The Library Card - Softcover

Spinelli, Jerry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0590386336 ISBN 13: 9780590386333

Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks, 1998

Synopsis

From the Newbery-award winning author of Maniac Magee.

Mongoose, Brenda, Sonseray, and April have nothing in common...until a mysterious blue card appears as if by magic and begins to change each of their lives. None of them guesses it at first, but that strange blue card will be their ticket to the past--and to a future that they never imagined. In stories that range from humorous to heartbreaking, Newbery-award-winner Jerry Spinelli reveals the amazing possibilities lurking behind library doors.

About this title

Review:

A library card is a kind of magic ticket: a passport to places distant--unknown--even forbidden. In his latest offering, Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli takes that idea and spins it until the story, its characters, and all of us are dizzy, and offers it as a prize to young readers up for the ride.

The magic library card that turns up in the four separate stories in this book is a ticket to whatever each young character needs most at the time. Each story is imaginative, surprising, and well beyond the "books are good for you" theme one might expect from a tome with this title.

To the reader, it's almost Twilight Zone-y. The 12-ish kids in these stories face varied turning points as they move toward adolescence. They all find their way thanks to a mysterious blue card that seems to have materialized from nowhere.

Street kid Mongoose must decide whether to follow a friend clearly on his way to trouble or seek his own path. April, just moved from New York to an isolated farm, needs a friend. Deprived of television for a week, young Brenda must learn to handle her restlessness and figure out who, besides those goofballs on television, lives inside her head. A grieving Sonseray, barely realizing he's in need, finds comfort and a reassuring connection to his dead mother.

For many kids, the library is just that place where the Ghostbusters first got slimed. This book offers a reminder of the "real" spirits waiting on every shelf. (For ages 11 and up)

From the Author:

Jerry Spinelli won the Newbery Medal in 1991 for Maniac Magee, one of his more than 25 acclaimed books for young readers. He now lives in West Chester, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Eileen Spinelli, who is also an author of children's books.

About this edition

• Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0590386336
• ISBN 13: 9780590386333
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176