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Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-8–A poignant story set in the 1960s that tells of a girl coming to accept her mother's inability to parent and to realize her own strength and separateness. Ellie Dingman, 11, has a beautiful mother who is always looking for her big break into show business. She has renamed herself Doris Day Dingman and insists that her children call her "Doris" rather than "Mom." Her immature delusions of grandeur in their small Hudson River Valley town are a source of deep embarrassment to Ellie, who is painfully aware of how cheap most people find Doris. She is often not home; much of the care of her younger siblings falls to Ellie, whose father works long hours. When mean girls target her best friend, Ellie and Holly try to be as inconspicuous as Doris is conspicuous. After President Kennedy is assassinated, the aspiring starlet realizes that life is short; she leaves the family, heading to New York City, where Ellie finds her months later, not living glamorously but working in a department store. Doris returns home only once, to gather all her things and move to Hollywood. Martin paints a well-articulated picture of the times, but it is her memorable child and adult characters that shine here. Like Hattie in A Corner of the Universe (Scholastic, 2002), Ellie is a perceptive and compassionate protagonist who ultimately comes into her own.–Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From AudioFile
For 11-year-old Ellie Dingman, 1963 is not a good year. She lives in a neighborhood persecuted by vandals, and the popular kids at school are tormenting her and her best friend. Worst of all, her self-absorbed mother takes off for New York, leaving Ellie to babysit her younger siblings while their father is at work. While Judy Kaye's hard-edged style perfectly suits her longstanding performance as Sue Grafton's detective Kinsey Milhone, Kaye never quite manages to infuse believable voices into any of these child characters. The younger children, especially, seem like caricatures while the adults all sound the same. This leaves the listener with a complex story made less effective by an unsuccessful delivery. S.G. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
See all Editorial Reviews
Grade 4-8–A poignant story set in the 1960s that tells of a girl coming to accept her mother's inability to parent and to realize her own strength and separateness. Ellie Dingman, 11, has a beautiful mother who is always looking for her big break into show business. She has renamed herself Doris Day Dingman and insists that her children call her "Doris" rather than "Mom." Her immature delusions of grandeur in their small Hudson River Valley town are a source of deep embarrassment to Ellie, who is painfully aware of how cheap most people find Doris. She is often not home; much of the care of her younger siblings falls to Ellie, whose father works long hours. When mean girls target her best friend, Ellie and Holly try to be as inconspicuous as Doris is conspicuous. After President Kennedy is assassinated, the aspiring starlet realizes that life is short; she leaves the family, heading to New York City, where Ellie finds her months later, not living glamorously but working in a department store. Doris returns home only once, to gather all her things and move to Hollywood. Martin paints a well-articulated picture of the times, but it is her memorable child and adult characters that shine here. Like Hattie in A Corner of the Universe (Scholastic, 2002), Ellie is a perceptive and compassionate protagonist who ultimately comes into her own.–Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From AudioFile
For 11-year-old Ellie Dingman, 1963 is not a good year. She lives in a neighborhood persecuted by vandals, and the popular kids at school are tormenting her and her best friend. Worst of all, her self-absorbed mother takes off for New York, leaving Ellie to babysit her younger siblings while their father is at work. While Judy Kaye's hard-edged style perfectly suits her longstanding performance as Sue Grafton's detective Kinsey Milhone, Kaye never quite manages to infuse believable voices into any of these child characters. The younger children, especially, seem like caricatures while the adults all sound the same. This leaves the listener with a complex story made less effective by an unsuccessful delivery. S.G. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
See all Editorial Reviews