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Heads or tails : stories from the sixth grade -
Jack Gantos.
Contributor biographical information
Publisher description
New York : Farrar Straus Giroux, 1994.
151 p. : ill. ; 21 cm.
Annotations:
- Jack's diary helps him deal with his problems which include dog-eating alligators, a terror for an older sister, a younger brother who keeps breaking parts of himself, and next-door neighbors who are really weird.
Best Books:
- Children's Catalog, Eighteenth Edition, 2001 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
Children's Catalog, Nineteenth Edition, 2006 ; H.W. Wilson; United States
Publishers Weekly Book Review Stars, June 1994 ; Cahners; United States
Horn Book Guide:
- 1994 Fiction Rating 2, Superior, well above average.
Reading Measurement Programs:
Reading Counts-Scholastic
Interest Level 6-8
Reading Level 5
Title Point Value 8
Lexile Measure 750
Reviews:
- Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, 1994)
Though Jack has lived in nine houses and gone to five schools in his young life, three things have remained constant: a stable family, his father's inability to find a permanent job -- and The Sound of Music, playing at the local drive-in since he moved to his Fort Lauderdale neighborhood. Gantos (Rotten Ralph) depicts him in a loosely knit series of incidents -- tragic, comic, or both. When Jack copies his older sister's handwriting and his teacher accuses him of cheating, he vengefully shows her his diary, which also contains his pressed bug collection; he forgets to put his bike away and loses it in a hurricane; when his little brother points a finger-gun at a passing plane and it crashes, Jack takes quick action to save him from a lifetime of guilt; at his grandfather's sad funeral, he talks with a man who claims to have touched a UFO. Surrounded by a quirky cast (a relentlessly pessimistic older sister, a mother who makes the best of things, neighbors who remind Jack of the Stupids), Jack is an innocent with a sixth-grader's sensibility and a good heart, learning how quickly life's highs can become lows and vice versa. In the end, another job falls through and the family prepares to move; still, The Sound of Music finally gives way to Planet of the Apes. Funny moments, with an underlying poignancy. 1994, FSG, $16.00. © 1994 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.Wendy H. Bell (The ALAN Review, Spring 1995 (Vol. 22, No. 3))
The entries in Jack's diary reflect his "heads-you-win, tails-you-lose" life. If his teacher, Mrs. Marshall, isn't giving him a hard time at school (his fifth school in six years), his older sister, Betsy, and bratty younger brother, Pete, nearly do him in. Jack's escapades during his sixth-grade year are funny and well-written. His original characters are memorable because they are real. There is also a certain poignancy when the family's hoped-for move to another city and higher income does not materialize, but the author maintains the overall brisk pace and wry tone that make this book delightful reading. Middle schoolers, in particular, will enjoy Heads or Tails: Stories From the Sixth Grade. 1994, Farrar Straus and Giroux, 151 pp., $16.00. Ages 12 up.Deborah Stevenson (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, July/August 1994 (Vol. 47, No. 11))
Jack is trying to survive his sixth-grade year, and he narrates, through a series of short-stories-cum-chapters, his difficulties in dodging the obstacles life throws in his path. He tries to tidy his schoolwork by changing his handwriting completely, but then the teacher doesn't believe it's his work; his school crush suckers him into taking her patrol job and then gets him in trouble; he spends a day anticipating his rabid death because of a nip he receives from a hostile dog. Along with these relatively mundane kid-dilemmas are some darker moments, with his father's friend and then later his dog dying suddenly, his parents' financial scrimping and saving, and the drama of a hurricane roaring through the family's Florida home. The stories are individually self-contained but seem cumulative (although chronology is confused when Jack's bike, wrecked in the hurricane, pops up unscathed later on). The writing is zingy and specific, with snappily authentic dialogue and a vivid sense of juvenile experience ("Brent took a pen and wrote butthole on his hand. 'Sniff this,' he whispered and rubbed it across my face"), and Jack and his family have a recognizably thorny relationship. This is a distinctive and lively sequence of everyday-life stories. R--Recommended. (c) Copyright 1994, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 1994, Farrar, 151p, $16.00. Grades 4-7.Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, 1994)
Eight stories bearing close resemblance to events from the author's childhood in the 1960s feature typical family scenarios. Told in the first person, the stories are whimsical, low key, and appealing, largely because of their real-life quality. Despite a setting that is 'historical' to today's readers, the feelings transcend the years. Category: Fiction. 1994, Farrar, 151pp.. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average. Subjects:
- Diaries--Fiction.
Family life--Fiction.
Schools--Fiction.
Humorous stories.
| Language | Call Number | LCCN | Dewey Decimal | ISBN/ISSN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English (eng) | PZ7.G15334 He 1994 |
93043117 |
[Fic] |
0374329095 : $16.00 9780374329099 |