Double Dutch
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Overview
Delia loves Double Dutch. And she's good at it. Really good. So good that her team has a chance to win the World Double Dutch Championships this year -- Delia is sure of it. What she is less sure of is her chance of passing the school's state exam, because Delia has been using her success at Double Dutch to mask a secret that could jeopardize her place on the team, and also her future.Delia's not the only one with a secret. Her potential boyfriend, Randy, has one too -- his dad has been missing for weeks, and Randy hasn't told anyone for fear he'll be put in a foster home. But he is running out of money and getting scared.
The one thing that isn't a secret is that their classmates, the Tolliver twins, are out to cause trouble. With their skull caps, angry demeanors, and hints of violence emanating from even the way they stalk down the school halls, they seem to enjoy intimidating the other kids. But will they cross the line from intimidation to violence?
With consummate skill and an uncanny ability to capture how real kids think, act, and feel, Tears of a Tiger author Sharon M. Draper weaves these three stories tighter and tighter, creating a novel that tingles with suspense and emotion.
Three eighth-grade friends, preparing for the International Double Dutch Championship jump rope competition in their home town of Cincinnati, Ohio, cope with Randy's missing father, Delia's inability to read, and Yo Yo's encounter with the class bullies.
Synopsis
Delia loves Double Dutch. And she's good at it. Really good. So good that her team has a chance to win the World Double Dutch Championships this year -- Delia is sure of it. What she is less sure of is her chance of passing the school's state exam, because Delia has been using her success at Double Dutch to mask a secret that could jeopardize her place on the team, and also her future.
Delia's not the only one with a secret. Her potential boyfriend, Randy, has one too -- his dad has been missing for weeks, and Randy hasn't told anyone for fear he'll be put in a foster home. But he is running out of money and getting scared.
The one thing that isn't a secret is that their classmates, the Tolliver twins, are out to cause trouble. With their skull caps, angry demeanors, and hints of violence emanating from even the way they stalk down the school halls, they seem to enjoy intimidating the other kids. But will they cross the line from intimidation to violence?
With consummate skill and an uncanny ability to capture how real kids think, act, and feel, Tears of a Tiger author Sharon M. Draper weaves these three stories tighter and tighter, creating a novel that tingles with suspense and emotion.
Publishers Weekly
Secrets, not all of them credible, abound among the eighth-grade protagonists of this disappointing novel. Delia has managed to hide her inability to read from her parents and teachers, but she doubts she can pass the proficiency test that will enable her to graduate to ninth grade and continue competing in Double Dutch jump rope. Randy, whose mother walked out several years ago, hasn't told anyone that his father, a long-distance truck driver, has been missing for weeks. And when twin tornadoes hit the school, it becomes apparent that the Tolliver twins, who dress entirely in black and terrorize their classmates, are actually sensitive fellows behind their intimidating fa ades. Overflowing with rambling conversations and extraneous details, Draper's (Forged by Fire) narrative is often awkward ("The huge gym was filled with crisply ironed T-shirts, frantic practice jumps in the halls and parking lot, and the electric excitement of competition and challenge"). Jump-by-jump descriptions of the Double Dutch championships may rescue this tale for diehard jump-rope fans. Others can skip it. Ages 11-up. (June) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Secrets, not all of them credible, abound among the eighth-grade protagonists of this disappointing novel. Delia has managed to hide her inability to read from her parents and teachers, but she doubts she can pass the proficiency test that will enable her to graduate to ninth grade and continue competing in Double Dutch jump rope. Randy, whose mother walked out several years ago, hasn't told anyone that his father, a long-distance truck driver, has been missing for weeks. And when twin tornadoes hit the school, it becomes apparent that the Tolliver twins, who dress entirely in black and terrorize their classmates, are actually sensitive fellows behind their intimidating fa ades. Overflowing with rambling conversations and extraneous details, Draper's (Forged by Fire) narrative is often awkward ("The huge gym was filled with crisply ironed T-shirts, frantic practice jumps in the halls and parking lot, and the electric excitement of competition and challenge"). Jump-by-jump descriptions of the Double Dutch championships may rescue this tale for diehard jump-rope fans. Others can skip it. Ages 11-up. (June) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.KLIATT
Double Dutch, for those who don't know, is a way of jumping rope that demands a high degree of skill and energy. The friends in this YA novel are 8th graders who are on a team competing in the world championship for Double Dutch, which (unfortunately for them, since they want to travel) happens to be in their own hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. Delia, Yolanda and Randy are the three main characters in the novel (Randy helps out managing the team). Delia worries that she will have to pass a standardized test before being allowed to participate in sports, and she has the ghastly secret that she is unable to read. (Obviously, she is smart about covering up this deficiency, yet in the end she has to reveal the truth.) Randy lives alone with his father, a truck driver, and takes care of himself when his father is on the road. Unfortunately, the father hasn't called or come home in weeks and Randy is afraid he has deserted him. Randy, like Delia, is hiding the truth. Yolanda, on the other hand, is known for telling whoppers, so no one actually believes her stories. She is imaginative, a good loyal friend, and a survivor—as we see when a tornado hits their middle school. Also, she frequently provides comic relief. The tornado, the competition, the fate of Randy's father, Delia's revelation that she cannot read—these are the elements of the fast-moving plot. It's good to have a story about urban YAs of color that is realistic without being too depressing. These young people have adults in their lives who care about them and they are all part of a supportive community. They are smart and strong and younger YAs will enjoy reading about their lives. KLIATT Codes: J—Recommended for junior high schoolstudents. 2002, Simon & Schuster, Atheneum, 183p.,— Claire Rosser
VOYA
Although a jump-rope game serves as the plot catalyst for the experiences of the teens in this clever novel by an award-winning author, the secrets that unravel as those characters move toward a double Dutch world championship are sure to grab the reader. As eighth-grader Delia gets increasingly better at double Dutch, the fragile supports she has created around her inability to read start to crumble. When her team position appears threatened by her embarrassing secret, Delia recognizes she must act. The reader empathizes as this likeable girl decides what that action must be. Delia's secret is not the only one holding the novel's tensions in place. Randy, the jump rope team manager, also keeps things hidden. His truck-driving dad has been gone for weeks without contact. With no money left for living expenses, Randy must make a decision. Just when he thinks that it is safe to tell Delia, however, what she hides undermines his revelations, leaving Randy to decide if he can trust anyone. As Delia and Randy come to terms with their secrets, another menaces in the background. It is that of the seemingly violent Tolliver twins. Who are these boys, and why do they seem intent on scaring people? The answer surfaces only after a terrible twist of fate forces everyone to see something to which they have been blind. Like the triple strands of a rope, this story spirals to its tightly-woven end. Readers will find it suspenseful and accessible. 2002, Simon & Schuster, 192p, O'QuinnSchool Library Journal
Gr 6-9-Delia loves Double Dutch jump roping; she's good enough at it to participate in the world championships being held in her home city of Cincinnati. But Delia has an embarrassing secret that may jeopardize her place on the team: she can't read. She copes in school by relying on her memory, renting videos, doing projects that don't require writing, and behaving well enough not to be noticed. Her friend Randy has a secret, too. His father has been gone for weeks. Has he deserted his son just like Randy's mother deserted them? When the fearsome Tolliver twins, Tabu and Titan, arrive in the eighth grade, the threat of violence puts everyone on edge. The three interwoven stories heat up like the weather, and culminate in a happy, upbeat ending that is a bit too neat: the Tollivers become heroes, Randy's father is found in a hospital, and Delia admits she needs help. Draper tackles tough problems and explores adolescent concerns. While bordering on melodramatic overload and at times preachy, the novel does suggest positive options. What the author does best is create vibrant, engaging characters with unique voices. While these eighth graders may be as tough as their problems, they also are much more complex: sensitive, funny, enthusiastic, and real. Draper adeptly paints a convincing portrayal of how young people think, act, feel, and interact with one another.-Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.Kirkus Reviews
Delia is an intelligent, creative, eighth-grade student with a secret: she cannot read. No one has guessed because she memorizes material learned from discussion, watches videos instead of reading a book, and volunteers to do special projects like skits or posters instead of written reports. But she is faced with taking a major proficiency test that she knows she cannot pass. Her friend Randy also has a secret: he has not heard from his father for several weeks. A long-distance truck driver, who's often away from home, he has always kept in constant touch with Randy. But now Randy is running out of money and food, and he's afraid to tell anyone. Delia and Randy, along with several of their friends, are part of a Double Dutch team that will compete in a national tournament. The details and play-by-play of the Double Dutch practices and contests provide the core around which the rest of the story develops. Several other issues are addressed along the way, and are dealt with nicely by the cast of supporting characters. Delia's friend Yolanda tells fantastic, outlandish stories about herself and her life so earnestly that even her friends are sometimes unable to know when she is telling the truth. The Tolliver twins' threatening demeanor and attitude mask a fear of loss and separation that they manage to overcome heroically during a devastating tornado that hits their school. Even Delia and Randy's more serious problems have happy, though not perfect, conclusions. Perhaps there are too many subplots, too many characters with too many problems, even too many happy endings, but Draper makes it work. Delia and her friends are delightful, and the reader is rooting for them all the way. Afast-paced, multi-layered story. (Fiction. 11-15)From the Publisher
Kirkus Reviews Delia and her friends are delightful, and the reader is rooting for them all the way. A fast-paced, multilayered story.School Library Journal The author [creates] vibrant, engaging characters with unique voices....Draper adeptly paints a convincing portrayal of how young people think, act, feel, and interact with one another.
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books A well-paced and engagingly detailed exploration of a double-sided world of public and private truths that teens will find very familiar.