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The Sisters Club. by Megan McDonald. 2003. Candlewick. 208 pages. ISBN: 9780763632519

Ten-year-old Stevie Reel is the middle sister between near-teenager, Alex and funny, smartypants eight-year-old Joey. The girls’ parents own a local theater, and the entire family, in one way or another, has the performance bug. Whether they’re acting out King Lear in the living room, auditioning for a role in a community production, or filling in as a sister’s understudy at the last minute, the Reel girls all have a flair for the dramatic. Their club, The Sisters Club, is the forum for much of their sisterly conflict, enmity, and hilarity - and Stevie’s narration, combined with typewritten dramatic scenes from Alex and journal entries from Joey’s so-called “homework notebook” give the reader a front-row seat for every fight and gesture of kindness.

I think the best thing about this book is the way Megan McDonald writes the girls’ voices. I was shocked when I saw a review on Goodreads saying they sounded unrealistic, because I actually think Stevie, Alex, and Joey sound more like real kids than a lot of other children’s book characters. Alex perfectly straddles the line between childhood and adolescence, by harboring a secret crush on a boy, but also having nightly chats with her sock monkey. In her notebook, Joey comes alive as the quintessential little sister, taking notes and making comments on her older sisters’ lives. I will admit that the Reel parents might be somewhat less well-rounded, but it’s not their story - it’s really a story about what it means to be - and have - a sister. And as a big sister, I can admit that McDonald is dead-on about how these relationships play out.

My only real criticism of the book is that it took so long to hook me. The documents interspersed with the more traditional prose confused me a lot at the start of the novel, and it wasn’t until I got to know the characters better that I started to find these sections interesting, rather than burdensome. I could have used some more context for those items, just to help me understand how they were meant to function.

This shortcoming aside, though, this book is highly entertaining and a must-read for tweens with siblings. It’s a good one to recommend to fans of The Penderwicks who are awaiting the fourth book, and to girls who have liked any of the contemporary American Girl titles (Aloha, Kanani, McKenna, etc.). This book isn’t as timeless as The Penderwicks, or as moralistic as an American Girl title, but it shares elements of both that appeal to readers in the 8 to 11 age range. I also couldn’t help but think a little bit about Rachel Vail’s teen trilogy about the Avery sisters, which is a good YA recommendation for older kids who like The Sisters Club and are ready for a bigger challenge.

I borrowed The Sisters Club from my local public library. 

2 Comments on Review: The Sisters Club by Megan McDonald, last added: 4/10/2012

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Steven R. McEvoy said, on 4/10/2012 3:08:00 PM

Great review, will you be reviewing the other two?

Katie said, on 4/10/2012 6:32:00 PM

Possibly. I read the second one, and it's been a while, so I'm not sure I'll remember enough to write a review. But when I finish the third one, I'll consider it.

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Royally Jacked is the first book in a trilogy by Niki Burnham. It was originally released as part of the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies series, and has recently been repackaged, along with its sequels, Spin Cycle and Do Over in a three-volume edition called Royally Crushed. In this first installment, main character Valerie's world is turned upside down when her mother announces she is leaving her father to move in with another woman. Valerie has two choices - change schools and move in with her mom in the next town, or change schools and move to an obscure European country with her father. To everyone's surprise, she chooses to move to Schwerinborg, leaving behind her best friends and her long-time crush on David Anderson. Schwerinborg (which is totally fictitious, by the way) isn't quite what she expected, but there is one bright spot. Valerie and the Schwerinborgian prince, Georg, hit it off right away. At first they're just friends, but even though David Anderson at home has started to like Valerie, she just can't help but develop feelings for Prince Georg as well.

I'm really glad this story has now been released as one volume, because the entire first three quarters of this book reads like the set-up for a much longer novel. I really felt like the story was initially one manuscript and that this beginning portion was sort of arbitrarily cut off and released on its own. The real meat of the story doesn't begin until Valerie arrives in Schwerinborg and meets the prince, and that doesn't even happen until the second half of the book. The story also leaves a lot of things unresolved, especially when it comes to David Anderson and Valerie's relationship to her mom.

The writing is pretty basic, with no real frills. It's very easy to read, and would likely appeal to reluctant readers who like romantic comedy films. Fans of the Princess Diaries will also like the similar subject matter and will be pleased to fall in love with Georg right along with Valerie. The older cover from the 2003 edition is starting to look a bit dated, but the contemporary-looking new cover will definitely grab a new generation of teens' attention.

I borrowed Royally Jacked from my local public library. 

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In this holiday installment from the popular Horrible Harry series, narrator Doug is worried about his best friend, Harry. Their classmates in room 3B are excited for the various Winter holidays they celebrate, including Kwanzaa, Three Kings Day, and Korean New Year, but Harry just isn’t himself. He hasn’t done a single horrible thing to anyone, and he’s alarmingly quiet during class. He’s not even interested in Zuzu, the new student from Lebanon. When the class learns that Harry’s great-grandfather is in a nursing home, however, they plan a special visit, and by the time Secret Santa rolls around, Harry is up to his old tricks once more.

What I like most about this chapter book is that it’s one of the few holiday titles that is truly appropriate to share in a public school or public library setting. Many children’s holiday books focus on just one of the major December holidays – Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s Day – thus always leaving out those who don’t participate in that particular celebration. This book, which already includes a cast of refreshingly diverse characters, takes a much more inclusive approach, allowing the characters’ previously established cultural identities to dictate which holidays will be discussed. As it turns out, Christmas (which is, admittedly, still basically presented as the “default” celebration), takes a back seat, allowing the reader to explore celebrations such as Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Three Kings Day, and Korean New Year. Each holiday gets its own chapter, and within those chapters, there are short lessons, breaking down for the reader the basics of how a given holiday is observed. These sections do sometimes interrupt the story, taking the reader out of the action and into a more didactic, textbook-like writing style, but they provide accurate and age-appropriate explanations for the ways different cultures celebrate their Winter holidays.

Fans of the series, especially, will also find themselves drawn into Doug’s concerns for Harry. Though Doug has proven time and again that Harry isn’t always so horrible, readers of the series know of Harry’s antics and will empathize greatly with Doug’s desire to see that interesting, if disgusting behavior return. The suspense about why Harry is in such a daze doesn’t last long enough in my opinion, and I wished for more interaction and plot development surrounding his strange new behavior, but the author’s decision to focus on the great-grandfather’s new home in the nursing home also worked well, especially when it comes to considering ways to reach out during the holiday giving season.

Horrible Harry and the Holidaze will resonate best with die-hard Horrible Harry fans. I think it also has a place in classrooms where kids celebrate a variety of holidays and teachers want to make sure not to give preference to just one.

I borrowed Horrible Harry and the Holidaze from my local public library.