Flour Babies

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Flour babies are the six-pound sacks of flour that the boys in Room 8--the classroom for underachievers and behavioral problems at the St. Boniface School --have been told to treat as real babies for three weeks, for the purposes of scientific inquiry. They are to keep the flour babies ``clean and dry at all times,'' to maintain their proper weight ``Flour babies will be put on the official scales twice a week to check for any weight loss'', and never, never to leave their side, unless ``a responsible babysitter can be arranged.'' But while Robin Delaney has drop-kicked his flour baby into the creek, burly Simon Martin experiences a true tenderness toward his. He keeps ``her'' safe during soccer practice, even though he gets kicked off the team in the process. Simon writes in his journal each day ``reproductions'' of the entries appear here, he finds himself excited and involved in school for the first time; he simultaneously discovers a new appreciation for his mother and confronts previously buried feelings about his absent father. Fine Alias Mrs. Doubtfire writes with delicious wit and delicate sympathy. She takes a down-to-earth scenario and, like her protagonist, turns it into an extraordinary adventure in living and learning. Ages 10-up. May

Children's Literature - Jan Lieberman

Well, perhaps I exaggerate but a class of underachieving teenage boys is expected to learn responsibility by taking care of their Flour babies for 3 weeks. Simon, one of the least capable boys, develops a real fondness for his baby. She's a good listener and she starts him thinking about being a parent and wondering why his father walked out on him when he was a baby. The other boys decide that "if people had the faintest idea what a bother babies are, no one would ever have one." All the boys are unique and their comments and hi-jinx add to the hilarity and the reality of the situation. Winner of the Carnegie Medal in England.

School Library Journal

Gr 7-9-This new novel by the author of Alias Madame Doubtfire (Little, 1988) is certain to be a hit. One can even envision Robin Williams in the role of Mr. Cassidy, teacher of Room 8, which houses the 19 boys who are the Sads and the Bads at St. Boniface School. These boys, who ``have the boredom thresholds of brain-damaged gnats,'' choose as their science project The Great Flour Baby Experiment: each takes full-time responsibility for a six lb. bag of white flour, with instructions to keep it dry, safe from harm, and absolutely mud-free. All rapidly lose patience with the project-all, that is, but Simon Martin, who goes ``moon-eyed'' over his flour baby. Simon not only learns of the immense yet often tedious responsibilities of parenthood, but also comes to a deeper understanding of his own father's absence and an appreciation of his mother's plight as a single parent. Eve Bunting's Our Sixth Grade Sugar Babies (Lippincott, 1990) swaps sugar for flour and is written for a younger audience, yet is based on a similar idea. But, while the premise isn't new, Fine's treatment of the subject, a wonderful blend of hilarity and poignancy, makes the book an outstanding one. The author has a real understanding of adolescents-indeed, of human nature in general. Her characters are finely drawn; even the most amusing never become caricatures, but rather are fully realized and memorable.-Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME