Who Is Eddie Leonard? [Hardcover]

Harry Mazer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1993

Nonplussed by the obfuscations of his grandmother on the subject, fifteen-year-old Eddie Leonard hopes he has found the key to his birth and the identity of his parents in a missing child poster that features his own likeness.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Mazer ( Snow Bound ) offers a Sommersby of sorts for YA readers, a darker version of Caroline Cooney's The Face on the Milk Carton . A teenage boy shows up on the Diaz family's doorstep holding a Missing Child poster and claiming to be their lost son, Jason, the boy in the poster. The Diazes--Connie, Bruce and daughter Miller--are immediately suspicious of this newcomer's motives. But after he sprains an ankle and can't walk, they let him stay temporarily, though they don't know whether to call him Jason or Eddie, the name given to him by the recently deceased woman who raised him and who may or may not have been his grandmother. After Jason/Eddie gets into serious trouble and well after Mazer establishes that the family never quite trusts him, Bruce locates the boy's birth certificate, proving he is not Jason Diaz after all. Mazer does a better job with internal monologue than with dialogue, and there are a few too many scenes in which Jason/Eddie repeats "I'm Jason. Jason Diaz," to the family's skeptical reactions. But the character does work, at least partially, as a metaphor for the alienation that many teenagers feel. Readers may also appreciate the unsentimental treatment of the main character, who is far from perfect and far from innocent. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-9-Eddie Leonard thinks he recognizes himself in a picture of a missing child, Jason Diaz, and, after the abusive grandmother who raised him dies, he decides to reclaim his "family." He finds the Diazes easily but, after hoping for their son's return for 12 years, they (now divorced) are understandably suspicious. Miller, Jason's younger sister, is both attracted to and repelled by him. The story is somewhat unconvincing in its focus on the search for psychological rather than physical evidence about the boy's identity. Mrs. Diaz especially believes that she should instinctively know whether or not he is her son. No blood tests are done; no dental records or fingerprints are compared. Jason was only three when he disappeared, so perhaps such information would not be available, but surely the baby's blood type would be on file somewhere. Dr. Diaz has Eddie investigated, but not immediately. In fact, plenty of time is allowed for the family to become attached to him before his real birth certificate is produced, proving that he is not Jason after all. Instead of a compelling plot, Mazer has written a series of strong character studies. The problem is that readers never feel drawn into their world; a certain detachment is always maintained. The premise is reminiscent of Caroline Cooney's The Face on the Milk Carton (Bantam, 1990), but Mazer's writing is much more spare and hard-edged, and much less accessible or entertaining.
Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 188 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (November 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385311362
• ISBN-13: 978-0385311366
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,165,125 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Harry Mazer is the author of many books for young readers, including A Boy at War and A Boy No More, which introduced Adam Pelko; The Wild Kid; and Snow Bound. His books have won numerous honors, including the Horn Book Honor List and the ALA Best Books for Young Adults citations. He is the recipient of the ALAN Award. Harry Mazer lives in New York City and Montpelier, Vermont.

Harry Mazer says, "After I finished A Boy at War, I wanted to write about Adam Pelko again, but what was the story to be? It wasn't until after the tragedies of September eleventh that I found the focus I needed to continue his story." Periods of war and national emergency have never been kind to personal liberties. In the aftermath of September eleventh many Arab and Muslim Americans find themselves under suspicion and their rights jeopardized. In some ways this is what happened after Pearl Harbor, when Japanese Americans were demonized and their rights were trampled. I know that history never simply repeats itself, but I hope that through Adam and Davi's story readers will recognize the parallels--and the perils."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An emotioally involving drama., November 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Who Is Eddie Leonard? (Hardcover)

Who is Eddie Leonard? by Harry Mazer, was an emotionally involving book. Whenever I read, I felt as if I were Eddie. The scenes felt so real that I could not put the book down. I could feel Eddie's pain when his grandmother and uncle hurt him. The most emotional scenes were when they hurt him. I could not believe what Eddie had to go through for the first fifteen years of his life. The grandmother and Uncle Steward were my least favorite characters. I disapproved to what they did to Eddie because they were physically and mentally abusive to Eddie. For the first fifteen years of his life, he lived with his grandmother. Eddie's grandmother told him all different stories about his who and where his mother was. Her telling him the stories was just the beginning of mental abuse. At night, she would tell him that she hated him. After Eddie felt unwanted, she would cuddle with him. I feel this is the worst way to raise a child. If a child's mind is played around with too much, the child is likely to have problems later in life. When Eddie was four, his grandmother threw him out of their apartment building window. How can someone through a child out of a window? I could not believe she was that cruel and did that to Eddie. I feel that no one deserves to be abused for any reason. His grandmother also assailed Eddie for saying he was hungry. If she bought food and fed him then he would not say he was hungry. Eddie's grandmother was not the only person who abused him; his uncle Steward also made his life awful. He would give Eddie presents, and then take them back when he went home. Eddie never had a caring family. Everyone needs some kind of love. Eddie Leonard never had anyone to love him. I felt bad for Eddie at school because the kids never accepted him. Eddie was always making up stories about his life. He told children at school that his father was a professional wrestler. Children are cruel to other children for wrong reasons. Most of the stories Eddie told were from his grandmother. She was wrong for telling Eddie the obnoxious stories. She should have known that children will believe whatever adults say. The children at school thought this was something to make fun of Eddie for. He never had family waiting for him everyday after school, and he never had friends waiting for him in school. Eddie would skip school because no one accepted him. Eddie's grandmother never cared about Eddie not going to school. If she cared about Eddie, then she would have made him go to school everyday. When Eddie was not in school, he started a habit of smoking cigarettes. He would watch his grandmother smoke whenever she was stressed out. Instead of learning in school, Eddie would learn bad habits from his grandmother. Eddie did not have a positive role model to follow. He should have done what he thought was right. I do not like what the grandmother would do to Eddie. She showed too much negative behavior. If I were Eddie Leonard, I know I would be depressed. How can someone live without any friends or loving family? Overall, Who is Eddie Leonard? was an excellent book that engrossed me completely. I would recommend that anyone who wants to read an emotionally involving book should think about reading this. I have not read any of Harry Mazer's other stories, but I plan on finding another. If his others are as well written, then I am sure I will enjoy them.

5.0 out of 5 stars It is one of the best books I've ever read, August 22, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Who Is Eddie Leonard? (Hardcover)

I think that 'Who Is Eddie Leonard' is kinda heart-wrenching. He feels lost, confused, and doesn't belong everywhere. He had to live on his own for such a long time, and before he is even 18, he feels really disappointed that who he thought were his family, wasn't really, and decides to leave. But no one really wants him back.Connie and Bruce just let him roam. he wasn't their son, anyway. The only person who probably even thinks of him was Miller. He is really pitiful and his actions show his need for a family and love. But there is always a mean streak in him. He probably needed to vent his anger, his confusion about who he really was, the way his 'family' treated him and his lousy life. And I thought it was pretty sad that he ended up without what he really wanted most. His 'family' just disappeared like a shooting star and that was that. I could tell he really missed them, but he felt that he was an outcast and he simply couldn't go back and expect to be accepted. In the conversation, Connie gave Eddie false hope. He thought she wanted him back. But no...it was just friendship. I truly felt sorry for Eddie then. He was so desperate for a family, he managed to convince himself that his cruel grandmother wasn't his grandmother, and that he was really Jason Diaz, who had a family. I only wished that his grandmother had loved him a little more...and told him truthfully who he really was. Perhaps then, he could have been a little happier

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who Is Eddie Leonard, February 14, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Who Is Eddie Leonard? (Laurel-Leaf Books) (Mass Market Paperback)

Eddie's mother a banded him when he was a baby, well that's what he thinks. His grandmother raised him. He wants to find about his mother but every time he asks his grandmother she tells him something different. He really wants to find out about his mother. One day his grandmother dies so he has no place to go! He had seen his face on a missing children ad. He looks up the number in the phone book. He makes his way to their house by hitch hiking, walking, and busses. Anything you can name he took to get there. When he got there, he was to scared to go up to the house. He stayed in the garage for four days. He finally heard his father in the garage one night he went down to tell him he was his son. And well you will have to read to find out what happened.