What's in a Name (Hardcover)

by Ellen Wittlinger (Author), John Mathias (Illustrator) "Our kitchen window was only open two inches, but before I even went outside I could tell the dogs smelled particularly rotten today..." (more)
Key Phrases: Scrub Harbor, Folly Bay, Bishops Hill (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Wittlinger (Hard Love) convincingly creates 10 distinct teen voices, each of which takes a turn narrating a chapter. While the chapters offer readers only a glimpse of each character, several of them feature in the other teens' accounts, and bittersweet, even piercing musings run through many of the narratives ("It's as if my emotions are twice the size of normal people's," says one character, pained by unrequited love. "I'm the Arnold Schwarzenegger of sensitivity"). The vignettes rally around a rather tenuous theme--everyone in Scrub Harbor is caught up in a war over the town's name. The wealthy population, the "Follys," wants to change it to the more elegant Folly Bay, hoping to add value to their real estate; the poorer families, the "Scrubs," want to maintain their traditions. Yet the teens' cogent reflections fortify the volume. They reveal what runs deeper than their "Folly" or "Scrub" moniker. The dialogue can feel like forced teen-speak in spots ("You talk like a frigging moron. Get a life, why don'tcha," the football star yells at his younger brother), but readers will likely respond to the realism of both the characters and their dilemmas. Ages 12-up. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up-A subtle and completely realistic novel told in multiple voices. What starts out as a quest to change a small town's name turns into personal journeys of self-discovery for 10 teens. The ongoing debate about which name is best for the town, Scrub Harbor or Folly Bay, lightly overlays the main story line, while the characters struggle to hold their lives together and figure out who they really are. One boy faces the fact that he is gay and chooses to "come out" via a poem published in the school literary magazine, while his football-star jock of an older brother is forced to deal with being irrevocably linked to his brother. An angry girl thaws with the help of a Brazilian exchange student, who in turn realizes that the language barrier helps rather than hinders his understanding of humans in general, and himself in particular. A transferring senior realizes that he isn't the popular boy he used to be at his old school, and must reinvent himself to find his place in Scrub Harbor. The fact that these teens are all struggling to find out who they are, and that everybody is constantly in flux, becomes the main theme that links all of these seemingly unconnected narrative threads together. The teenagers are compelling, and there's more depth to them and the story than readers might expect from the simplistic title.
Linda Bindner, formerly at Athens Clarke County Library, GA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing; 1st edition (March 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068982551X
• ISBN-13: 978-0689825514
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,719,439 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wittlinger does it again, April 4, 2000

By	"katezilla" (CT) - See all my reviews

Ellen Wittlinger has written some truly wonderful young-adult novels, and WHAT'S IN A NAME lives up to the standards set by her other books. The format here is slightly different from her others: ten different characters tell their own stories while also contributing to the overarching plot, which concerns the efforts of some of the residents of Scrub Harbor to change the town's name to Folly Bay. As always, Wittlinger's stories are character-driven, so the plot never seems contrived; she also has a knack for making you sympathize with characters that you probably didn't think you would like. For me, this happened with the characters of Quincy and Gretchen, both "popular" kids in their high school. I expected their stories to be less interesting than the other characters', who are a little quirkier, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that Quincy's and Gretchen's stories drew me in just as much as those of the other kids.

I have to disagree with one of the editorial reviews, which said that the characters all seemed defined by their circumstances. In my opinion, one of Wittlinger's strengths is that she never allows her characters to just be caricatures. As I said above, they have their quirks, some more than others, but in the end, they are all real (and interesting) people.

I highly recommend WHAT'S IN A NAME.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars AMAZINGLY EXCELLENT!, April 25, 2000

By A Customer

This book really potraits the different sides and things that teenagers go trough. I got this book from a friend of mine and I totally fell in love with this book. As a teenager, it is a very great book to read and see other people like you with their own little problems.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Field Day, April 3, 2002

By	Little Willow (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: What's in a Name (Mass Market Paperback)

I read the bulk of What's In a Name? in one sitting. The story is actually 8 chapters - 1 narrator per chapter - and set in a small town which is debating over changing its name. Each story has a character exploring his or her identity and the meaning of their popularity, sexuality, long term boyfriends/girlfriends, family, friends, school, future and so forth.

It was a very quick and enjoyable read. I enjoyed Ellen's writing style. The teens were thoughtful, not vacant; they spoke like kids but also didn't say "like" or curse every other line. I only wish there had been one final wrap-up chapter to catch us up one last time with all of the characters we had met. However, I like the book as a hold and recommended to friends who liked small town coming-of-age novels.