Three Girls In The City: Self-Portrait (Mass Market Paperback)

by Jeanne Betancourt (Author) "A week ago, Carolyn Kuhlberg was riding a horse across open fields..." (more)
Key Phrases: portrait assignment, day campers, photography workshop, New York, Newspaper Boy, Eighth Street (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
New York City, 2002. Three 13 year-old girls meet at a summer photo class: Carolyn, fresh from Wyoming, motherless and scared; Joy, who has everything plus a bad attitude, and Maya from Harlem, strong, proud and surprised to find herself liking these 2 mismatched girls. Just as these 3 discover they're friends despite their differences, Carolyn's father decides to send her back 'home' to Wyoming. Then, in her first flush of street-smart confidence, Carolyn gets scarily lost on the subway - and it's Joy and Maya who find her - and show her dad that New York City is the home they've been looking for.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks (June 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439498392
• ISBN-13: 978-0439498395
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #747,046 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars READ THIS!!, January 7, 2004

A Kid's Review

Three Girls In The City (Self Portrait) By- Jeanne Betancourt
This book is fiction but it can be considered realistic. Since it involves New York City and how people become friends.
The theme of this book is about friendship and how when people grow and get to know each other they realize that they may have more in common than they think.
Carolyn moved from Wyoming to New York City with her father. She takes a portrait class with other kids and there she meets Maya and Joy who at first she doesn't like and all three of them don't get along. But then when they get assigned to do a project together they realized that they might have more in common than they thought. As they experience different challenges and problems, they see how the people they used to be friends with change and how much the three of them are so much alike. Carolyn's father is afraid that she is going to get hurt in Manhattan so he wants her to go back to Wyoming and live with her Grandparents and even though she misses what she had there, she has gained so much in the city. In the end she learns how much friendship really means.
This book is memorable, entertaining, and realistic even though it's not a true story. Because it makes you think how important all your friends are.
The book raises the issue of needing to get to know someone before you judge him or her and form an opinion on them. And it also teaches you that you should always respect your friends.
I like this book and the way it explains the point of friendship and the reason why we all need friends. They're the people you can go to and the people that are there when you need help which is why it's so important to care for your friends.

Ashley F.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars My review, October 22, 2006

A Kid's Review

The Three Girls In The City
Author:Jeana B.



The book I am reading is called The Three Girls In The City. The author name is Jeana B. What happens in the story is that there is a girl named Carolyn and she just moved to the city with her dad. Carolyn is taking a photographing class and she has to take the subways by herself. Carolyn dad dose not want her to go on the subways by herself. She haves a friend named Maya and they talk the subways together. Carolyn's dad thinks she is not ready for the city and thinks she should move back with her mom.

MY OPINION

1. The book that I read was good. It was not great but it was better than the last book that I read. Well, the book had girl things to it and when it you read it you got into the book. For example, the girls went shopping together, got their nails done, and their hair done. Any girl would love to read this book because these are the things girls like to do!!
2. I was able to get in to the book right away. The book was so cool. When you start to read the book you can feel how Carolyn felt like when her dad said that she can't stay in New York City with her new friends Joy and Maya. I felt so bad for her. Carolyn just made those friends too.
3. The main conflict did really interest me a lot. What interested me about it was that you did not know if Carolyn was going to go home or not. At first, her dad said, "well maybe I should let her stay and then she how she does and than if she does good she could stay". But later he changed his mind and said "I can't do that, what if I lose her and I then never find her." But in the end he said that he trusts her and he let her stay in New York City.
4. To me the characters are real. I feel like I am sitting with them and getting my hair done too. I also feel that I have been best friends with them for my whole life because I can relate to them.
5. The book ending was satisfying. Carolyn got to stay in New York with all of her new friends. It was satisfying because she got be in a new place and see new things and be with her new friends.
AUTHOR'S VOICE
1. The author has a very clam voice in the book. There is not a lot of yelling of fighting. The only time there is fighting in the story is when Carolyn's dad tells her that she can't stay in the city. That is the only time that someone yells in the story. But the rest of the story no yelling happened.
2. The author dose not really use a lot of vocabulary words in this story. She dose use vocabulary words but there are words that I know. In this story the author did not use the vocabulary words in the way that I thought it was interesting. To me the author did not even use a lot of vocabulary words in the story.
3. Some of the unique characteristics of the author's writing is she did not have a lot of expressions in the story. Also the author as always likes to have the characters talk a lot. In all of this authors book the main character always talks or tells the story.
4. The author always has the characters talk to each other and has a lot of conversations in the story. The author also puts a lot of problems in the story beteewn the characters. She also likes to keep thing calm in the three girls in the city. I have not read any of the other books by this author, but in this book there is 1 fight. The fight is about if Carolyn should stay in the city, like I told you in the summery.
5. The author's writing is good. I like the story and what happens in the story. But the way the author writes is kind of boring because there is not a lot of excitement. I think the only excitement is if Carolyn got to stay in the city or not.

MY RECOMMENDATION
I give this book a 7. I gave this book a 7 because it was good but it was not that good. This book was way better than the last book that I read. The last book that I read was really boring. I do recommend this book to all of the girls that love to read and love to do girl stuff this is the book for you.

CONCLUSION
Like I said if you like girl stuff and you love to read this is the book for you. This is a great book if you see it in the store I would say that you should get it. THIS IS THE BEST BOOK!!!

4.0 out of 5 stars Good start for a great series, November 16, 2006

A Kid's Review

This was the first book I got in the series. It was interesting. YOu can relate to Carlyn about not wanting to stay in New York. And sometime I feel like Joy, kinda left out. This was an interesting book and it's really cool.