The Whole Stupid Way We Are
N. Griffin
(Author)
21,000+ Reviews
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Description
What happens when everything you've got to give isn't enough to save someone you love? It's Maine. It's winter. And it's FREEZING STINKIN' COLD! Dinah is wildly worried about her best friend, Skint. He won't wear a coat. Refuses to wear a coat. It's twelve degrees out, and he won't wear a coat. So Dinah's going to figure out how to help. That's what Dinah does--she helps. But she's too busy trying to help to notice that sometimes, she's doing more harm than good. Seeing the trees instead of the forest? That's Dinah. And Skint isn't going to be the one to tell her. He's a helper guy too. He's worried about a little boy whose dad won't let him visit his mom. He's worried about an elderly couple in a too-cold house down the street. But the wedge between what drives Dinah and what concerns Skint is wide enough for a big old slab of ice. Because Skint's own father is in trouble. Because Skint's mother refuses to ask for help even though she's at her breaking point. And because Dinah might just decide to...help. She thinks she's cracking through a sheet of ice, but what's actually there is an entire iceberg.
Product Details
Price
$16.99
$15.80
Publisher
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publish Date
February 05, 2013
Pages
368
Dimensions
5.6 X 8.3 X 1.2 inches | 0.95 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9781442431553
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
N. Griffin is the author of The Whole Stupid Way We Are, for which she was named one of Publishers Weekly's Flying Start Authors of 2013, as well as Just Wreck It All, Smashie McPerter and The Mystery of Room 11, Smashie McPerter and the Mystery of the Missing Goop, and Trigger. She received her MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Reviews
"Skint's life is spinning out of control, and Dinah's desperate efforts to stop the spin only hasten it. This is a story that is so furious, so heartbreaking, and at the same time, so shiny, that by the last line, I realized that everyone here, including the reader, can be their own boss of light. A thing of beauty, that's what this is."--Kathi Appelt, author of The Underneath, a Newbery Honor book
* "When readers meet 14-year-old Dinah, she's plotting to get her best friend Skint out of detention, which is Dinah all over: she's a loving worrier, loyal even to the people and things she's ambivalent about, like the Girls' Friendly Society, a service group whose members have dwindled to three older women, Dinah, and the technically ineligible Skint. The Girls' Friendly tries to help people in its small Maine town, but never in the way Dinah and Skint wish. And the truth is, Skint, whose father has early-onset dementia, could use some help himself, not that he'd take it. First-time author Griffin is good at depicting a small town where the many interconnections make it hard to know what to overlook and when to intervene, and she is equally tuned into the different ways people, adults and teens both, fail each other. It's impossible not to like clumsy, warm-hearted Dinah, even as her best intentions turn Skint's family upside down; Griffin's portrayal of Dinah and Skint's sense of injustice, frustration, and rage is wrenching and difficult to forget."--Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Readers who invest in this quirky set of characters and circumstances will be rewarded."--Kirkus Reviews
"The theme of missed opportunities for real connection is reminiscent of Perkins' Criss Cross (BCCB 9/05), so steer readers who loved that book to this one. This title, however, offers more action, action that is sometimes funny, sometimes frustrating, and sometimes painful as readers realize along with Dinah and Skint that not everything in life is fixable, and that we must make room for sadness and loss."--BCCB
* "When readers meet 14-year-old Dinah, she's plotting to get her best friend Skint out of detention, which is Dinah all over: she's a loving worrier, loyal even to the people and things she's ambivalent about, like the Girls' Friendly Society, a service group whose members have dwindled to three older women, Dinah, and the technically ineligible Skint. The Girls' Friendly tries to help people in its small Maine town, but never in the way Dinah and Skint wish. And the truth is, Skint, whose father has early-onset dementia, could use some help himself, not that he'd take it. First-time author Griffin is good at depicting a small town where the many interconnections make it hard to know what to overlook and when to intervene, and she is equally tuned into the different ways people, adults and teens both, fail each other. It's impossible not to like clumsy, warm-hearted Dinah, even as her best intentions turn Skint's family upside down; Griffin's portrayal of Dinah and Skint's sense of injustice, frustration, and rage is wrenching and difficult to forget."--Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Readers who invest in this quirky set of characters and circumstances will be rewarded."--Kirkus Reviews
"The theme of missed opportunities for real connection is reminiscent of Perkins' Criss Cross (BCCB 9/05), so steer readers who loved that book to this one. This title, however, offers more action, action that is sometimes funny, sometimes frustrating, and sometimes painful as readers realize along with Dinah and Skint that not everything in life is fixable, and that we must make room for sadness and loss."--BCCB
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