The Life and Times of Benny Alvarez - Hardcover

Johnson, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062215965 ISBN 13: 9780062215963

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2014

Synopsis

This heartfelt story about school, friendship, and family is perfect for readers who can't get enough of such middle grade favorites as Jerry Spinelli and Gary D. Schmidt. From acclaimed author Peter Johnson, The Life and Times of Benny Alvarez is a novel that will make you laugh, cry, and appreciate your family all the more.

Everyone thinks Benny Alvarez is Mr. Negativity. According to Benny, he's just realistic about seeing the "other side" of things—when it comes to just about everything. But maybe there's another way to deal with the things Benny can't control—like his ailing grandfather, his wild younger brother, and the know-it-all girls at school. In this poignant novel about acceptance, Benny Alvarez will have to decide . . . is the glass half empty or half full?

About this title

From the Back Cover:

negative, adjective: (1) characterized by lacking positive attributes; (2) Benny Alvarez

contrary, adjective: (1) stubbornly opposed or willful; (2) Benny Alvarez

family, noun: (1) any group of persons closely related by blood or marriage; (2) Mom, Dad, Irene, Benny, Crash, Grandpa Alvarez, and Gloria

love, noun: a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection

loss, noun: (1) the state of being deprived of or of being without something that one has had; (2) something that is lost; (3) death, or the fact of being dead

Everyone thinks Benny Alvarez is Mr. Negativity. According to Benny, he's just realistic about seeing the "other side" of things—when it comes to almost everything.

But maybe there's a different way to deal with the things Benny can't control—like his ailing grandfather, his wild younger brother, and the know-it-all girls at school.

In this poignant novel about acceptance, Benny Alvarez will have to decide . . . is the glass half empty or half full?

About the Author:

Peter Johnson grew up in Buffalo, New York, at a time when they had a good football team, which seems like fifty years ago. Similar to Benny Alvarez and his friends, Peter always loved words, knowing he was going to be a teacher or a professional baseball player. Also, being from a long line of Irish storytellers, he loved reading and telling tales, and when he realized that his stories changed every time he told them, and that he could get paid for this kind of lying, he decided to become a novelist. His first middle grade novel, The Amazing Adventures of John Smith, Jr. AKA Houdini, was named one of the Best Children's Books by Kirkus Reviews, and he's received many writing fellowships, most notably from the National Endowment for the Arts.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0062215965
• ISBN 13: 9780062215963
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224