Jo Knowles
Let me begin by saying two things about See You at Harry's:
It is definitely not my favorite book or top pick; however, that being said, students who visit the media center tell me they love the book. The main audience for the book has been girls, so I immediately assumed there was a love story involved. I was quickly proven wrong.
The main character is Fern, who is twelve and navigating through her first year at middle school. The book begins with Fern describing how she met her best friend, Ran, when they were in elementary school. I thought the book would be more about their relationship, and how these friends may become more, but the author begins to tell the story of Fern's family.
Fern has an older sister who has graduated high school, an older brother Holden who is coming to terms with his sexuality, and a three year old brother, Charlie. Charlie gets a lot of attention in the book for saying things like, "See you at Hawee's" which is supposed to be cute, but the author made the character simply a bit too annoying. The father is constantly coming up with new, embarrassing promotions for his ice-cream shop, Harry's, that always involve his teenage kids. Most of the characters were a bit one-dimensional and didn't offer individual, unique characteristics to make them interesting.
About half-way into the book, tragedy strikes. (No, I will not give away what happens.) Needless to say, it affects and changes Fern's family in countless ways, and I found the theme of guilt, and how it can have huge consequences, interesting. I did find the main character likable, but I think the book was trying to do too much: telling the story of Fern and Ran, discuss Holden's coming to terms with being a young, gay teen, or how does a family deals with loss. All were stories trying to be told, but some should have had their own story be the focus.
It is definitely not my favorite book or top pick; however, that being said, students who visit the media center tell me they love the book. The main audience for the book has been girls, so I immediately assumed there was a love story involved. I was quickly proven wrong.
The main character is Fern, who is twelve and navigating through her first year at middle school. The book begins with Fern describing how she met her best friend, Ran, when they were in elementary school. I thought the book would be more about their relationship, and how these friends may become more, but the author begins to tell the story of Fern's family.
Fern has an older sister who has graduated high school, an older brother Holden who is coming to terms with his sexuality, and a three year old brother, Charlie. Charlie gets a lot of attention in the book for saying things like, "See you at Hawee's" which is supposed to be cute, but the author made the character simply a bit too annoying. The father is constantly coming up with new, embarrassing promotions for his ice-cream shop, Harry's, that always involve his teenage kids. Most of the characters were a bit one-dimensional and didn't offer individual, unique characteristics to make them interesting.
About half-way into the book, tragedy strikes. (No, I will not give away what happens.) Needless to say, it affects and changes Fern's family in countless ways, and I found the theme of guilt, and how it can have huge consequences, interesting. I did find the main character likable, but I think the book was trying to do too much: telling the story of Fern and Ran, discuss Holden's coming to terms with being a young, gay teen, or how does a family deals with loss. All were stories trying to be told, but some should have had their own story be the focus.