The Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt - Softcover

Patricia MacLachlan

4.01

534 ratings by Goodreads

9780744520552: The Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt

Softcover

ISBN 10: 074452055X ISBN 13: 9780744520552

Publisher: Walker Books Ltd, 1991

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An eleven-year-old cellist learns about life from her eccentric family, her first boyfriend, and the composer Mozart.

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About the Author:

Patricia MacLachlan is the celebrated author of many timeless books for young readers, including Sarah, Plain and Tall, winner of the Newbery Medal. Her novels for young readers include Arthur, For the Very First Time; The Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt; Skylark; Caleb’s Story; More Perfect than the Moon; Grandfather’s Dance; Word After Word After Word; Kindred Souls; and The Truth of Me; she is also the author of countless beloved picture books, a number of which she cowrote with her daughter, Emily.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 4-7 Minna Pratt is confused: by life and the nature of love, by Mozart and her struggles to play the cello, and by the quotes her writer-mother tapes over her desk, such as ``Fact and Fiction are Different Truths.'' Minna wants everything to follow an orderly pattern like the dinner conversation between her friend Lucas' parents. Through her friendship with Lucas, the newest member of her chamber music group, Minna begins to understand that life is not as simple as she wants it to be. In this book, which recalls Cassie Binegar (1982) more than Sarah, Plain and Tall (1985, both Harper), MacLachlan has written a story of the wistful longings of early adolescents, laced with humor and an uncanny sense of the ordinary, everyday things that make life so special. With the briefest description, she sketches wonderfully memorable characters: Imelda, the violinist who announces obscure facts at odd moments in rehearsal; Lucas' mother, sitting in her solarium thinking up dinner conversation topics; and Minna's brother McGrew, who likes to sing the headlines from the daily paper. The twin themes of writing and music provide an unobtrusive metaphor for Minna's search for order in her world, and provide interesting layers in the writing for perceptive readers. In the end, it is very much a book about that personal tug of war that begins in early adolescence between dependence on one's parents' approval and the need to become one's own person. As such, it will have great appeal for young readers, and will live on in the memory the way the strains of a melody live on after a concert. Connie C. Rockman, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, Conn.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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