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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-10–Sixteen-year-old Florrie turns political activist when she takes notice of the changing landscape of her beloved San Antonio hometown. Upset by the loss of small independent businesses to money-hungry corporations, she first begins her grassroots campaign with her family, who own their restaurant, encouraging them to support other local businesses and to avoid the chain stores. Supported by her family and a few close friends, she organizes rallies and calls for her fellow residents to refuse to patronize all franchises for the last 16 weeks of the year. The boycott begins strong with support from local businesses, but eventually wanes at what seems like an impossible task. However, Florrie never gives up her fight to preserve the past and encourage independent retail. The plot offers a good look at the life of a high school activist and all the work involved in fighting for something one believes in. Unfortunately, the story does not engage readers. Nye's poetic language is beautiful and rich and certainly creates a strong sense of place, but Florrie and the secondary characters never fully come to life and lack the multidimensionality necessary to evoke empathy. As a result, the novel comes off as more purposeful than compelling.–Leigh Ann Morlock, formerly at Vernonia School District, OR
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 7-10. As in Levine's Catch a Tiger by the Toe [BKL Mr 15 05], politics is at the center of this lively story, but here the activist is a contemporary teen. Florrie is outraged because big franchises are destroying her beloved San Antonio's historic neighborhoods, wiping out small family businesses, and bringing generic giants to the diverse community, where she helps out in her Lebanese Mexican mom's restaurant. Florrie organizes protest rallies and boycotts of Wal-Mart, the Gap, and other big businesses, with people carrying banners that say, "McDonald's is a fungus on the landscape." When Florrie falls for the slick son of a corporate manager, romance enters the picture, but the real passion here is in the issues. Why pretend our ancestors had it so good? Florrie's brother challenges her, as Mom pleads to preserve not the buildings but the family's peace of mind. Nye brings close the sorrow of historic landmarks obliterated in one's hometown, and teen conservationists everywhere will recognize the arguments. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Greenwillow Books (March 29, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688161855
• ISBN-13: 978-0688161859
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #551,239 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love, love,love this book!!!!!, June 13, 2005

By	Reading Mom (Arlington, VA) - See all my reviews

This book captures your attention from the first page. I was instantly charmed by Florrie, the main character. She is an idealistic young girl with a cause. She, as her grandfather before her, is saddened by the loss of so many small businesses in her neighborhood. Her neighborhood just happens to be downtown San Antonio. Nye describes this city so beautifully that I find myself wanting to move there. Florrie's cause is to boycott all of the large franchise establishments, hoping to help the small businesses stay afloat. The characters are engaging, the setting is charming, and Nye's writing is lovely. I thoroughly enjoyed this book - and I'm an adult with children in the target reading age!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved it, February 11, 2006

By	Donna Trussell "Donna Trussell" (Kansas City) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I may be prejudiced, since I am a fan of Nye's poetry. Or I may be prejudiced because I, like the central character in this novel, love old neighborhoods and believe the ubiquitous, china-shipping strip-mall school of architecture is slowly killing our souls. Unlike some previous reviewers, I found this novel to be compelling, so much so that I read almost the entire book in one sitting. In my opinion Nye put just as much gravity, joy and truth in this novel as she does in her poetry.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not her best work, January 21, 2006

By	Kilan (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

I agree with the editorial review that says the book feels more purposeful than compelling. The idea of fighting to save small businesses is a good base for a book, but it dominates all aspects of this work. The characters do seem rather flat, with what dimension they have thrown in to try to help the reader ignore their unnatural single-mindedness. I became tired of the activist rhetoric at times, and Nye's creations seemed a bit fake upon close examination - who says that "teenage activists" have to conform to unusual styles of dress, be superartsy, and have strange names? What carries this book along is an honest love of cool little neighborhood businesses, and the tenderness with which the author renders them.