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When Life Gives You O.J. (2011)

by Erica S. Perl(Favorite Author)

3.84 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0375959246 (ISBN13: 9780375959240)

languge

English

genre

Humor

publisher

Knopf Books for Young Readers

review 1: Another candidate for this year's Massachusetts Children's Book Award! This one is about 10-year-old Zelly, who desperately wants but is not allowed to have a dog. When her grandfather suggests that she should show her parents how responsible she is by "adopting" a practice dog named O.J. (because he's made out of an orange juice jug), Zelly learns several lessons about family and friendship. I'm not a big "animal book" person but I enjoyed this one. A fun read for both boys and girls in grades 3-6.
review 2: This was the first of the Sunshine State Young Reader nominee books that I have read this year, and I can only hope that the next 14 books go up from here. These books are meant for upper elementary kids so it's probably not fair that an adult is the revi... moreewer. However, I found the main character, Zelly, and her grandfather, Ace, two of the most unlikeable characters I've run into in a long time. I appreciate that as the oldest child Zelly felt like her younger brother got all the accolades while she just got lectures, but she didn't seem to have any redeeming characteristics until after a disturbing turn of events in the plot when she seems to have awakened to what was really important to her. And the original promise that Ace extracts from Zelly -- to use a practice dog made of a juice jug to prove her reliability as a pet-owner -- is totally fallacious. While I can see the need to impress upon a child the less-pleasant parts of pet ownership, it completely ignores all the pluses of owning a dog: a playmate, a confidant, a non-judgmental companion. All in all, this was not a book I enjoyed reading. I hope the kids like it better than I did. less

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