Amber Brown is Green with Envy (Amber Brown Series) ANNOTATION
Fourth-grader Amber Brown must make some important decisions when her mother and Max move their wedding date up and prepare to buy a house together, while her father makes some bad choices of his own.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Amber Brown's parents just aren't acting the way she thinks parents should. Sometimes Amber's dad goes out on dates when he is supposed to be spending time with her. And her Mom went to Disneyland with Aunt Pam while Amber was with her dad (not fair!). Then Mom and Max decide to get married even sooner and move to a new house--maybe even a new town! Some kids have parents who stay together. Some kids don't have to think about moving away from their school and all their friends. Some kids seem to have no problems--& that makes Amber Brown green with envy.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Paula Danziger's unsinkable heroine is put to the test in Amber Brown Is Green with Envy, illus. by Tony Ross, when Amber's dad spends time with his dates instead of her, and Mom and Max step up the wedding plans and consider moving to a new town. Danziger probes universal issues with her characteristic compassion and humor. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Children's Literature - Susan Hepler, Ph.D.
In this ninth entry in the "Amber Brown" series, Amber is in fourth grade, living in a shared-custody situation with her father in a double-household arrangement with another single dad. And with her mother in what used to be her "old" house. But now that her mother and Max are marrying and want to move to a new house, one where they can all "make their own memories," Amber is upset. Feelings-anger at everyone, hurt over being left out of her mother's important decisions like thinking of having another baby, and longing for a peaceful place but then wanting noise and distraction, fear of moving and of making new friends, are all turned over in Amber's mind. To top it off, her dad is behaving like a jerk. But she also is able to talk with a sympathetic principal, her friends, and eventually, her parents and Max. As the crises unfold, Amber realizes she has survived the moving away of her best friend Justin, has survived her parents' divorce, has made new friends, and will survive this next step, too. Longtime followers of Amber's life and her anguish over friends and family will welcome this next installment, and newcomers will be amazed at how perspicacious and aware this nine-year-old can, or is forced, to be about adult behavior. Danziger has a good ear for conversation, a love, like Amber, of the dreaded pun, and an eye for comic bad behavior and the good acts that make things all right among family members. Tony Ross's ink illustrations add humor and just the right amount of detail to further interest reluctant and other readers. 2003, Putnam, Ages 7 to 10.
School Library Journal
Gr 2-4-Fourth-grade Amber Brown is back, and she thinks that nothing in her life is fair, from her mom and aunt going to Disneyland without her to the many changes she must face within her family. Her mother and Max are planning their upcoming wedding, their new life together, and maybe even a future baby together and a new house, and Amber doesn't like it one bit. She's also angry at her father because he has a date. Then she must make a difficult decision when her mom and Max let her help choose between a new home with a swimming pool in a different town and a new, but "boring" house in a nearby neighborhood. Ross's black-and-white drawings show Amber's humorous facial expressions and her daily life. This upbeat and funny first-person narrative will keep readers hooked, even while Amber deals with the emotions that many kids her age experience. This title will be enjoyed by early chapter-book readers whether familiar with Amber or not.-Michele Shaw, Yorkshire Academy, Houston, TX Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
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