Not Just Anybody Family, The - Hardcover

Byars, Betsy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385294433 ISBN 13: 9780385294430

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 1986

Synopsis

With a young brother in the hospital, a grandfather in jail, and their mother traveling with a rodeo, Maggie and Vern try to settle family problems.

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Reviews

Grade 4- 7 Junior Blossom is poised on the roof of the barn, working up the courage to fly on homemade wings. His brother and sister are on the ground urging him on when Junior spots a police car coming up their road. Maggie and Vern run to hide in the woods, while Junior loses his grip on the roof and slides off, breaking both legs. The children's widowed mother is away working the rodeo circuit; Pap, their grandfather, has been arrested for disturbing the peace while he was, innocently enough, trying to retrieve the 2147 beer and pop cans that had spilled out of the back of his pick-up. Byars' characters are memorableespecially Vern, who manages to "break into" jail to be with Pap, thus causing a news sensation, and Ralphie, Junior's hospital roommate. The plot, however, is contrived in many ways. Readers are never told why police is "one of the most dreaded words in the family vocabulary," and credibility is stretched thin by Vern's jail break-in and by Maggie's and Ralphie's managing to wheel Juniorwith both legs in caststo Pap's hearing without being apprehended by hospital personnel. While this is not Byars' strongest book, the off-beat characters, crisp dialogue and fast-paced action will keep readers turning the pages. Connie C. Rockman, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, Conn.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Not-just-any novel, Byars's latest races without pause between hilarious, suspenseful and touching crises. Rogers's drawings are fine but almost unneeded; every scene is vividly described from the moment Maggie and Vern await their little brother Junior's flight from the barn on his handmade wings. Hearing a police car near their isolated rural home, the older children scamper; Junior falls, breaks his leg, and the cops take him to the hospital in town. Here the boy learns that their Grandpa is in jail and that Vern (with Maggie's help) has broken into the man's cell through a high window. The feat makes celebrities of the family and brings the children's widowed mother, a rodeo-circuit rider, home posthaste. Junior's roommate, Ralphie, who tells terrible lies ("the ice cream is doped; I'll eat yours, I'm immune"); Mud, Grandpa's lost dog who defies all obstacles to get to his loved one; and everybody in the Newbery Medalist's new story will capture her readers' hearts. Pity poor grownups who don't have the pleasure of such endearing company.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1986
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0385294433
• ISBN 13: 9780385294430
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 149