Member's August Read/Fiona's

Fiona’s August Read

Title: Amber Brown Sees Red

Author: Danziger, Paula

Summary:

            Amber Brown is a fourth grade student and she is getting taller than in third grade. Her parent got divorced and father moved to Paris. Her mom has a boyfriend whose name is Max. In her school, if something new takes place all of the student will nickname it “Bulletin.” One day school had a smelly smell. The school had an arrangement to send all students home. But Amber’s mom was busy at her meeting at the time. She thought nobody will pick her up from school.

            All of a sudden, she saw her mother’s boyfriend, Max, standing and waiting in front of the school; he came to pick her up. In addition, they went to bowling with her best friend. They were so happy; they had a great time. Max became their bowling coach later.

            One day Amber’s father moved back from Paris and told her they will live in an apartment together. But Amber’s mother was not happy about this idea even after Amber’s father told her that Amber will have her own new bed and furniture. Her mother felt uncomfortable with this either.

            I thought her mom take care of Amber for such a long time, but the father came back from Paris. He didn’t say any word about why he left them for this long time. Now, in need of a family, he just wanted her daughter back.

            One day, Amber had a bowling contest and she saw her father just stand behind her mom and Max. Max was so nice to her mom. Amber’s father looked very lonely. Maybe the fact they didn’t separate is better than now.

            Finally, Amber understood life is not perfect and she still had to learn things. She loved bowling and learned how to be part of the team. Also she understood her life is a little like the game of bowling: things change all the time.

Fiona’s View and Impression:

            The character in the book is very smart and optimistic. To Fiona, reading this book provides her an opportunity to learn about the American culture, to understand more about why people living in the West would behave a bit different from where she came from. Children facing their parents’ divorce and the fact there is a live-in boyfriend act differently. In this book, events and things the protagonist (the main character) came across, though serious and hard to swallow, taught her good lessons that are not available or listed in formal education (schooling).

            The most challenge Fiona felt about reading this book is not to look up at a dictionary. Asked about how comprehensive she was after reading this book, she graded herself 85%. It’s a good number and a good start for her to go on reading more books by the same author. We look forward to hearing more good stories from Fiona.

            “Smear,” “janitor,” and “skunk” are vocabularies/new words Fiona learned and shared with the club members.

Good work, Fiona. Read on!!!