Fox, Paula - Books - Magic Bean Dip

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Borrowed Finery: A Memoir

Paula Fox

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By: Picador
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In this elegant, wrenching memoir, Paula Fox looks at her childhood with the same detached acceptance of life's arbitrary cruelties that informs such acclaimed novels as Desperate Characters. Born in 1923, she was abandoned at a Manhattan foundling home by her alcoholic father at the insistence of her panic-stricken, 19-year-old mother. Paul and Elsie Fox were in no way prepared to take on the responsibility of a child, although they couldn't leave her alone either. Fox's austere narrative unflinchingly describes the couple swooping down on their daughter, who was being raised in upstate New York by a kindly minister, for visits that were as alarming as they were intermittent. For reasons best known to themselves (Fox does not attempt to analyze their motives), they removed her from the minister's home when she was 6, then bounced her among relatives, schools, and their own disordered care for the next 12 years, from Hollywood and Long Island to Cuba and Montreal. The restraint with which Fox describes these traumas is a reproach to all those maudlin memoirs of family dysfunction that have been so prevalent in recent years. She demonstrates that you can write about painful experiences honestly without wallowing in self-pity, and her prose here is as perfectly calibrated as it is in her novels. Thank goodness that this sad story is leavened by a running counterpoint of short passages showing young Paula discovering the pleasure of words and the power of literature. Though she too had an unwanted baby at an early age, the book closes with a moving scene of the author's reunion with the daughter she gave up for adoption. --Wendy Smith

La danza de los esclavos/ The Dance of the Slaves (The Slave Dancer) (Spanish Edition)

Paula Fox, Guillermo Solana

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By: Lectorum Publications
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Editorial Review:

Kidnapped by the crew of an Africa-bound ship, a thirteen-year-old boy discovers to his horror that he is on a slaver and his job is to play music for the exercise periods of the human cargo. In Spanish.

One-eyed Cat

Paula Fox

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By: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 35 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

ONE-EYED CAT 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

The year is 1935. Ned Wallis is 11 years old. For his birthday, Ned's wealthy uncle gives him an air rifle. Ned's father, a preacher in upstate New York, says that Ned is too young for a rifle, so he puts the gun in the attic, telling Ned that when he's 14, he can have it. But Ned goes to the attic after everybody else is in bed and takes the rifle outdoors. While he's aiming it just for fun, he spots a shadow of movement by the shed, and he pulls the trigger. Shooting the gun sobers him up, and he feels very guilty for disobeying his father. He puts the gun away. It has lost all excitement for him now.

Ned doesn't want to tell anybody what he did. But he's afraid because, when he went back to the house, he saw a face looking out of the attic window. He doesn't know who it was, and he doesn't know what the person saw. Then one day, while he's working at his elderly neighbor's house after school, he sees a cat. The cat is wild, dirty, and grungy --- and it only has one eye. There's just a hole where the other eye was. The cat keeps shaking his head, and he's deaf. Ned is sure that he shot the cat.

Winter is coming; Ned and his neighbor, old Mr. Scully, are afraid the cat will freeze to death. He's thin and sick from pain and hunger, and he can't hunt well with only one eye. Mr. Scully sets out food for him, and he and Ned watch through the window while the cat sleeps by the shed. At first it looks like he's going to be okay. The food perks him up. But as the days get colder and it starts snowing, the cat gets sicker. One day he's just a mound covered with snow, and he doesn't move.

Will Ned be able to tell someone what he did? How can anybody forgive him for hurting an innocent animal? What will happen when Mr. Scully has a stroke and goes to a nursing home? Can Ned take care of the cat alone? Will the cat survive? You will want to find out once you start this gripping novel, which won a Newbery Honor award in 1985.

--- Reviewed by Tamara Penny

Editorial Review:

"Ned believes that, with a forbidden gun, he has shot out the eye of a wild cat, and his guilt poisons his life. An outstanding growing-up story for all ages about the painful secrets and the struggle to be good . . . This riveting story is spun with an eloquent simplicity that belies the skill of its telling . . . Adults and children alike will come effortlessly under the spell of this peerless storyteller . . ."--Booklist, starred review. Newbery Honor book; ALA Notable Children's Book; ALA Best Book for Young Adults; Booklist Editors' Choice; New York Times Book Review Oustanding Children's Book of the Year.

Western Wind

Paula Fox

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By: Yearling
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

This is the best book!!! It is so realistic interesting!!!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Western Wind is a really good book!! Elizabeth acts just like a girl would in her situation with her grandmother. She is a girl who was sent to her grandma's house for awhile and feels like her parents sent her away so they could be alone with their new son. I really recommend you read this book. It is excellent!!!!!!

As sparklingly craggy as the coast of Maine itself! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

If you'd ever lingered among the crags and eddies off the coast of Maine, there is much that is endearing and enduring in this brief novel, written for near-teens, but enjoyable for all ages. A young girl spends the summer with her grandmother, an artist on an island just off the Maine coast. At first, perplexed and hurt by her parents' decision to have her stay with the often taciturn, but always loving and engaging gran, young Elizabeth learns through a young neighbor boy the importance of seizing the day and not missing a moment of life, a lesson that becomes all the more poignant by the novel's melancholy, but hopeful ending. Paula Fox is the author of the Newbery-winning SLAVE DANCER and always writes with a clarity of spirit and sparklingly unforgettable characters. Further evidence that quick reads do not have to be toss-away pap.

Editorial Review:

Rebelling when she is sent to stay at her Grandmother's Maine island home after the birth of her brother, twelve-year-old Elizabeth befriends the strange son of her only neighbors and comes to unexpectedly respect her Grandmother. Reprint. K. SLJ.

The Slave Dancer

Paula Fox

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 131 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Excellent, thought provoking story 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I teach reading to both Junior and Senior high school students so I am always looking for superior adolescent literature. The Slave Dancer, by Paula Fox, winner of the Newbery Medal for most distinguished contribution to American literature for children in 1974, is a good choice.

The novel, set in 1840, revolves around Jesse Boller, a teenage boy from New Orleans. Because Jessie enjoys playing the fife, he is kidnapped and forced to work on The Moonlight, a slave ship. His job is to play the fife while the slaves are forced to dance. I have read elsewhere that dancing the slaves supposedly kept some muscle tone during the long voyage.

We see the voyage through the eyes of young Jesse, a boy who had never thought much about slavery. Men who have compromised with evil and greed surround him and, in a way, he too has been enslaved. During the voyage, he learns about the flawed men who now control his life and the lives of the 98 slaves locked in the hold.
The novel could certainly be used in middle or high school literature, English or even history classes. It is fiction but it depicts historical events well. In my high school reading class we completed the novel in just over six weeks. The book is written for adolescent readers. Sex and violence is told of but not described in lurid detail. However, the `N' word is used to describe the slaves on multiple occasions. Because slavers, not Jesse, use the term, I feel it adds to the brutal picture of the time. A vocabulary list of nautical and archaic terms might be helpful for class reading.

This is not the kind of book you enjoy, this is the kind of book you think about. I recommend it for adolescent or young adult readers.

Kyle Pratt

Editorial Review:

Snatched from the docks of New Orleans, 13-year-old Jessie is thrown aboard a slave ship where he is sickened by the horrible practices of the slave business. But they are nothing compared to the one final horror that Jessie will witness. Can the cruelty be stopped before it’s too late?

Good Ethan

Paula Fox

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By: Simon & Schuster (Juv)
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Editorial Review:

Ethan is not allowed to walk across the street, so when his ball rolls away he devises a clever way to retrieve it.

Maurice's Room

Paula Fox

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

An Ok book for kids 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful.

As a teacher I read this book to see how approriate it was for my students. The discriptions were good. The boy (Maurice) was very creative in his ways. However I thought the adults in the book were protrayed to be dumb. The adults couldn't figure out that Maurice didn't like the dog. I also thought that the plot line was very slow. I am not sure what the parents where waiting for when they didn't move to the country in the beginning of the book. Then once they moved to the country Maurice continued to collect JUNK. What was the purpose of moving. The book is cute. Kids who collect junk may like it. There are lots of words on the pages but the vocabulary isnt very hard.

Maurice's Room 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Maurice is a young boy who lives in a city. He loves to collect anything and everything. Maurice's parents don't approve of his collecting. The janitor of his apartment building, Mr. Klenk, finds stuff for Maurice to add to his collections. Because Maurice's parents are getting fed up of not being able to walk into his room thanks to the mess, they think about moving to the country, where they hope Maurice will have less things to collect. Will they move or will Maurice out grow his love for collecting? Read the book and find out.
On a scale from one to five, five being the highest, I'd give the book a four. The plot was good, but it was a bit confusing in parts. For example, it took me a while to figure out that Maurice was a boy. I also had to re-read a couple of other parts before they made sense.
The author, Paula Fox, used good descriptive words. She makes the reader actually feel like they were there, not just reading about it. I would reccomend "Maurice's Room" to kids ages 9 to 12.

Editorial Review:

Eight-year-old Maurice's struggle to protect his bedroom full of treasured "junk" from unsympathetic parents undergoes a transformation when the family moves to the country.

The Village by the Sea

Paula Fox

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The Village By The Sea 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This feel good book is about a young girl who is forced to live with her aunt and uncle during her father's bypass surgery. Her uncle makes her feel at home butfor her aunt,that is a different story. Her Aunt Bea, an ex alcoholic, definately lives up to her title as a terror. Luckily, she finds comfort in a new neighbor and a magical place on the beach. As for the rest, you will have to read it yourself!!

The Village by The Sea 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Sara Cooper- Caracas, Venezuela
The Village by the Sea is about a small girl called Emma. She is the main character in this book. She has a tough time settling in with Aunt Bea "The Terror". But Uncle Crispin is welcoming and nice. She is forced to be with her aunt and uncle because her dad is having a bypass surgery. She is in a tight spot and she hopes it doesn't get worse. But she is out of luck because one day her heart gets broken, by whom? you'll have to find out!

Editorial Review:

When Emma's father goes to the hospital for surgery, she is sent to stay with Aunt Bea the "terror" and kindly Uncle Crispin. Emma wonders how she will survive two weeks with the always hostile Aunt Bea.

Luckily, Emma makes a friend, Bertie, and the two girls begin a project on the beach. Together they build tiny houses out of stones, shells, and all sorts of sea treasures. Here at the beach with Bertie, Emma finds comfort and friendship and takes pride in her carefully planned village.

Then one day Emma and Bertie's village is destroyed...

Radiance Descending (Laurel-Leaf Books)

Paula Fox

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By: Laurel Leaf
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 2.0 of 5

Radiance? This books lacks any. 1 out of 5 stars.
8 of 10 people found this review helpful.

I just finished this book and turned to see the Amazon reviews. I was horrified to see the positive review given by Hornbook and glad to see the two negative reader reviews. This book perpetuates out-dated stereotypes of Down Syndrome. Because the reader sees the entire book through Paul's point of view, his hateful misconceptions are never corrected. His beloved Grandfather calls Jacob "eerie." Are we talking about "Children of the Damned" or a book about a child with a disability? Paul's hatred of his brother is unmotivated and pathological. The author seems totally unaware of all the progress in the education of people with Down Syndrome. Early intervention programs bring children, parents and educators together from birth. Parents are members of parent advocacy and support groups. There are also groups for siblings. Children like Jacob learn to read and are mainstreamed in regular classrooms. Some attend college, hold jobs, drive cars and live independent lives. None of this appears in the book. Accuracy seems to be the least a reader could ask for. The only people who should read this book are the parents of children with Down Syndrome. It will make them so mad that they will go out and fight the stereotypes with renewed strength - a loving parent of an adolescent with Down Syndrome.

Editorial Review:

Award-winning author Paula Fox succeeds again with Radiance Descending, a novel about a boy struggling to ignore his brother who has Down's syndrome. Paul can spin mental circles around Jacob, and he's tired of the way his parents focus all of their attention on his younger brother just because Jacob has a problem. Jacob dawdles, laughs endlessly, messes up Paul's room, and has a pumpkinlike face. Most of all, Jacob embarrasses Paul. Disgusted by the way Jacob fawns over him and angry at the way he feels erased in his own family, Paul focuses all of his energy on ignoring Jacob. Slowly, though, Paul begins to wonder if, perhaps, not thinking about Jacob is only another way of thinking about him? Radiance Descending is an enchanting, deeply felt tale about family pain and the courage it takes to reach out into the unknown.