The feisty, remarkably resourceful girl who came to Jonah's aid in Jonah the Whale and How He Became Incredibly Famous takes center stage in this heartrending novel. After Alyssa's sister is stillborn, her mother slips into a deep depression and her father moves the family from their farmhouse to a cramped apartment in North Haven, Conn. When her father later tells her that he is moving out of the apartment, the 10-year-old announces that she is replacing her given name with Blister, "Like when your shoes are too tight." At her new school, Blister "assume[s] a role of invented self-confidence," but fails to break into the fifth-grade cliques, despite reassuring her parents that she is making many new friends. On a weekend visit to her father's apartment, the child opens a suitcase stashed under his bed and discovers a cache of women's clothing and jewelry, some of which she takes with her when she leaves. How Blister uses these purloined items to seek revenge on her father and to impress her classmates enhances the poignancy of Shreve's narrative, which offers razor-sharp
Insight into the mind of this troubled yet resilient heroine. With a tightly woven plot and entirely convincing characters (Blister's supportive and eccentric grandmother is a standout), Shreve again proves herself an inspired and inspiring storyteller. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Owner Reviews, Ratings, Comments and Criticism
I read this book because it was required in one of my classes since they wanted to give us something kind of light and fluffy to read. This book was not light and fluffy. It makes me cringe with how Blister conducts herself, and since I, a mere 15 year old, can't stand the attitude the main chacter puts out because it is so flat out rude and disrepectful I don't think anyone else could be able to stand it. This book is shallow to a new extreme. the chacters seem so one dimensional to me it makes me want to cry. I love books ,and I love reading and I think this book would have been a whole lot better if the author would have put some meat on the proverbial bones of this story so it didn't read like soda that's been left out: flat, stale, and leaves a bad foul taste in your mouth.
Needless to say, I don't reccomend this book to anyone who would like something more than a shallow whiny preteen who thinks she has it bad.
