Wednesday, February 18, 2009

11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass

"The oddest thing about Angelina D'Angelo was that no one could remember a time when she didn't live in Willow Falls."


The abstract is hidden because it may contain spoilers. If you would like to read the full summary, simply use your cursor to highlight the next few lines and it will magically appear.

Abstract: After celebrating their first nine same-day birthdays together, Amanda and Leo, having fallen out on their tenth and not speaking to each other for the last year, prepare to celebrate their eleventh birthday separately but peculiar things begin to happen as the day of their birthday begins to repeat itself over and over again.
Publish Post

Publisher: Scholastic Press; 267 pages





11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to read this one! Sounds a bit like Groundhog Day.

Anonymous said...

I liked this, but don't think it's a Newbery contender. I found it frustrating that there was no mention of the 1993 film Groundhog Day, which shares many similarities with the book.

tessyohnka said...

As a children's bookseller, I'm going to find this one very easy to recommend, but I don't think it's Newbery material. With regard to any mention of Groundhog Day, I would guess that the author assumes her target audience isn't familiar with the film -- just us older kids are picturing Bill Murray's alarm clock.

lisarenea said...

I think this will be an easy sell and a popular choice with kids. The story quickly captures and holds attention. The characters were well developed in the sense that the reader comes to know and care about them. I was a bit disappointed in the ending (SPOILER ALERT: the plant seemed a little forced and with too much importance). I also had a few areas of doubt about the ages of the characters but overall really enjoyed this one.

Anonymous said...

I thought that this was a fun book to read. I too thought that the ending was a little forced and there were several gaps that had me pondering for days, but I loved it. I thought it was charming. Nice but not Newbery though.

Desetti said...

Agree not Newbery but a nice read. Am leading a book group of 9 girls in discussing this at my school. All of them seem to have enjoyed it.

It is a fun read to be read by lots of kids just for the joy of it. Ahhhh pleasure reading.

Anonymous said...

This book was amazing! I read it in 3 days. Also it is Newberry matieral. I was so excited to read what was going to happen next. I would recommend you do read this wonderful book!

Anonymous said...

Not knowing the premise of the book, I was really getting into it when the days started repeating. My initial thoughts were that this book which I was enjoying so much was going to turn corny, but it really didn't. I enjoyed Leo and Amanda's relationship (past and present), and thought Mass did a great job. Contender...maybe, but there are still a lot more books out there for me to read!

Chris said...

I liked this a lot, and I've recommended it to kids who like it a lot (many have never seen or heard of Groundhog Day). It sent me scurrying to find other titles by Wendy Mass...and have now read Every Soul a Star, which was also a great read.

Ev said...

I love the book and I liked the part when Amanda and Leo became friends again. I learned about consequences and friendship.

Desetti said...

This title 11 Birthdays is great! Lots of fun. I have the sequel to read on my table now.