Sarah with an H

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Marti has spent her whole life in LaMond, Iowa; her widowed mother chose to raise her there because it's a "good town where people are honest and care about each other." But when a Jewish family moves in, prejudices kindle quickly. Marti and her friends envy Sarahshe's beautiful, gets A pluses, earns a coveted starting spot on the school basketball team, lives in the best house in town and is almost saintly in her tolerance of the girls' hostilities. She is too good to ring true, just as a number of the anti-Semitic characters are too dumb to be believed ("They don't believe in Christmas!" one girl says. "They have something called Canoeka or something like that. It's Indian, I think"). Writing as Irwin (So Long at the Fair), the team of Ann Irwin and the late Lee Hadley captures many small-town Iowa enthusiasms, like the passion for girls' basketball or the summer Karnival. But this success is annulled by the number of false notes struck here, from Marti's frequently disingenous narration to overdetermined subplots involving a controversy about developing lakefront property or stolen antique dolls. The worst mistake, however, may be the ambiguous approach to defining prejudice: in this account, it seems to be chiefly crude gestures, epithets and stereotyping, not the subtle and more pervasive casting of groups of individuals as "different." Ages 12-up. (Oct.)

School Library Journal

Gr 5-9-An action-packed, tightly woven story. Marti is very comfortable in her small-town life. She loves being on the high school basketball team, helping her mother at the restaurant, and knowing everyone in LaMond. All of that changes when Sarah Irvine and her family move into town. Sarah seems likable; she is smart, pretty, and also a great basketball player. Marti's conflicting feelings about Sarah are further complicated by the fact that many people in town dislike the Irvines because they are Jewish. As Marti gets her first look at prejudice, she tries to make up her own mind. She finds herself pulled in many directions and almost succumbs to peer pressure. Irwin presents a great story that offers realistic, in-depth characters. The book shows females in positive athletic roles. The basketball action adds an element of excitement and moves the plot at a fast pace. The discrimination against Sarah's family is handled smoothly and realistically without being overbearing. The ending will certainly raise some good discussion points and emphasize how easy it is to follow the crowd. Readers will be satisfied with the resolution and will enjoy riding the story through the anger, sympathy, confusion, and excitement that Marti experiences.-Tracey Kroll, Brookland Middle School, Richmond, VA

Kirkus Reviews

Marti, who has lived in the small town of LaMond, Iowa, all her life, is hesitant when a teacher directs her to show a new girl around. Sarah, a smart, accomplished, pretty girl, seems not to notice Marti's lack of enthusiasm, leading Marti to observe, "There's nothing worse than having someone think you've been nice when you haven't intended to be." There are complications with Sarah's arrival: She is Jewish, and Marti witnesses incidents of cruelty and prejudice directed toward Sarah and her family over the ensuing weeks. Even Marti feels "suspicious, somehow" and views the newcomer as "not one of us." Marti calculates in a self-interested manner how both the new girl's presence as well as her other classmates' abilities and troubles will affect the performance of their basketball team. Thus, the issue of prejudice intrudes into her everyday concerns.

Readers will be hooked by the realistic portrayal of vital issues and by the thorough presentation of such thought-provoking themes as inclusion and exclusion. Although the scenes leading up to a climactic basketball game are glossed over, the action lends excitement to the novel and includes a turn of events—Sarah sustains injury but doggedly keeps playing—reminiscent of the drama in the recent Olympics.