Jojo and Winnie - Hardcover

Sachs, Marilyn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0525460055 ISBN 13: 9780525460053

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile, 1999

Synopsis

JoJo and Winnie, two headstrong sisters with very different ideas about having fun, find that sisterhood is no picnic--but both realize that when you need someone to count on, there's nobody better than your sister.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Just about every scenario and scrap of dialogue in Sachs's (Almost Fifteen) portrayal of two young sisters ring true. Eight snappy vignettes depict the joys and trials of sisterhood, placing a humorous emphasis on the latter. When Winnie is born, four-year-old Josephine is much less impressed than her parents at the baby's first smile, laugh and attempt at crawling ("Big deal!" she thinks at every milestone). But even though she won't admit it to her parents, Josephine is pleased when the baby utters her very first word, "JoJo," and thus creates a favorite nickname. In a variety of situations (participating in an Easter egg hunt, whipping up a Father's Day breakfast, making cards for a sick cousin) the sisters play their roles with aplomb: JoJo accuses Winnie of being a copycat, Winnie sniffs that JoJo is always too busy to play. In the cleverest entry, the two stage a game in which they switch identities and prove themselves accomplished mimics. Though Sachs steers clear of sentimentality, she closes with an affecting chapter in which JoJo, after watching the guests arrive at a young neighbor's birthday party to which Winnie was not invited, spends the afternoon entertaining her sister; pressed to explain her burst of generosity, JoJo says, "I don't like it when other people are mean to you." The line art briskly captures the duo's emotions and the tender family foundation. Any sister will surely find a bit of herself in one or another of these charactersAand possibly even in both. Ages 7-10. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Sisterhood is indeed powerful in this comforting, gently amusing yarn that chronicles the ups and downs of the lives of two sisters. In eight connected anecdotes, Sachs (Surprise Party, 1998, etc.) sensibly delineates the emotions that eddy around the conflicts that are a staple of any household with sisters. ``You ruin everything,'' JoJo tells her little sister Winnie after she frightens away a white heron JoJo is trying to photograph. But the picture of Winnie scaring the bird turns out to be the best one JoJo ever took and it wins third prize in a photography contest. That reassuring messagethat sisters are maddening but ultimately a pleasureis repeatedly brought home; although these stories are told from the older sibling's perspective, Sachs's treatment of both sisters is fair, and siblings on both sides of the older/younger equation will find that their perspective represented and respected. Johnson's adept black-and-white illustrations nimbly augment the book's light tone and pro-sisterhood theme. (Fiction. 7-10) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0525460055
• ISBN 13: 9780525460053
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 80
• Illustrator: Johnson Meredith