Synopses & Reviews
"Readers discover the extraordinary within the ordinary, and witness how kindness can draw trust and create confidence in a child." —School Library Journal In Chinese, peng you means "friend." In any language, Anna knows that friendship is complicated. When Anna needs company, she turns to books, which provide what real life cannot--companionship and insight into her world. Books, however, can't tell Anna how to find a friend. She'll have to discover that on her own. In the tradition of classics such as Lovelace's Betsy-Tacy books and Estes's The Hundred Dresses, this novel explores what it takes to make friends and what it means to be one.
Review
"A gentle, affectionate take on familiar middle-grade issues and the joys of reading."--Kirkus
Review
"A gentle, affectionate take on familiar middle-grade issues and the joys of reading."
and#8212;Kirkus
"Tender . . . Cheng credibly portrays Anna's budding maturity."
and#8212;Publishers Weekly
"Cheng's telling is as straightforward yet sympathetic as her self-contained main character; and Halpin's often lighthearted pencil-and-wash sketches both decorate and enrich this perceptive novel."
and#8212;Horn Book
"Readers are led to discover the extraordinary within the ordinary, and to witness how kindness can draw trust and create confidence in a hesitant child."
and#8212;School Library Journal
"This is a remarkably pithy and nuanced portrait of a fourth-grader and her world, and the streamlined simplicity of Cheng's writing and the brief page count make it accessible."
and#8212;Bulletin
"The Year of the Book was a pleasure to read and more. This is a novel to treasure and share with every middle-grade reader you know."
and#8212;New York Times Book
Review
"Sensitive, intuitive, restrained . . . will take its place with the books that endure."--Saturday Review
"Written with rare intuition and pictured with warm sympathy and charm."--The Horn Book
"No young person . . . will ever forget it."--Book Week
Synopsis
This fully illustrated chapter book follows Anna, a young Asian-American girl, as she navigates relationships with family, friends, and her fourth-grade classroom, and finds a true best friend.
Synopsis
In Chinese, peng you means friend. But in any language, all Anna knows for certain is that friendship is complicated. When Anna needs company, she turns to her books. Whether traveling through A Wrinkle in Time, or peering over My Side of the Mountain, books provide what real life cannotand#8212;constant companionship and insight into her changing world. Books, however, canand#8217;t tell Anna how to find a true friend. Sheand#8217;ll have to discover that on her own. In the tradition of classics like Maud Hart Lovelaceand#8217;s Betsy-Tacy books and Eleanor Estesand#8217; One Hundred Dresses, this novel subtly explores what it takes to make friends and what it means to be one.
Synopsis
Wanda Petronski, a little Polish girl in an American school, is laughed at because she always wears a faded blue dress, until her classmates learn a lesson.
Synopsis
Eleanor Estesand#8217;s The Hundred Dresses won a Newbery Honor in 1945 and has never been out of print since. At the heart of the story is Wanda Petronski, a Polish girl in a Connecticut school who is ridiculed by her classmates for wearing the same faded blue dress every day. Wanda claims she has one hundred dresses at home, but everyone knows she doesnand#8217;t and bullies her mercilessly. The class feels terrible when Wanda is pulled out of the school, but by that time itand#8217;s too late for apologies. Maddie, one of Wandaand#8217;s classmates, ultimately decides that she is "never going to stand by and say nothing again."
About the Author
Abigail Halpin is the talented illustrator of several chapter books including Maybe Yes, Maybe No, Maybe Maybe (Simon & Schuster/Aladdin