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msseviereads's review against another edition
5.0
Wow... hooked from the beginning on the character of Cammie. And when she was lost and floundering... my heart hurt for her. Spinelli's talent came thru with the writing style fitting the character's own situation.
Thank goodness all my students were also reading and didn't notice my tears and sniffles at the front of the room.
Highly recommend!
Thank goodness all my students were also reading and didn't notice my tears and sniffles at the front of the room.
Highly recommend!
czoltak's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jbojkov's review against another edition
4.0
Another lovely quiet sort of read set in 1959. Spinelli is a wonderful storyteller. He has a way of painting a world with his words. Yet I'm not sure who to give this book to? Maybe the points he's trying to make are a little too serious and too sad? I don't know. Sometimes I wish I could travel back in time and let my 10 year old self read a book for that child's perspective!! This might be good for kids who like historical fiction...
bross_shelly's review against another edition
3.0
This book reminds me of Al Capone Does my Shorts, but the main character is a girl named Cammie that is desperate for a mother's love.
benfiretag's review against another edition
4.0
Cammie O’Reilly is the warden’s daughter. Her mother was killed saving her from a milk truck. She is taken care of by a trustee and is the adopted daughter of the women in prison. She, of course, wants a mother and wished her father would marry the trustee. She see’s the other kids who have mothers and is terribly jealous. She acts our, trying to get attention that she refuses to accept. When her favorite prisoner, Bobo, hangs herself, it takes time for her to accept that all the stories the woman told her. She acts out even more and starts shoplifting. Eventually she is caught, but instead of being punished, as the warder’s daughter, she is taken home. Once there, she acts out against the trustee who sends her to the one place she has avoided, where the accident happened. She returns in tears and the trustee cleans her up and calms her to sleep. When she awakes, the trustee is gone, released for time served. Years later, she learns the woman spent an extra year at the prison just to help Cammie through her problems.
hnagle15's review against another edition
2.0
Oh man, this was terrible.
I have so many issues with this book... I'll include some below.
1. Cammie. Cammie is one of the worst main characters I have ever read. She is mean, nasty, rude, self-centered, abusive... I could go on. She treats her friends like trash and Lord knows why they keep coming around. She treats the prisoners like garbage, and acts like she is SO much better than all of them simply because she is the warden's daughter. She punched a boy who liked her in the face just because, and kicked her friends out of her birthday party because she was mad they have moms. That's what it all comes down to for Cammie, she blames all her behaviour on the fact that she doesn't have a mother. Well, lots of kids don't have mothers and they aren't total assholes like you, Cammie.
2. Fatphobic. Oh my god the amount of fatphobia is wild. Especially in regard too BooBoo.
3. Eloda Popka. My God, this was bad. The "twist" at the end was terrible. I truly cannot believe the entire book was written with that ending in mind.. It was so forced and phony. There was absolutely no way it would have played out this way. It was awful.
I have so many issues with this book... I'll include some below.
1. Cammie. Cammie is one of the worst main characters I have ever read. She is mean, nasty, rude, self-centered, abusive... I could go on. She treats her friends like trash and Lord knows why they keep coming around. She treats the prisoners like garbage, and acts like she is SO much better than all of them simply because she is the warden's daughter. She punched a boy who liked her in the face just because, and kicked her friends out of her birthday party because she was mad they have moms. That's what it all comes down to for Cammie, she blames all her behaviour on the fact that she doesn't have a mother. Well, lots of kids don't have mothers and they aren't total assholes like you, Cammie.
2. Fatphobic. Oh my god the amount of fatphobia is wild. Especially in regard too BooBoo.
Spoiler
When BooBoo hangs herself the conversation surrounding her death isn't, you know, her death, but is primarily around 'wow how much string did she have to use to hang THAT body?!' It's toxic.3. Eloda Popka. My God, this was bad. The "twist" at the end was terrible. I truly cannot believe the entire book was written with that ending in mind.. It was so forced and phony. There was absolutely no way it would have played out this way. It was awful.
muddypuddle's review against another edition
4.0
I listened to this book. I don't know if I would have read it. I seem to be getting particular about the way a story starts, and this one did not immediately draw me in. But the reader, Carrington McDuffie, with her smoky almost male-sounding voice DID begin to draw me in. The story takes place in 1959 in Brooklyn New York, where Cammie is being raised by her single dad, who happens to be the warden of the county jail. This is the story of a motherless girl during the summer before seventh grade, the summer when the loss of her mother becomes too much to bear. It was a mesmerizing story. The ending takes place 50 years later, still told in the first person by the protagonist, and I almost wish that it had ended back in 1959. I'm not sure why Spinelli decided to write it this way. Perhaps the ending is for the adult readers.... This was definitely a marvelous book, once you get into it.
anellawrites's review against another edition
4.0
If a book touches my heart and makes me cry I automatically give it four stars. This one made me sob. In my heart I fear I will always be a broken child. I cried for this girl who was broken and then fixed.