Jerry on the Line

Brenda Seabrooke is the award-winning author of 20 books for young readers, including Cemetery Street (2009 Edgar finalist), The Haunting of Swain's Fancy (WV Children's Book Award) and a grant recipient from the National Endowment for the Arts. She lives on an island in Florida. Visit Brenda at her website www.childrensbookguild.org and look for teaching guides to all her books at www.childrenslit.com

Grade 3-5-- The dust jacket illustration and blurb might lead readers to believe that this is a novel about fourth-grade Jerry Johnson's triumphs and tribulations on the soccer field. However, most of this rather sweet story concerns Jerry's unusual friendship with a second-grade girl named Sherita. Sherita (who, like Jerry, is a latch-key kid) randomly dials telephone numbers everyday until one afternoon she dials Jerry's number. Often against his better judgment, Jerry takes a brotherly interest in her. Eventually, he rescues an abandoned kitten and gives it to Sherita--thus assuaging her loneliness. Seabrooke is best at developing these aspects of the plot, writing in a clear and smooth style. She is less successful in her attempts to interject a sports element into the book. Jerry's hero is Pele--somewhat unlikely considering that the soccer star last kicked a ball competitively in 1977--and she makes the rough-and-tumble world of sandlot sports run much smoother than it really does, and with fewer arguments. Consequently, Jerry and his story are only partly believable, and kids looking for a sports novel might be disappointed. --Todd Morning, Schaumburg Township Public Library, IL
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