The Zebra Wall [Hardcover]

Kevin Henkes (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up

The Vorlob family is making preparations. Preparations for the new baby, soon to arrive. Getting ready includes painting a mural in the baby's nursery and making a list of possible names. Adine, age ten, is used to the routine -- she has four sisters already: Bernice, Carla, Dot, and Effie. This time, however, the routine is broken. In more ways than one. Most significantly, Aunt Irene will be staying with the Vorlobs until Mrs. Vorlob is rested and back on her feet. Aunt Irene arrives, as does the baby, but nothing goes quite as expected. Especially for Adine.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The softened watercolor worlds of Henkes's picture books sometimes distract readers from his acute understanding of just how harsh life can be. This awareness is glimpsed in his first novel, Two Under Par, but this new one is even more unflinching and more sensitive. Adine Vorlob doesn't like her Aunt Irene, who has a whiskery moustache and a habit of smoking narrow brown cigarettes, and readers will find it all too easy to dislike Irene, too. But she is moving into Adine's room while the Vorlobs adjust to the new baby, which surprises them all by being a boy (Adine's four other siblings are girls). The arrival of this boy breaks family tradition in many ways, not the least of which is the alphabetical order of the girls' namesAdine, Bernice, Carla, Dot and Effie. This is not another new-baby story; Henkes knows that every worry in a child's life has many layers. He depicts Adine's concerns with depth and sweetly persuasive touches of compassion, treating the thoughts and feelings of a 10-year-old with uncanny justice. Ages 8-up.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6 Henkes' story presents a lov ing, creative family with Adine Vorlob, a sensitive, intelligent youngster as the main character. The arrival of a sixth child provides the catalyst which helps ten-year-old Adine understand her ec centric and bossy Aunt Irene. As the oldest, Adine has participated in the traditional creation of a special nursery wall to celebrate the first initial of each of her five sisters, all named alphabeti cally from B to E. All of the family is convinced that a sixth female will join the line. The title announces a surpris ing change. Aunt Irene comes to care for the girls while their mother is in the hospital and stays to help out after wards, much to the children's dismay. With her sisters, Adine plots to get Aunt Irene to leave, but in the end learns compassion and understanding. Henkes' characters are well drawn and appealingly unusual. As in Two Under Par (Greenwillow, 1987), he writes with humor about a caring family. Fans of Beverly Cleary and Betsy Byars will enjoy this newest Henkes selection. Renee Steinberg, Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, N.J.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Greenwillow Books; 1st edition (April 18, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688075681
• ISBN-13: 978-0688075682
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,350,424 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kevin Henkes is the creator of many distinguished books for children, including Kitten's First Full Moon (winner of the Caldecott Medal), Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, and Chrysanthemum. His novels for young people include Olive's Ocean (a Newbery Honor Book) and Bird Lake Moon.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Zebra Wall, March 30, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Zebra Wall (Paperback)

The Zebra Wall
By: Kevin Hankes
Reviewed by: E. Shim
Period: P.6

This story is about the Vorlorb family. The main character is Adine Vorlorb who is ten-years-old. She has 4 younger sisters. Their names are in order, are; Adine,(age 10), Bernice, (age eight), Carla, (age seven), Dot, (age four), and Effie, (age 2). There was also another baby coming, and they were expecting it to be a girl, since they already had 5 girls in a row. Whenever the family was having another baby, they would make a list of names that they liked. Alphabetically, this next child would have to start with the letter 'F'. Later on her mother goes to the hospital and the girls are forced to stay at home with their most hated aunt, Aunt Irene. Soon to find out that Adine's mother had a son, not a daughter. When her mother had brought the baby home, they couldn't decide what to name him, so they left him with the name 'Baby' until they could think of one that they all liked. Adine doesn't like Aunt Irene or her ugly cat Deedee, so one day when it was raining and she was home because she was sick, she scooted Deedee out the back door and closed the door on the cat, when she knew it was pouring cats and dogs outside. Later she overhears that Aunt Irene was so thankful for having such wonderful nieces, and Adine feels guilty, runs outside, and brought back Deedee. At the end, Aunt Irene and Adine have a special bond between each other, and become best of friends. Adine's mother gives the opportunity for Aunt Irene to choose Baby's real name. Aunt Irene chooses the name Zachary, the name that Adine wanted to name her little baby brother.
I liked this book because it explains to me, as a reader that she felt isolized from her aunt's own 'world'. It explained to be what goes through a 10-year-old's mind when she sees a family member that she doesn't exactly approve of. One quote that I absolutely fell in love with is when she is talking with her sisters about Aunt Irene, "She is so BOSSY," said Adine." I like this quote because I feel as if this scene is a mere image in a mirror of me, when I talk about an adult that I don't exactly approve of.
Another quote that liked was when Aunt Irene and Adine was talking, a the author wrote a very good description about what was happening to the teapot, and I felt as if I was standing right there looking at the teapot, "The teapot was piping hot; steam rose from its spout like a chimney smoke." I love it when an author gets a little object and turns it into a big idea when he or she adds a lot good descriptive words.
My most favorite part of the book was when Aunt Irene finally told everyone in the family what she was going to name her nephew. I liked that part because Aunt Irene had thought about her oldest niece, and how Adine felt. The least part of the story was when Adine and her sisters were talking very badly about Aunt Irene and drawing mean pictures of her. I hated that part of the story because I felt that Aunt Irene didn't deserve to be talked about like that behind her back. This book taught me that even though adults say things that I may not agree with, or things that i do not want to do, those things will take be further in life, but I also highly think that children's point of view and opinions should be taken in too, because children are bright and I think that children can easily think out of the box and come up with more better ideas.

5.0 out of 5 stars "mom gimme that book!!!!!", October 10, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Zebra Wall (Puffin Books) (Paperback)

the zebra wll gives you a good idea of what children with ginormous families (and a pregnant mother) are going through. it is a FANTASTIC book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By Emily, age 8

1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book it is one of the best I have read, November 26, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Zebra Wall (Puffin Books) (Paperback)

I think this book was very good. I like how Kevin Henkes writes all his book. I think He should write a sequel on The Zebra Wall. Maybe he could have a miracle come in The Vorlob family. I think they should end up being able to have more children and have it be another girl, and redue the F wall.