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The Boy on Cinnamon Street

3.64 of 5 stars 3.64 · rating details · 1,024 ratings · 220 reviews

A story about a wounded girl and the boy who won't give up on her.

7th grader Louise should be the captain of her school's gymnastics team - but she isn't. She's fun and cute and should have lots of friends - but she doesn't. And there's a dreamy boy who has a crush on her - but somehow they never connect. Louise has everything going for her - so what is it that's holding h...more

Hardcover, 240 pages

Published February 1st 2012 by Arthur A. Levine Books

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Lists with This Book

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Newbery 2013

22nd out of 137 books — 675 voters

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Feb 03, 2012 Joy (joyous reads) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: own, favourites

Tooth-achingly sweet and incredibly sad.

It's a story about a thirteen year old girl who has gone through a traumatic event that her mind blocked most of her treasured memories and with it, most of her former identity. Cartwheels used to be as natural as walking for Louise, but ever since that day, she quit gymnastics altogether. She used to write poetry, but now she's just bitter most of the time. This is a story about a girl who had become but a shadow of her former self and a boy who would do...more Tooth-achingly sweet and incredibly sad.

It's a story about a thirteen year old girl who has gone through a traumatic event that her mind blocked most of her treasured memories and with it, most of her former identity. Cartwheels used to be as natural as walking for Louise, but ever since that day, she quit gymnastics altogether. She used to write poetry, but now she's just bitter most of the time. This is a story about a girl who had become but a shadow of her former self and a boy who would do anything to bring the old Louise back.

For me, it's Louise's relationships with everyone that made the story. At times, it seems like the entire universe was conspiring for her memory to come back; little triggers and subtle push constructed within the sequence of plot events. There was nothing complex or even original about the plot, it's something I've read before. But I couldn't take anything away from the intricate way with which the author peeled the layers, bit by bit, to reveal what Louise's mind was shielding from her.

This was a story of a girl who had to come to terms with her mother's death, her father's abandonment, her over all lack of self-esteem. All heavy subjects, yes. But I love that the author used facile humour frequently to lure us into Louise's world. They weren't the ones that induced bouts of rip-roaring laughter but just enough to for us to see the lighter side of her life. Henderson, the boy who had harboured a crush for Louise was the icing on the cake of this heart-tugging story. He's so quirky, dorky, funny, and just plain lovable. I kept thinking, where was a boy like this when I was in seventh grade, huh? How come they don't make them like him anymore? He's the sweetest!

The Boy on Cinnamon Street is an uplifting story about a grieving family and of incomparabe friendships. I laughed, I teared, I rooted for the underdog and cheered for the innocence of romance between Thumb and Hen. It's a touching story of a girl who learned that sometimes, letting go is easier than holding on. (less)

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Dec 07, 2012 Sai rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed, solid

Oh mannnn.... this was so good. :D I loved that Henderson kid, but I loved Thumb so much too... and I loved Grandpa and Grandma and Reni too... I'm full of love right now lol. I even loved her mom... only I did not at all like her dad or that bullying kid or even the rest of the Elliots that much either. So I guess I'm not that full of love.

Still... Mmmhhhh... *happy sigh*

(Also: kissing with eyes? Too cute!)

(Even though Islamically and therefore according to my principles I don't agree with a...more

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Apr 26, 2013 Abby Johnson rated it 2 of 5 stars

Okay, to be fair, this book started off putting a bad taste in my mouth when Louise's best friend, a fat girl, is described as wearing this: "Her T-Shirt is a Gap XL and across the front are the printed words LOVE ME ANYWAY?" (page 24)

This is a powerful story of a girl dealing with trauma that's caused memory loss and the boy who starts her path to recovering her memories and dealing with them. But I got bogged down in details like being confused about whether she used to live in South Pottsvill...more

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Mar 16, 2013 Vikki VanSickle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 50-book-pledge-2013, children-s-literature, middle-grade

can’t say I’ve read a lot of books in which the narrator has repressed memories about a parent’s suicide. Even if I did, I doubt they would be as well-rounded, empathetic and hopeful as The Boy on Cinnamon Street. Louise (or Thumb, as Henderson calls her) is irrepressible, even in the states of denial, grief, and anger she experiences throughout the book. She is self-effacing but also totally hopeful, latching on to the idea of the pizza boy as her secret admirer so wholeheartedly that you can’...more can’t say I’ve read a lot of books in which the narrator has repressed memories about a parent’s suicide. Even if I did, I doubt they would be as well-rounded, empathetic and hopeful as The Boy on Cinnamon Street. Louise (or Thumb, as Henderson calls her) is irrepressible, even in the states of denial, grief, and anger she experiences throughout the book. She is self-effacing but also totally hopeful, latching on to the idea of the pizza boy as her secret admirer so wholeheartedly that you can’ t help but cheer for her. Of course the pizza boy is not the one with a crush on her, but the reader is very aware of who Thumb’s true admirer is, and you root for him the whole time.

I admire how Phoebe Stone creates unlikable (or at the very least) unreliable parents, but not in a comedic, absurdist Roald Dahl way. These are adults who are ill-equipped to parent, and Stone explores the ramifications of this in her books. When we do learn about Thumb’s mother and her absentee father, you feel horrified and sad, but this is mitigated because her new family, consisting of her grandparents and The Elliots, are so wonderful. Just like in The Romeo and Juliet Code, when we realize Felicity’s parents have left her with distant family in order to pursue their careers as spies and are likely not coming back, instead of outrage and numb horror we are happy that she has found her new family.

Stone is also very good at creating a male friend/potential love interest for her heroines, Henderson in The Boy on Cinnamon Street and Derek in The Romeo and Juliet Code. Both Derek and Henderson are interesting, sensitive, and though the romance may not be fully realized in the book, the reader has the sense that it will be at some point. Which brings me to yet another thing I love about Stone’s work- the sense of that these characters will leave and breathe beyond the last page. As a reader, I love feeling like I have caught a glimpse of the characters and the author has created an open ending in which I can image all sorts of lives for them.

One of the things that separates straight-forward issue-driven fiction from just plain good fiction is a well-rounded experience. This isn’t a book solely about grief, it’s also about first crushes, friendship, family, bullying, giving up and starting over again, and body image. You may think, how on earth can all of that fit into one book, but even in a tragic or low point in life chances are there are other things going on. Life is never one plot line. Stone handles this incredibly well, probably because she is a middle-grade genius.(less)

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Nov 18, 2012 Jeanbooknerd rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviews

In The Boy on Cinnamon Street by Phoebe Stone, Louise was once a girl who was the life of the party, star of the gymnastics teams, had many friends and wrote poetry. But a traumatic event completely changed her that she locks it all away deep insider herself and pushes everyone and everything away. She’s in the 7th grade, moved to a new school, quit gymnastics, cut-off her friends, and now living with her grandparents. Although she has distant herself from everything, her grandparents, sister, a...more

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Nov 12, 2012 Carey rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: age-10-and-11-older-elementary, age-12-to14-middle-school, age-15-to-18-high-school

Very average. A 7th grade girl, small for her age, has given up gymnastics and her old life, because something terrible happened to her mother. She finds a note from a secret admirer, and her best friend is convinced it's the pizza delivery boy. Figuring it out causes her to confront her past.

A lot of things didn't ring true for me in this story, like the girl deciding to change her name to Thumbelina. One of her two best friends is accepted to a program for young writers in another state and le...more

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Oct 07, 2012 Cseve rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Boy on Cinnamon Street
Published by:Athur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.
Genre: realistic fiction
Louise or Thumbelina (as she likes to go by because she is so small) lives with her grandparents on a road called Cinnamon Street. One day as she was working at her indoor garage sale in the middle of winter, she gets this note saying, " I'm you're biggest fan", but of course she is so confused. She doesn't know who wrote it, and she doesn't know what it means. Thankfully she ha...more

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Aug 24, 2012 Mjohnson rated it 2 of 5 stars

Some books should come with warning labels. Like when you're expecting a happy book (cover looks cute and happy)...but it's so not. There are many praises for this book, but because my expectations were so drastically different, I'm not such a fan. I understand that because of the (for a long time unknown) tragedy that this 13-year-old girl has suffered, she feels absent and a non-participant in much of the life going on around her. But as a result of the first-person point of view, it only make...more

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Jul 24, 2012 Tracey rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, children-s, mocknewbery

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 20, 2012 Samantha rated it 5 of 5 stars

It has been a while since a book brought tears to my eyes, but this beautiful book struck a chord with me and down my cheeks they fell. Louise begins her story by telling the reader that she has changed her name to Thumbelina. Both characters are known for being small and this is how she chooses to identify herself. A note delivered with her pizza sends Louise on a quest to figure out the identity of her secret admirer.

On the surface this story is light and fun as Louise/Thumbelina and her frie...more

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Jul 18, 2012 Eleanor rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: realistic-fiction

First of all, it was a pretty good book. But, I'm a seventh grader, and I did not connect with Thumb at all. During the first part of the book, her character is blurry and shaky, I couldn't see her as a person clearly. I thought that maybe giving us some information about her family life in the beginning would be better instead of keeping us guessing when she randomly yelled and screamed at her grandparents. I also wish the Merit Madson character had been developed more to make the story more in...more

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May 26, 2012 Jessikah rated it 4 of 5 stars

A well written middle grade novel which satisfies many emotional triggers at once. Louise, a seventh grader, has gone through a traumatic event which she has blocked from her memory and refuses to confront. So much, that Louise tells us at once that she has adopted a new identity, "Thumbelina". Admitting that she knows the name is ridiculous, she explains in a very honest sense as to why she has chosen it, and as a reader we accept it.

What we also learn quite quickly is that Louise lives with h...more A well written middle grade novel which satisfies many emotional triggers at once. Louise, a seventh grader, has gone through a traumatic event which she has blocked from her memory and refuses to confront. So much, that Louise tells us at once that she has adopted a new identity, "Thumbelina". Admitting that she knows the name is ridiculous, she explains in a very honest sense as to why she has chosen it, and as a reader we accept it.

What we also learn quite quickly is that Louise lives with her ex-hippie grandparents, she loves pizza and she used to be on the gymnastics team, until things changed very quickly for her and she became Thumbelina. When Louise begins receiving mysterious love letters she is sure it is the cute upperclassman, Benny, who delivers her pizzas. But Louise's connection to Benny is not what it seems.

While the book focuses on the often silly antics of Louise and her friend Reni who sort of (okay, they actually do) stalk Benny in hopes of having him as a date to a school dance, the root of the story is layered in the pain that is caused when a loss is so great it is too hard to confront. While the true heart of Louise's story unfolds naturally we as an observant reader can pretty much figure out the gist of it pretty early on. The puzzle sits right in front of us as does the not so secret identity of Louise's secret admirer.

If not for the well realized protagonist with the very genuine voice it may have not worked. A lesser author, for instance, may have written Louise as a stiff after school special heroine, who only exists to relay a message in a neat little box. Phoebe Stone captures her has a living breathing being in a world that is unfair and with that the character speaks and moves as a insightful and damaged young girl her age would.

This story is so sweet without being cloying, so special without being too sentimental. If it were a spice as in the street names of Louise's old neighborhood it would be Cinnamon. Familiar but still utterly wonderful.(less)

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May 13, 2012 Lisa rated it 3 of 5 stars

**more like 3.5 stars**

The Boy on Cinnamon Street was a cute book that had a bit more depth than I originally thought.

I went into this book thinking it was going to be a fun light read, and while it was fun the main character was also dealing with some serious events that had recently happened in her life. You don't actually find out what those events were until the end of the book, but you can tell that something bad had definitely happened. Thougout the novel there are clues as to what might...more

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May 09, 2012 Barbara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: death, ncbla2013, romance, families, school, bullies

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 06, 2012 Shanshad Whelan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: childrens, fiction, mg, realistic-fiction

I just . . . couldn't quite get into this. Louise (aka Thumbelina) is a short seventh grader who lives with her grandparents and is struggling to regain her identity and balance after a traumatic event has shattered her. With the appearance of notes from a secret admirer, she suddenly finds herself remembering pieces of the past as she tries to understand her feelings for this imagined admirer.

I have to admit, I pretty much figured out the secret admirer about halfway through, though I don't kno...more

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Feb 20, 2012 Karen Yingling rated it 2 of 5 stars

Cybils 2012 Reviews
Stone, Phoebe. The Boy on Cinnamon Street
Louise is living with her free spirited grandparents, but she’s not happy. She would rather be in her house on Cinnamon Street with her mother, but her mother has passed away, and her father is living in the city with a new family. She has given up on gymnastics, at which she was a star, and most of her old friends. When she gets a note from a secret admirer, she starts to connect more with some new friends, including Benny, whom she th...more

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Aug 13, 2012 Sps rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-mock-newbery, elem, story, character

At once puzzlingly weird and comfortably predictable, the what-tween-girls-are-made-of cover of this book certainly deceives. While it's clear early on that the book will follow a classic romantic plot with added drama from Louise's (hark!) absent-parents scenario, our protagonist is a bit of a mess. She's punchy and short-tempered with her grandparents, a nervous pushover to her gymnastics team bullies, clueless and hyper with her two best friends.

The characters are slightly wacky, kind of in a...more At once puzzlingly weird and comfortably predictable, the what-tween-girls-are-made-of cover of this book certainly deceives. While it's clear early on that the book will follow a classic romantic plot with added drama from Louise's (hark!) absent-parents scenario, our protagonist is a bit of a mess. She's punchy and short-tempered with her grandparents, a nervous pushover to her gymnastics team bullies, clueless and hyper with her two best friends.

The characters are slightly wacky, kind of in a Saffy's Angel sort of way, and of course the town has its quaint elements. Happily, Louise is not so precocious or atypical that she doesn't notice the quirks and become exasperated with them (town, grandparents) or cherish them (friends). She and her friends have some great lines but they are completely in keeping with their characters: "Since I was sick and got better I feel like Miss Healthy from planet Get Out Of My Face." (198)

Like The Mighty Miss Malone, this book could maybe have used some more intensive editing--and I don't mean cutting, necessarily, but structural work so that it hung together better. The unraveling of Louise's mysterious past isn't as elegant as, say, Rebecca Stead might have handled it, and things happen too fast or slow. Characters pop up with new problems or reveal new sides of themselves for no particular reason. Part of me didn't even care, though: this book is not bland or overly tidy and the quick, disorienting shifts in direction felt like surges of mischievous life. Far better some double-takes than the leaden, stereotyped characters or moody exposition in lesser writers' books. And to a certain extent Louise's varied temperaments made sense since she's a tween, so sometimes she wants fairy tales and crowns of flowers while other times she wants a better cell phone and to eat cheez doodles with her besties.

Now, who the heck would I recommend this to? I guess Lauren Myracle fans, Hilary McKay fans, Tom Angelberger fans, maybe Louis Sachar and Gary Schmidt fans, the kids who will be reading John Green in a few years.(less)

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May 31, 2012 Kathy Martin rated it 4 of 5 stars

The first thing I want to say about this book is that the author has a seventh grader's voice pitch perfect. Louise, who has changed her name to Thumbelina because she is so small, lives with her grandparents after some sort of trauma in her family. Her best friends are brother and sister Henderson and Reni. She has recently moved in with her grandparents - who are certainly unique individuals - and changed schools. She used to love gymnastics but doesn't do them anymore because she is being har...more

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Feb 27, 2013 Josiah rated it 3 of 5 stars

"Some people are just not meant to be in this world. it's just too much for them."

―Grandma, The Boy on Cinnamon Street, PP. 193-194

All great authors seem to put a sizable portion of themselves into the literature they create. For the best writers, every character they lay down on the page contains at least a trace of their own emotional self, pieces of wistful humanity stretching the horizons of character after character until they become more than the author's original vision was for them to...more

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Jan 18, 2013 Mayaj6 rated it 5 of 5 stars

I thought twilight was the best book ever! But now that I read the book " the boy on cinnamon street " I love this book . I really like this book because Justin bieber is in it . I would recommend this book to people that like Justin bieber and romance.

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Oct 10, 2012 Emily rated it 5 of 5 stars

Super cute, super sweet and super quick! I just checked this out today and finished it on the ride home. Short synopsis:

Louise (aka. Thumbelina) lives with her grandparents in a small apartment. She has 2 best friends, Reni and Henderson, who are brother and sister. But she doesn't have any more friends than that. She's short. And she's pretty unpopular. But she seems to have a secret admirer. He leaves notes on her doorstep and draws chalk hearts on her sidewalk, and she thinks she knows who it...more

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May 07, 2012 Cinnamon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: body-image, coming-of-age, chick-lit, death, dating, contemporary, family-situations, first-love, girl-self-perception, grandparents, grief, mothers, orphans, relationships, young-adult

Louise used to be the top gymnast on the team. But now she isn't even out for gymnastics. Louise used to live with her mom and dad in a little house on Cinnamon Street. Now she lives with her grandparents in a condo across town. Someone has a crush on Louise. He's leaving her notes and signs everywhere. Is it really the pizza boy or is there someone else out there for her?

This turned out to be a better read than I thought when I first started it. The beginning was somewhat confusing because of...more

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Apr 10, 2012 Roechelle Rosete rated it 3 of 5 stars

"My own stupidity caused me to lose what I didn't even know I had. I was blindfolded, baffled, and blundering." --Louise/Thumbelina.

This quote reminds me of the things we taken for granted. Sometimes there are times that are in front of us but still we are looking beyond and never appreciates their presence. It is true that when they were gone, you only see their worth and have regrets that you shouldn't have to feel at all.

I cried at the part where Louise found out that Henderson was the one wh...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Brett rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: juvenile-realistic

There are two very powerful stories happening simultaneously in this beautifully written & moving book: the story of a girl discovering the weirdness, pain, & joy of first love, & the story of a girl passing through an incredibly painful phase in her life following a family tragedy & coming out on the other side stronger & better aware of the small joys in life.
Louise has decided to rename herself "Thumbelina" since moving in with her grandparents on the opposite side of town...more

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Sep 16, 2012 Kavya rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Boy on Cinnamon Street
Phoebe Stone
240 Pages
Realistic Fiction

The Boy on Cinnamon Street is about a 13 year old girl named Louise who had just went through a traumatic loss. She used to do cartwheels and the summersaults wherever she went. Now, she won’t even do any type of gymnastics. Louise has totally changed since the disappointing event. Whatever things Louise did before always reminds her of her loss. She is a different person now. She starts getting these mysterious love letters from...more

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Jul 20, 2012 Deborah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-grade, realistic

I've heard so many good things about this author, especially about The Romeo and Juliet Code, which I will have to read soon. This book was very well written, and very unique with awesome characters, especially Reni and Henderson.
(Minor Spoilers Ahead) I somehow hope that Henderson and Louise stay together forever and get married (at a reasonable age!) and live in the house on Cinnamon Street. It's been quite a while since I've rooted for a couple in a book that much. :)
The only thing about th...more

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May 22, 2012 Ashley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Super sweet, super sad. Made me cry for both reasons.
Two things:
1. It makes me sad that the main characters are only in 7th grade. I know that the amazingly cute love story behind it will not last. Because, yes, I think about things like this... What happens to the characters after the book ends? Do they get married, become rich and travel the world, become Olympic gymnasts, etc? Well, with 7th graders, you know they date for like a week and then move on. Maybe remain friends, but probably not....more

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Apr 18, 2012 Katie rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: general

I DO NOT get the love for this book. Louise is a seventh grader who looks like a fourth grader but also talks, thinks and acts like a fourth grader. She's not very interesting or bright or insightful. Because the book is narrated in first person through her perspective, this was problematic for me. I don't want to read a story written by an immature, dim-witted fourth/seventh-grader. Overall the writing was uninspired and, at times, annoying. I found all of the dialogue to be really awkward, so...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jun 11, 2012 Justin rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-for-students

This book is fine for younger students who want to read a romantic story with a girl their age. Her conflicts (issues with her height, a parent who has recently passed away, not being popular at school) are ones that almost any middle school girl can feel. She gets a secret note saying that a boy likes her, and quickly she and her friends try to figure out who her new love may be. What holds the story back is the fact that most older readers will likely figure out the mystery quite quickly. So m...more

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Oct 24, 2012 Zoe rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone!

A great book, beautiful and heart-touching.

I love how instead of being another sappy, unrealistic love story it has a deeper story behind it. A father who left his wife for another, a mother who is so heart-broken she takes her own life... and a young, talented girl caught up in it all.

I love how the fact that when she experiences her first heart break, everything falls into place, Benny was the missing piece that made her remember everything.

This story is the type of story I love, wonderfully w...more

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About Phoebe Stone

Before concentrating on creating books for children and young adults, Phoebe Stone had a very successful career established as a fine art's painter. During that time, she received two Vermont Council on the Arts Fellowships in painting and exhibited her work in many museums and galleries all around New England and New York City, and influenced many New England artists with her unique, brightly col...more

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“Some people are just not meant to be in this world. It's just too much for them.” — 108 people liked it

“THUMB,

I HOPE I WILL NOT BORE YOU WITH HOW TOTALLY, TOTALLY I ADORE YOU. THE FUNNY WAY YOU HAVE OF TALKING, THE CUTE WAY YOU HAVE OF WALKING. PLEASE DO NOT FEEL THAT I AM STALKING YOU.

LOVE, HENDERSON” — 16 people liked it

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