Being Bee - Softcover

Bateson, Catherine

3.76

166 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0823422089 ISBN 13: 9780823422081

Publisher: Holiday House, 2008

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Bee faces friction at home and at school when her widowed father begins seriously dating Jazzi, who seems to take over the house and their lives, but as shared secrets and common interests finally begin to draw them together, Jazzi accidentally makes a te rrible mistake.

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About the Author:

Catherine Bateson has written several novels for children and young adults. Her novels include "Stranded in Boringsville" which "School Library Journal" called an "enjoyable and quirky story." Catherine Bateson lives with her family in Belgrave, Austrailia.

Review:

Bee much prefers the company of her two pet guinea pigs, Lulu and Fifi, to that of her widowed father's obsessively perfect girlfriend, Jazzi. So Bee is less than thrilled when Jazzi moves in to stay. But Jazzi turns out to have unplumbed depths to her character, including the capacity to love even a girl who vows to hate her always. The plot has a few missteps. For example, it isn't believable that Jazzi would hide the existence of her mentally-ill brother both from Bee's father and from her closest friends, yet take loudmouthed, untrustworthy Bee to visit him. Also, Jazzi's inadvertent disposal of the box containing Bee's cherished souvenirs of her dead mother is not adequately foreshadowed. But Bee has such a delightful narrative voice that readers are unlikely to complain. Who can resist a kid who inwardly retorts to a friend's remark about the superiority of "nuclear families," "I should have asked her if she thought the nuclear bomb was a good thing"? Moreover, the book design could not be more appealing, with a knockout cover and amusing miniature guinea pig photos adorning each chapter opening. (Children's Literature - Claudia Mills, Ph.D.)

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