Available:*
Material Type | Library | Call Number | Item Barcode | Location |
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Book | Searching... Amesbury Public Library | J FIC WOLKENSTEIN | 32114002696053 | Searching... Unknown |
Book | Searching... Billerica Public Library | J/WOLLKENSTEIN | 33934004298981 | Searching... Unknown |
Book | Searching... Billerica Public Library | YA/WOLKENSTEIN | 33934004303583 | Searching... Unknown |
Book | Searching... Burlington Public Library | J WOLKEN | 32116003834294 | Searching... Unknown |
Book | Searching... Chelmsford Public Library | J/FIC/WOLKENSTEIN | 31480011451272 | Searching... Unknown |
Book | Searching... Georgetown Peabody Library | J WOLKENSTEIN | 32120001308020 | Searching... Unknown |
Book | Searching... Groton Public Library | YA WOLKENSTEIN | 37003701845993 | Searching... Unknown |
Book | Searching... Hamilton-Wenham Public Library | J WOL | 30470001880938 | Searching... Unknown |
Book | Searching... Lawrence Public Library | J FIC WOL | 31549004870217 | Searching... Unknown |
Book | Searching... Manchester-by-the-Sea Public Library | J FIC WOL | 32124001962463 | Searching... Unknown |
Book | Searching... Merrimac Public Library | YA WOL | 32125001355384 | Searching... Unknown |
Book | Searching... North Andover - Stevens Memorial Library | J WOL | 31478003624112 | Searching... Unknown |
Book | Searching... Rowley Public Library | J FIC WOL | 32130000978418 | Searching... Unknown |
Book | Searching... Tewksbury Public Library | TEEN FICTION WOLKENSTEIN | 32132003286336 | Searching... Unknown |
Book | Searching... Tyngsborough Public Library | J/WOLKE | 32137002110213 | Searching... Unknown |
Book | Searching... West Newbury - G.A.R. Memorial Library | J WOL | 32135001489133 | Searching... Unknown |
Book | Searching... Westford - J.V. Fletcher Library | MG F WOLKENSTEIN | 31990004903634 | Searching... Unknown |
Book | Searching... Wilmington Memorial Library | KIDS FICTION WOLKENSTEIN | 32136003475146 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
SYDNEY TAYLOR BOOK AWARD WINNER
A boy who has spent his life living inside a shell discovers the importance of taking chance in this "winner" ( Booklist , starred review) of a friendship story that's perfect for fans of Wonder .
Seventh grade is not going well for Will Levine. Kids at school bully him because of his funny-looking chin. And for his bar mitzvah community service project, he's forced to go to the hospital to visit RJ, an older boy struggling with an incurable disease.
At first, the boys don't get along, but then RJ shares his bucket list with Will. Among the things he wants to do: ride a roller coaster; go to a school dance; swim in the ocean. To Will, happiness is hanging out in his room, alone, preferably with the turtles he collects. But as RJ's disease worsens, Will realizes he needs to tackle the bucket list on his new friend's behalf before it's too late. It seems like an impossible mission, way outside Will's comfort zone. But as he completes each task with RJ's guidance, Will learns that life is too short to live in a shell.
"Everyone deserves a friend like Will Levine." --Lynne Kelly, author of Song for a Whale
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5 Up--Will Levine is a seventh grader with several problems. He is bullied severely by his classmates for his small chin, his former science teacher discovers he has been hoarding wild turtles in his room from the marsh behind school, and now he's being forced to spend his spare time in the hospital visiting a terminally ill boy, RJ, as a community service project for his upcoming bar mitzvah. Will has an intense phobia of hospitals because his dad died in one when he was young; he is also fearful of an upcoming surgery he needs for medical reasons. However, RJ may be just the person to help Will shift his perspective and gain confidence. RJ asks Will to complete his bucket list on his behalf; Will dutifully forces himself to try new things (attending a rock concert, riding a roller coaster, attending a school dance, and playing drums at a talent show). Through this process, Will and RJ become close friends, which makes the idea of saying goodbye even more difficult. VERDICT A strong debut novel about grief, loss, and coming out of one's shell.--Laura Gardner, Dartmouth Middle School, MA
Publisher's Weekly Review
"I think it's going to be a living nightmare," Will Levine replies when his chirpy mother, on the first day of seventh grade, predicts that this year will be better than last. The forthright narrator of Wolkenstein's debut middle grade novel proves prescient: he's taunted by bullies who dub him "Turtle Boy" for his chin, which is shrinking due to micrognathia; he learns that he'll need extensive surgery to correct the issue, which otherwise could affect his breathing; his best friend has ditched him for her volleyball teammates; and his emotional sanctuary, the swampland from which he has purloined several turtles that are now his beloved pets, is slated for development. Perhaps most unsettling to the boy, terrified of hospitals since his father's sudden death during surgery, his rabbi recruits him to visit RJ, a hospitalized boy with a fatal illness, to fulfill his bar mitzvah community service requirement. Will's affecting bond with the patient brings him out of his shell as he tackles comfort-level-defying challenges on RJ's bucket list and reconciles long-simmering emotions linked to his own parents. A masterful mingling of deeply resonant themes, including self-esteem, loneliness, loss, and the rewards of improbable friendships. Ages 10--up. (May)
Kirkus Review
A glum boy wants to stay in his bedroom with his turtles. Twelve-year-old Will stole his turtles from nature, including one he knows perfectly well is endangered, but he needs them to help him feel calm while he's hiding. Outside of his bedroom, schoolmates tease him for a mild facial disfigurement--calling him Turtle Boy not because of his pets but because of his chin, which is slowly receding--while Mom and Rabbi Harris pressure him to prepare for his bar mitzvah. A bar mitzvah community-service assignment forces him to befriend dying teen RJ, which gives Will flashbacks to when Dad died when Will was 4 and flash-forward fears to Will's upcoming facial surgery (for medical reasons, not cosmetic). With a light touch and occasional humor (can a Jewish turtle eat ham? What if he's Reform?), Wolkenstein successfully weaves together Will's gloom and avoidance, grief (portrayed, appropriately, as distinct from depression), emotional progress, and Jewish practice. Will's friendship with RJ and taking on of RJ's bucket list--including a roller coaster, a middle school dance, a loud concert, and a pet (can an endangered turtle live in a hospital?)--as proxy grants Will a new centeredness and kick-ass drummer skills; it's too bad that the life-lessons-from-dying-friend plot is such a cliché. Will and most characters seem white by default, with some diversity among secondary characters. A satisfying arc, from sadness to dawning hope and strength. (Fiction. 10-14) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
The school bullies call 13-year-old Will "Turtle Boy," not because he loves turtles but because, they say, he looks like one. Will has a condition called "micrognathia with aplasia of the mandibular condyles," which means he has only a nub for a chin. The only thing he hates more than his chin is hospitals, because his dad died in one when Will was four. So it's ironic that Rabbi Harris insists Will complete 40 hours of community service--yes, at the hospital--before his bar mitzvah. His service? Visiting a desperately ill boy. Their initial meetings don't go well; Will finds the boy, RJ, to be impatient and rude. Gradually, though, the two begin a cautious friendship as RJ teaches Will to play the drums. And then something unforeseen happens: RJ asks Will to perform the wishes on RJ's bucket list so the dying boy can experience them vicariously. All of them will test Will, such as "ride a roller coaster"; of course, Will is afraid of heights and speed. Will he come out of his metaphorical shell and help his friend? Debut author Wolkenstein's well-plotted novel is a model of acute psychology and fully formed characters, even minor ones. The tone, too, is just right, and incidents are seamlessly integrated. Turtle Boy--both boy and book--is a winner.