Frankie tuns all his attention to the only good thing in his life, the rabbit he stole. One of the most powerful points of this book is the paralleling story on the other side of town. Conly contasts the hardships of three down-and-out children with the uptown girl whose rabbit was stolen.
This book is worth the read for the potent reality it illustrates. It has strong themes of survival, love, and poverty.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars While No One Was Watching, November 25, 2005

By 

Jeffrey "Mak Kai Chun" (Shanghai) - See all my reviews

This review is from: While No One Was Watching (Paperback)

"While No One Was Watching" is a famous book that won the Boston Globe- Horn Book Award in 1998. It was written by Jane Leslie Conly.
The story is about two brothers and a sister who spent the summer with their aunt while their dad was away for finding a job. The main character, Frankie, was seven years old and he had an elder brother called Earl and a younger sister called Angela. Frankie's mother died when Frankie was two years old. Aunt Lulu was requested to take care of them. However, when Aunt Lulu went out, the kids were left unattended and they got no food and no money. At this moment, Wayne, who is a friend of Earl's, brought Earl to steal bikes from other people. Therefore, Earl and Wayne always stole bikes for money. One day, Frankie also went out with Earl and Wayne. While Earl and Wayne were stealing a bike in someone's backyard, Frankie saw a rabbit and took it home. Because of missing her rabbit, Addie and her friend, Maynard, tried to trace any possible clues to find the rabbit. They acted like detectives and searched for the path of the footprints. By following the footprints, they found Frankie. While they were asking Frankie, they saw Wayne robbing an old man's house. They called the police and arrested Wayne at once. The old man was safe. The rabbit was also returned to Addie. Though Frankie was fond of the rabbit, he realized that he had done wrong by taking away other people's properties without any permission. Earl, in fact, tried to stop Wayne from robbing the old man as he knew that he had gone too wrong. Therefore, only Wayne was arrested by the police. Later, Frankie`s dad found a job and the whole family could live happily together.
Part of this book is similar to the stories of Sherlock Holmes, because the Addie's friend Maynard used various devices of detective's to find Frankie. The other part of the story was about how children spent their time and what the main element most kids need.
Readers that love to hear stories of children and like detective stories would best appreciate this book.
I chose this book because the title gives me a mysterious feeling and the cover of the book is attractive.
The best part of this book is when Maynard and Addie both tried to figure out who stole the rabbit. They searched for footprints on the floor and signs of rabbit in Frankie's house. When they found that Frankie had the rabbit, they made funny assumptions about their suspect.

0 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars OK, March 31, 2000

By 

"coolpanda" - See all my reviews

This review is from: While No One Was Watching (Paperback)

This book was ok! it was sort of boring though! The characters were very interesting though!