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Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree

by Lauren Tarshis

Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

From a debut author comes a heart-warming novel about a unique girl and her seventhgrade experiences.

Emma-Jean Lazarus is the smartest and strangest girl at William Gladstone Middle School. Her classmates don't understand her, but that's okay because Emma-Jean doesn't quite get them either. But one afternoon, all that changes when she sees Colleen Pomerantz crying in the girl's room. It is through Colleen that Emma-Jean gets a glimpse into what it is really like to be a seventh grader. And what she finds will send her tumbling out of a tree and questioning why she ever got involved in the first place.

Review:

"Readers will cheer on Emma-Jean as she begins to see more clearly and enter more fully the world around her."Publishers Weekly

Synopsis:

Emma-Jean Lazarus is a lovable oddball who thinks she can use logic to solve the messy everyday problems of her seventh-grade peers. Its easyshe just follows the example of her late father, a brilliant mathematician. Of course, the more Emma-Jean gets involved, the messier her own life gets. Suddenly shes no longer the person standing on the outside of all social interactions. But perhaps thats a good thing?

If you took "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" and "Ida B . . . and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World" and put them in a middle-grade blender, you would have the book "Emma- Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree." Quirky, honest, and written by first-time author Lauren Tarshis, this is a tender story about what happens when a girl who has long stood in the social shadows gets a taste of what its like to connect with kids her own age.

Synopsis:

Quirky, honest, and written by a first-time author, this tender story telle what happens when a girl who has long stood in the social shadows gets a taste of what it's like to connect with kids her own age.

Synopsis:

The unforgettable Emma-Jean from the award-winning "Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree" is back and experiencing something new and unsettling, but not entirely unpleasant. It's a fluttering in her heart for Will.

About the Author

Lauren Tarshis lives in Connecticut.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
crowyhead, December 8, 2008 (view all comments by crowyhead)
Emma-Jean Lazarus is what one might term an odd duck, and she's rather proud of it. She doesn't really understand the social lives of her fellow seventh graders, or what their motivations are, except in the way that one might understand the social lives of small mammals after observing them for a while. Her attitude is one of not getting involved -- until she comes across Colleen Pomerantz, one of the popular students, crying in the girl's bathroom. Emma-Jean's demonstrating to Colleen effective ways of hiding the fact that she has been crying leads to Colleen pouring out her troubles, and Emma-Jean finds herself drawn in. Colleen is a nice person, and certainly doesn't deserve to be made to cry. Perhaps Emma-Jean can solve her situation...

Emma-Jean learns, of course, that it doesn't always work to apply logic to human problems -- and she also learns that once she gets involved in one problem, it means she will be involved and entangled in many, which is not a particularly comfortable place to be.

This is a sweet book, and in some ways it reminded me a bit of E.L. Konigsburg's The View from Saturday for the younger set, although it is not so masterfully written. Still, I highly recommend this to middle readers and those who enjoy well-crafted fiction for young people.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780142411506
Author:
Tarshis, Lauren
Publisher:
Puffin Books
Subject:
Family - General
Subject:
School & Education
Subject:
Social Issues - General
Subject:
Schools
Subject:
Interpersonal Relations
Subject:
Middle schools
Publication Date:
June 2008
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
Young adult
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
199
Dimensions:
772x515x59 38
Age Level:
08-12

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