42 Miles
by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer (Goodreads author!)
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 39)
Read in September, 2008
recommends it for:
older elementary
Two names, one girl. JoEllen’s name comes from her father’s and mother’s names (Joey and Ellen). Now that her parents are divorced they can’t seem to call her JoEllen anymore. It reminds them too much of each other. So she is called Joey by her dad and Ellen by her mother. No one bothered to ask her if this was okay with her. And it seems they didn’t bother to ask her about a lot of things – such as if she minds spending the week with Mom and the weekends with Dad, traveling th...more
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Read in July, 2008
What the jacket says: "Linked free verse poems combine with scrapbook-style illustrations to create the vivid portrait of a girl who is trying to find herself amid the pieces of her life."
Loved this one. Just loved it. JoEllen (Ellen to her city friends; Joey to her country friends) divides her time between her two parents. Since her parents' divorce, she spends part of her week in the city with her mom, and the rest of the week (or should I say the weekends) with her dad in the co...more
Loved this one. Just loved it. JoEllen (Ellen to her city friends; Joey to her country friends) divides her time between her two parents. Since her parents' divorce, she spends part of her week in the city with her mom, and the rest of the week (or should I say the weekends) with her dad in the co...more
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1 comments
Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com
JoEllen leads a double life. It's a bit like the old fable about the country mouse and the city mouse. Since her parents divorced long ago, JoEllen has divided her time between her father, who lives in the country, and 42 miles away in the city, where her mother lives.
It isn't just the living arrangements that divide JoEllen's life. She explains that even back when her parents named her they couldn't agree. Her na...more
JoEllen leads a double life. It's a bit like the old fable about the country mouse and the city mouse. Since her parents divorced long ago, JoEllen has divided her time between her father, who lives in the country, and 42 miles away in the city, where her mother lives.
It isn't just the living arrangements that divide JoEllen's life. She explains that even back when her parents named her they couldn't agree. Her na...more
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Read in July, 2008
JoEllen lives two lives-- one as Ellen with her mother in the city, and one as Joey with her father in the country. As she approaches her thirteenth birthday she becomes increasingly dissatisfied with her two completely separate lives. Will she have the courage and ability to merge the two? This short novel in verse surprised me at the end. My favorite poem is the penultimate one in the book (p.70-71):
The Poems I Like Best
The poems I like best
wear classic black
with vintage access...more
The Poems I Like Best
The poems I like best
wear classic black
with vintage access...more
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I have a new favourite children's author in Tracie Vaughn Zimmer. I simply fell in love with Reaching For Sun and was thrilled to see the author hits the mark yet again in 42 Miles. These linked free verses so aptly reflect the searching a thirteen year old does - searching for that just-right fit in family, friends and self. Ms. Zimmer's prose is beautiful; I hope this book empowers the younger set to be happy and confident and encourages them to break the mold that often binds them.
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Read in April, 2008
This is a slim story with some ok to good verses. The illustrations/decorations are often amusing, which elevated it from 2 to 3 stars here for me. Although I do like the change the main character makes toward the end of the "story" and do believe that yes, a person's life can be completely turned around by her own changes of mindset, it still seems a bit sudden and oh-so-perfect.
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Very quick to read with a story about a young girl whose parents now live 42 miles apart -- one city, one country -- and the different lives she leads in each place. Even her name, JoEllen, has been split: in the city, she is Ellen, in the country, Joey. Prose poems and profuse illustrations make this a book that moves very quickly with a character you like.
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Read in May, 2008
beautifully written novel in verse about a girl who tries to bring her two worlds (weekdays in the city w/mom; weekends on the farm w/dad) together in a meaningful way. touching on issues of divorce, friendship, adolescent growing pains, etc. same author as last year's 'reaching for sun.'
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Read in July, 2008
recommended to Carter by:
Ariel Richardson
I enjoyed the story here, but I wish it were a little longer. Perhaps more of the journal aspect to flesh out the poems. Tell the story in a little more depth. But it was indeed good.
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2 comments
Loved the fact that it took place in Cincinnati, but JoEllen (the protaganist) really was just not that believable a character. Plus, I didn't really feel like the illustrations added that much.
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Read in June, 2008
Short coming of age story about a girl whose parents are divorced. Not an exceptional peice, but not abysmal (sp?) either. I do like that it was written in verse.
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Excellent for 4-5 graders who are children of divorce.
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