- Hardcover: 113 pages
- Publisher: Front Street; 1 edition (Oct 10 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1932425616
- ISBN-13: 978-1932425611
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 15.1 x 1.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 272 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6–When Nadia was five, her father had a heart attack and died, and she found out that she, too, had a bad heart. Consequently, her mother has always restricted her activities. Now in sixth grade, she has no friends, but has a well-developed fantasy life. When her teacher announces tryouts for a class play, Nadia thinks that she will finally be able to do something that will make the popular girls notice her. She amazes everyone with her audition, and is bitterly disappointed when she does not get a role. She tries to become friends with Carmalee, the class misfit, but Mama squashes the relationship. Fed up with her almost-existence, Nadia rebels. While at a doctor's appointment, she peeks at her chart and discovers that she simply has a heart murmur and can lead a normal life. Eventually, it becomes clear that Mama is suffering from emotional problems. She is sent to a rest home while Nadia stays with her aunt. No longer stuck in her 'sick girl' box, she stands up to the popular girls when they make fun of Carmalee. This brief story wrestles with too many themes, including physical and mental illness, family relationships, peer pressure, and bullying. The writing is choppy, Nadia's discovery of the truth about her health is unrealistic, and the ending is simplistic.–Wendy Smith-D'Arezzo, Loyola College, Baltimore, MD
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Paper Heart not aimed at 10-yr-olds,
By
This review is from: Paper Heart (Hardcover)
The premise of this book is sound: the young protagonist is restricted by her mother because of a hereditary heart condition, but eventually learns that the restrictions are unnecessary and the result of her mother's traumatized response to her husband's death. The events, too, are believable as are the protagonist's emotional responses, voiced through limited omniscient narration--BUT ONLY F THE PROTAGONIST IS A SIX-YEAR OLD, not the ten-year-old Grade 6 student she is presented as. The author's narrative voice is as annoying as the TV cartoon character Caillou, who is supposed to be four but behaves (as my four- and five-year-old children pointed out immediately, like a two-year old. Children are very attuned to the emotional and intellectual ages of their literary counterparts, and while I would recommend this text, it would only be for the lower grades: Grades 1 through 3.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Courtesy of Teens Read Too,
By TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Paper Heart (Hardcover)
Nadia really does want to play with the other kids. She is tired of playing with paper dolls. But her overprotective mother will not allow her to do anything that will put her fragile heart at risk; i.e. anything that could help her make real friends--running, jumping, rolling around on the forbidden sawdust pile. Besides, the paper dolls have never laughed at her. They have never pointed at her or called her "the sick girl." Still, as she plays with her dolls, despite her mother's constant warnings to the contrary, it occurs to Nadia that she does not wish to allow fear to dominate her life: "Paper dolls. Paper books. Paper cards. Paper life."So, Nadia devises a plan. She will become an actress. She will secure the lead in the sixth-grade play, and then she will be someone everyone will want to know. She won't tell her mother, of course, and by the time Mrs. Riley knows that the little white lies she has told to get the role are, well, not the complete story, no one will be angry with her because she will have shown them all that she does indeed have value beyond being a source of constant worry for her mother and a target for teasing for the kids at school. Arrington does an excellent job of exploring the problems that arise when a parent becomes overprotective of a child with a medical condition. Additionally, the unexpected twist she includes is a welcome breath of fresh air in this reviewer's opinion. It is entirely credible, but keeps the storyline from becoming predictable. Nadia's quest to be more than just "the sick girl" becomes a journey for both her and her mother, and it is one that the reader will be glad she has taken, as well. Reviewed by: Mechele R. Dillard
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews) 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hearts are more than paper cutouts....,
By Deborah Sandford "Marian the Librarian" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Paper Heart (Hardcover)
Nadia's father died of a heart attack when she was five. Her mother told Nadia that she had the same condition, and kept Nadia sequestered all of her life. Now in sixth grade, Nadia has no friends, no activities, and the bleak outlook of being further isolated by being home schooled. Her slightest cough has her mother putting to bed. Sometimes in school, Nadia gives up as well and puts her head on her desk--after all, no one expects anything from the sick girl. She tries out for the school play, does a brilliant audition and is devastated when she doesn't get the part. She finds out later that her mother told the teacher not to allow Nadia to participate. Nadia is old enough now to raise questions, and, with typical coming-of-age surging of independence, to rebel against her parent. She finds out, by virtue of being in a position to read her medical chart at the doctor's office, that she is perfectly fine, a slight heart murmur notwithstanding. This encourages Nadia to take her life back to herself. Some reviewers have felt the narrator's voice to be unsympathetically whiny, but it is perfectly well-drawn for a child who was treated as sickly her whole life. Who wouldn't be whiny? This is a well-done chyrsalis-to-butterfly story--the larval stage being neither understood nor revered by most onlookers.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Courtesy of Teens Read Too,
By TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Paper Heart (Hardcover)
Nadia really does want to play with the other kids. She is tired of playing with paper dolls. But her overprotective mother will not allow her to do anything that will put her fragile heart at risk; i.e. anything that could help her make real friends--running, jumping, rolling around on the forbidden sawdust pile. Besides, the paper dolls have never laughed at her. They have never pointed at her or called her "the sick girl." Still, as she plays with her dolls, despite her mother's constant warnings to the contrary, it occurs to Nadia that she does not wish to allow fear to dominate her life: "Paper dolls. Paper books. Paper cards. Paper life" (p. 85).So, Nadia devises a plan. She will become an actress. She will secure the lead in the sixth-grade play, and then she will be someone everyone will want to know. She won't tell her mother, of course, and by the time Mrs. Riley knows that the little white lies she has told to get the role are, well, not the complete story, no one will be angry with her because she will have shown them all that she does indeed have value beyond being a source of constant worry for her mother and a target for teasing for the kids at school. Arrington does an excellent job of exploring the problems that arise when a parent becomes overprotective of a child with a medical condition. Additionally, the unexpected twist she includes is a welcome breath of fresh air in this reviewer's opinion. It is entirely credible, but keeps the storyline from becoming predictable. Nadia's quest to be more than just "the sick girl" becomes a journey for both her and her mother, and it is one that the reader will be glad she has taken, as well. Reviewed by: Mechele R. Dillard 1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Paper Heart not aimed at 10-yr-olds,
By K. Huenemann - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Paper Heart (Hardcover)
The premise of this book is sound: the young protagonist is restricted by her mother because of a hereditary heart condition, but eventually learns that the restrictions are unnecessary and the result of her mother's traumatized response to her husband's death. The events, too, are believable, as are the protagonist's emotional responses, voiced through limited omniscient narration--BUT ONLY IF THE PROTAGONIST IS A SIX-YEAR OLD, not the ten-year-old Grade 6 student she is presented as. The author's narrative voice is as annoying as the TV cartoon character Caillou, who is supposed to be four but behaves (as my four- and five-year-old children pointed out immediately) like a whiney two-year old. Children are very attuned to the emotional and intellectual ages of their literary counterparts, and while I would recommend this text, it would only be for the lower grades: Grade 1 through 3.
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