The Private Notebook of Katie Roberts, Age 11

Katie's father died in World War II, and four years later her mother has married Sam Gold and taken her away from New York City to a ranch in Texas. Amy Hest, author of the acclaimed novel LOVE YOU, SOLDIER that featured Katie at age seven, has written a new story in the intimate form of Katie's diary, letters, and drawings. With perfect pitch for the fears and hopes of an 11-year-old, this funny, poignant novel sings of a young girl's longing to fit into a new life without forgetting the old.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Grade 3-5?An intimate view of a preteen's internal life. Katie clearly voices the pains and concerns of most girls who are just coming to terms with the changes in their bodies and the shifting social world that maturity brings. The fact that she has never adjusted to her father's wartime death makes her mother's remarriage and their move from New York City to a Texas farm that much more difficult. For a parting gift, Katie's dear friend Mrs. Leitstein gives her a notebook that becomes her confidant. Through her diary entries and letters to Mrs. Leitstein from August, 1947 to April, 1948, Katie describes her reluctant participation in her new life, as well as the anger and jealousy she feels toward both her mother and stepfather. With the passage of time and many painful experiences, Katie's entries gradually change as she forms new relationships and matures enough to accept a place in her growing family (including twin baby brothers). While the letters to Mrs. Leitstein repeat some of the diary entries, they provide a different perspective on Katie's life that is enlightening as well as amusingly poignant. Scattered throughout are Katie's humorous sketches and detailed illustrations simulating hazy photos. As the central and only well-defined character, Katie emerges as a bright, somewhat spoiled, and typically self-absorbed girl who begins to realize that thinking of others affects her own happiness. Though the format is somewhat cumbersome, this is nonetheless a lively coming-of-age story.?Maggie McEwen, Coffin Elementary School, Brunswick, ME
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Dramatic changes are in store for New York native Katie Roberts (introduced in Love You, Soldier) when her war-widow mother marries Sam Gold in 1947. Before Katie and her mom move to Sam's ranch in Texas, Katie's elderly neighbor gives her a leather notebook; Hest's novel and Lamut's pictures are relayed as Katie's entries, doodles and pasted-in snapshots. An unusually exuberant narrator, Katie confides her anxieties about entering a new school ("I can see myself now, ALL ALONE, me and my egg sandwich..."); her triumphs (she is editor of the class paper); her uneasiness at her mother's pregnancy ("I wanted to give her a big hug and ask her to read me a story the way she used to, but another part of me wanted to yell WHAT WOULD DADDY SAY?"); and her concerns about Sam's desire to adopt her. Keenly-and humorously-aware of the injustices that have been flung upon her, this fresh character will win readers as she surmounts hurdle after hurdle. Ages 8-11.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 4^-6. Readers who enjoyed Hest's poignant Love You, Soldier (1991), which introduced Katie Roberts, will be delighted with this sequel. Eleven-year-old Katie wishes she and her mother had never left New York City. She hates their Texas "ranch in the middle of nowhere," and she misses her father, who died in World War II. She also misses her former neighbor Mrs. Leitstein, who gave Katie the notebook that's the repository for the letters, doodles, and private thoughts that make up this story. Readers quickly become Katie's confidantes, with Hest letting them share the girl's feelings and secrets as she struggles to make friends, adjust to her "bumpy and strange" developing body, and counter the isolation and jealousy she feels when she learns her mother is pregnant. Katie is a captivating, outspoken protagonist whose concerns will be familiar to many children, and Hest's satisfying, realistic conclusion leaves the girl sure of her place in her new, blended family. A sequel worthy of its fine predecessor. Chris Sherman