Although tough-talking Harry Sue would like to start a life of crime in order to be "sent up" and find her incarcerated mother, she must first prot...
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reviews
Jan 06, 2009
Amy
rated it: 
A fictional retelling of some true life horrors that have occured to some "crumb-snatchers", read children. Harry Sue is a young girl stuck living with her evil grandmother since both of her parents have been incarcerated...her Dad for almost killing Harry Sue and Mom for the meth lab in the kitchen.
Written in the first-person narrative the story is told from Harry Sue's perspective, she wants nothing more than to land in the joint so she can be with her Mom. The problem More...
Written in the first-person narrative the story is told from Harry Sue's perspective, she wants nothing more than to land in the joint so she can be with her Mom. The problem More...
Nov 10, 2011
J.
rated it: 
Eleven-year-old Harry Sue is being raised by her neglectful grandmother. Both of her parents are in prison. Determined to reunite with her mother, she is striving to become a criminal. Problem is Harry Sue’s too soft hearted. In spite of her best efforts to be a troublemaker her soft heart keeps getting in the way.
Her best friend knows all about doing time. Homer’s a quadriplegic that lives in a tree house., The way Harry Sue sees it, Homer’s got a life sentence. A wacky therapist is More...
Her best friend knows all about doing time. Homer’s a quadriplegic that lives in a tree house., The way Harry Sue sees it, Homer’s got a life sentence. A wacky therapist is More...
Jan 12, 2011
KidsFiction
rated it: 
J Stauffacher
There's alot going on in this enjoyable book told from the perspective of eleven year old Harry Sue Clotkin. Harry Sue was placed in the custody of her grandmother when her own mom was arrested and taken to jail. Since then, Harry Sue has been dreaming of being reunited with her mom, specifically thinking that the best way to do that was to become a criminal herself and land in jail, also. In the meantime, Harry Sue was placed in the custody of her paternal grandmothe More...
There's alot going on in this enjoyable book told from the perspective of eleven year old Harry Sue Clotkin. Harry Sue was placed in the custody of her grandmother when her own mom was arrested and taken to jail. Since then, Harry Sue has been dreaming of being reunited with her mom, specifically thinking that the best way to do that was to become a criminal herself and land in jail, also. In the meantime, Harry Sue was placed in the custody of her paternal grandmothe More...
Aug 27, 2010
Kim
rated it:
Why did this not get any Newbery recognition? Really, come on now, it was at least worthy of an Honor. (Was it because people find it too hard to pronounce her last name? According to her website, it's STOFF-ICK-ER. Not that hard, folks.) Or was it the... strange cover art of the hardcover? (I hope not; I happen to be more fond of the hardcover than my paperback version, and books with weirder covers have gotten Newbery recognition before...) Certainly, it's more distinguished than many kid book
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Oct 18, 2009
Michelle
rated it:
Harry Sue
By: Sue Stauffacher / 290 pages
This novel is about an eleven year old girl, Harry Sue, whose childhood is far from a fairy tail. She strives to pull herself out of the deep hole her family has dug for her every day by turning to her favorite book, The Wizard of Oz. It was her mother’s favorite book and the last one she read before being sent up. Her parents are both in jai. Her father threw her out of a seven story bu More...
By: Sue Stauffacher / 290 pages
This novel is about an eleven year old girl, Harry Sue, whose childhood is far from a fairy tail. She strives to pull herself out of the deep hole her family has dug for her every day by turning to her favorite book, The Wizard of Oz. It was her mother’s favorite book and the last one she read before being sent up. Her parents are both in jai. Her father threw her out of a seven story bu More...
Nov 17, 2011
Alicia
rated it:
Filled with _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_ references. Harry Sue is a child whose father and mother are both in jail for various crimes. It is Harry Sue’s life goal to someday go to prison herself so that she may be reunited with her family. For now, she lives with her grandmother, an evil, self-centered woman who runs a day care and neglects everyone in her care. Over the course of the book, Harry Sue meets new characters and learns to trust people, even though she wants instead to harden herself
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Apr 23, 2010
Sarah Beth
rated it:
This book wrecked me. WRECKED me. I picked it up, thinking I'd read it leisurely over the weekend, and quickly found that I couldn't put it down. It's really, really good for about 2/3 of the book, and then it gets REALLY, REALLY GOOD. I read it at a coffee shop and started crying but couldn't put it down long enough to leave and go someplace quiet.
The only word I can think of to describe this book is miraculous, and I don't mean that in a cheesy way. More like how I felt after reading Ow More...
The only word I can think of to describe this book is miraculous, and I don't mean that in a cheesy way. More like how I felt after reading Ow More...
Aug 20, 2011
I enjoyed reading this book because Harry Sue tells her story of how her life has turned out after trying to find her mother. I liked the way Harry Sue told the readers that her life has completely changed after falling from the 7th floor of her apartment at 5 years old. Also, her parents are interesting because her mother cared a lot of about her, her father just wanted to be with Harry Sue's mother, and the grandma- she is the worst grandmother ever. She has a day care for kids and treats them
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Aug 01, 2011
Neill
rated it:
Harry Sue lives with a mean-spirited, conniving grandmother who dupes parents into leaving their kids with her so she can abuse them. Harry's parents are both convicts - her father because he threw her out a seventh floor window and her mother for selling crystal meth. You'd think Harry Sue would be warped by this but along with her best friend, a quadriplegic who lives in his own tree house, she deals with the realities of her life in a straight from the hip kind of way - except for the part
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Aug 17, 2010
Rebecca
rated it:
Although tough-talking Harry Sue would like to start a life of crime in order to be "sent up" and find her incarcerated mother, she must first protect the children at her neglectful grandma's home day care center and befriend a paralyzed boy.
Another marvelous original work by Stauffacher (author of Donuthead. Although the themes are quite serious, the dialogue is so humorous and the heroine so full of heart, that it's really not a "downer." Would be a good book d More...
Another marvelous original work by Stauffacher (author of Donuthead. Although the themes are quite serious, the dialogue is so humorous and the heroine so full of heart, that it's really not a "downer." Would be a good book d More...
Oct 19, 2009
Debrarian
rated it:
Excellent, if gritty. “Although tough-talking Harry Sue would like to start a life of crime in order to be "sent up" and find her incarcerated mother, she must first protect the children at her [awful:], neglectful grandmother's home day care center” and figure out how to do right by her best friend, Homer, who basically lives in his tree house after being paralyzed in a diving accident. Friendship with Homer’s wacko home health aide, Anna, and with the substitute art teacher, a Suda
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Jun 20, 2008
Lucy
rated it:
Harry Sue is the daughter of two felons (a con and a conette), and she’s doing her own time while she waits to get herself thrown in jail and reunited with her mother. But meanwhile, she has a whole mess of crumb snatchers (children) to rescue from evil Granny Clotkin’s abusive day care, and her best friend, the quadriplegic Homer Price, won’t come out of his treehouse. And Baba is the only teacher to believe in backstory more than detention, and Anna is a crazy J-Cat who may just know what’s
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Dec 11, 2007
Lucy
rated it:
Harry Sue is the daughter of two felons (a con and a conette), and she’s doing her own time while she waits to get herself thrown in jail and reunited with her mother. But meanwhile, she has a whole mess of crumb snatchers (children) to rescue from evil Granny Clotkin’s abusive day care, and her best friend, the quadriplegic Homer Price, won’t come out of his treehouse. And Baba is the only teacher to believe in backstory more than detention, and Anna is a crazy J-Cat who may just know what’s
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Aug 26, 2008
Bruce
rated it:
You may have heard about a boy named Sue. Now meet a girl named Harry. Just before her mother went to the joint for making crystal meth in the kitchen, she told her daughter, “You aren’t the kind to invite trouble, so I had to do it for you. You need practice to stand up for yourself properly. No girl named Harry Sue gets pushed around. She’s the kind that goes down fighting.”
Harry figures that the only way she’ll see her mother again is to become a juvenile delinquent and get sent up. More...
Harry figures that the only way she’ll see her mother again is to become a juvenile delinquent and get sent up. More...
Apr 01, 2010
Gina
rated it:
Thanks to Jennifer B for suggesting this one! I love a tough girl character and now I have a special place in my heart for Harriet Sue. This book is filled with everything you could want: humor, tenderness, colorful characters, and made-up words. Readalikes: When You Reach Me and The Higher Power of Lucky.
Dec 30, 2009
Kim
rated it:
This is a great book about moral character. I enjoyed it, although I suppose it's rating suffered in comparison to the darker/deeper books I have been reading. It was enjoyable, the characters were totally believable, and it renews one's faith in the strength of the human spirit.
Apr 10, 2009
Robin
rated it:
Let me see:
-I learned quite a lot about prison jargon. Hear that, fish?
-Quite funny at some places, at the same time heartwarming (and at one place- heartbreaking)
-The friendship between Harry and her best friend Homer was really sweet. A friend who understand when not to ask, when to lend a helping hand and always be there for you, that's one valuable friend.
-Makes me want to reread The Wizard of Oz..
-I learned quite a lot about prison jargon. Hear that, fish?
-Quite funny at some places, at the same time heartwarming (and at one place- heartbreaking)
-The friendship between Harry and her best friend Homer was really sweet. A friend who understand when not to ask, when to lend a helping hand and always be there for you, that's one valuable friend.
-Makes me want to reread The Wizard of Oz..
Jun 11, 2009
Kris
rated it:
I fell in love with this tough and tender, gutsy chick. The Wizard of Oz underlying theme - fantastic. Yay, Sue!
Aug 20, 2009
Maddie
rated it:
One of my all time favorite books, Harry Sue makes me laugh, cry, and this book should be read by anyone.
Mar 01, 2009
Shutta
rated it:
REally enjoyed the prison lingo, the problems facing Harry Sue. Throughly enjoyed this one!
Mar 05, 2008
Paula
rated it:
I ran out of library books so started combing my shelf and found this little gem that I read when it first came out and fell in love with it all over again. Harry Sue doesn't have it easy -- with both parents in jail, her best friend paralyzed, and living with her horrid Granny. Harry Sue tries her darndest to be tough, but her heart seems to keep getting in the way. At first she thinks a life of crime so she can be with her mom is the way to go, but then she realizes caring about people isn't
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Jul 08, 2009
Rishmi
rated it: 
Well... i didnt finish this one either. i dont know, i just got bored. i'm sorry. but i'm just not in the mood i guess.
Sep 26, 2008
Heather
rated it:
I'm not normally a fan of Children's Literature (go figure), but as I was revising new books, I came across this one and was intrigued. A quick read with well-managed chapters, the story is familiar enough to keep you interested, but fresh enough to keep you guessing. I'll definitely be pushing this book on readers in my library.
Feb 22, 2008
Anne
rated it:
I read this because I read about it on a friend's blog. She loved it, but I was only so-so on it. I liked it enough that I might try reading it again. I just couldn't get into it. It might have been my state of mind, but I think it moves just a little to slow for me.
Mar 28, 2009
Julie
rated it:
I found this book heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. It's not an easy book with easy solutions, but it's not nihilistic either. Things matter. I won't suggest this one for my niece yet.
Feb 16, 2008
beth
rated it:
i found this book wandering the stacks in my old haunt: the children's section of weaver library in east providence. it was thoroughly unexpected. from prison slang to the joke about cocaine.
Dec 16, 2009
Suzanne
rated it:
Charming story of a good girl who want so badly to be bad. If only her heroic deeds would stop getting in the way! Subject matter a little heavy for young readers; ideal for tweens/teens.
