The New One - Hardcover

Banks, Jacqueline Turner

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395666104 ISBN 13: 9780395666104

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1994

Synopsis

Jury's first steps toward adulthood involve a plot to end his mother's relationship with her new boyfriend, the new girl in school winking at him, and his twin brother suddenly brooding. By the author of Project Wheels.

About this title

About the Author

Jacqueline Turner Banks is the author of three previous young adult novels, Project Wheels, The New One, and Egg-Drop Blues, all of which feature the animated exploits of the Posse. Formerly a teacher, Ms. Banks now devotes herself full-time as a writer and literary agent. She lives with her family in Sacramento, California.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-7. Like Project Wheels (1993), this sequel about a group of sixth-grade kids in a southwest Kentucky school is a fresh, honest story of friendship, family, and prejudice. This time the narrator is Jury Jenkins, who's smart mouthed and confident, yet uncertain about the way things are changing in his life. He hates his mother's boyfriend, Frank. He's intrigued by the new girl in class, Ayreal, and by the way she's affecting the friends he's always known. Jury and Ayreal are part of the small African American minority in their school. Why doesn't she like his white and Asian friends? In a taut climax, Ayreal tells a moving story of how a white friend insulted and betrayed her. The plot's a bit contrived to bring in Ayreal's revelation, but Jury finds no neat answers at school or at home. Contrary to our formula expectations, he doesn't reconcile with his mother's boyfriend; in fact, his mother discovers that Frank is too sexist and bossy for her. Kids will appreciate the honest portrayal of relationships in this story: how people can attract and irritate you at the same time; how racism breeds hurt and anger; how old friends and newcomers surprise you. Hazel Rochman

Edition details

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0395666104
• ISBN 13: 9780395666104
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 107