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Rating: 
Summary: Heart-warming, touching novel!
Review: Girlhearts is a great book. Norma Fox Mazer makes sure that you have sympathy for Sarabeth, who's mother died of an heart attack at age 30 and who's father did in a car accident, by the first chapter. Sarabeth, who is considered an orphan, now has to live with her mom's best friend, Cynthia. However, she's not welcomed there, and there aren't a lot of things that are making her life seem worthwhile. School isn't going good, and her friends stick by her, but they've noticed that she's changed. The once sweet, kind and thoughtful Sarabeth is now rugged, cranky and on the edge of a cliff. Her mom's Ex- boyfriend is going out with prissy pepper, and Cynthia's husband Bill makes it crystal clear that Sarabeth isn't considered part of the family. Sarabeth has a choice to make a change in her life, and it will be a big one.
Norma Mazer pulls the reader in and lets him/her see how it feels to lose a loved one, and to lose almost everything you have. This is truly a touching book, that makes you think a lot about how lucky you are and how you usually take things for granted. This book is definitely worth reading, and people will be able to experience the pain and sorrow one must go through. Everyone 10 and up should read it!
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Summary: girlhearts review
Review: Girlhearts, a book by Norma Fox Mazer is a very touching story. It's about an unwealthy 13-year-old girl, Sarabeth. She and her mother live in a small trailer by themselves. Her mother unexpectedly dies from a heart attack one day. Sarabeth moves in with a family whom she had known her whole life. Sarabeth goes through the hardships of being yanked outn of her home and put into another while facing her mother's death.
For anyone who has ever lost anyone this book is for you. I have lost family members in the past, and I could relate to the way that Sarabeth felt.
In the book, Mazer writes with a technique that I found confusing: she doesn't specify who is talking during the dialogue. However, if you were as interested in the story as I was, then you'll enjoy reading through the text to figure out the confusing parts. I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever gone through any kind of loss even if it isn't a death. This book really illustrates that everyone goes through hard times but the better you deal with them, the better of a person you will be afterwards.
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Summary: Title for Today- After September 11, 2001
Review: I am a fan of all of NFM's books as she possesses that narrative drive which makes it hard to put any of them down, plus the characters, with all their quirks and problems are sympathetic, plus she deals with important social and emotional issues without any preaching. However, I just read GIRLHEARTS 12 days after the terrorist destruction of the World Trade Towers here in New York. I wish I could give this book to every young adult who experienced the unexpected death of someone they cared for, - whether it was in thier own family, the parent of a friend
or firefighters at their local engine company. The manner in which Sarabeth Silver succombs to and then overcomes her grief at the sudden loss of her mother is likely to be illuminating and ultimately comforting to all who mourn. Come to think of it, all the kids in this city are mourning so I hope GIRLHEARTS becomes very widely available.
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Summary: girlhearts review
Review: In the book "Girlhearts", by Norma Fox Mazer, a 13 year old girl named Sarabeth loses both her mother and her father. She never really knew her father since he died in a car crash when she was little, but her mother recently died of a heart-attack at 29 years old.
Sarabeth is devastated when she loses her mom. She has to figure out where to live, what to do, and how to move on with her life. She lives with her mom's friend for awhile, but not permanently. Sarabeth later comes across a decision of visiting her mother's family.
I'd say that this book is very much worth reading. So many emotions run through you head while reading this book. You just want to keep reading on to see if Sarabeth will be OK and how her life will turn out. Reading this book is like trying to swim across the ocean and desperately get to the end to see if you'll make it.
Norma Fox Mazer did very well writing the book "Girlhearts", and this book is now a book I am recommending to everyone who asks me what to read.
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Summary: *~Girlhearts~*
Review: In the book "Girlhearts", by Norma Fox Mazer, a 13 year old girl named Sarabeth loses both her mother and her father. She never really knew her father since he died in a car crash when she was little, but her mother recently died of a heart-attack at 29 years old.
Sarabeth is devastated when she loses her mom. She has to figure out where to live, what to do, and how to move on with her life. She lives with her mom's friend for awhile, but not permanently. Sarabeth later comes across a decision of visiting her mother's family.
I'd say that this book is very much worth reading. So many emotions run through you head while reading this book. You just want to keep reading on to see if Sarabeth will be OK and how her life will turn out. Reading this book is like trying to swim across the ocean and desperately get to the end to see if you'll make it.
Norma Fox Mazer did very well writing the book "Girlhearts", and this book is now a book I am recommending to everyone who asks me what to read.
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Summary: The problem novel is not dead!
Review: It has always been just Sarabeth and her mother Jane who had Sarabeth out of wedlock as a teen; when Sara's mother has a heart attack and dies, the orphaned Sarabeth (used to be fairly independent) is forced to live first with friends of the family who come to resent her, and then with a friend's family until they make it clear she is overstaying her welcome. Unsure of where her place in the world is, she runs away to meet the family that disowned her mother for having her before settling on a permanent place to live that will become a home for her.
This sequel to Silver (Morrow, 1988) is a stand-alone novel about relationships: between girlfriends, between mothers and daughters, between families. Although this book seems tame compared to some of what is being published these days for teens, Mazer still has a handle on the problem novel, creating a believable protagonist, real emotions, and a realistic plot. My one criticism is that Sarabeth is occasionally a passive character ' much happens to her ' but she finally breaks outs and takes action to act for her own best interests, since no one else seems willing to do it.
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Summary: The problem novel is not dead!
Review: It has always been just Sarabeth and her mother Jane who had Sarabeth out of wedlock as a teen; when Sara???s mother has a heart attack and dies, the orphaned Sarabeth (used to be fairly independent) is forced to live first with friends of the family who come to resent her, and then with a friend???s family until they make it clear she is overstaying her welcome. Unsure of where her place in the world is, she runs away to meet the family that disowned her mother for having her before settling on a permanent place to live that will become a home for her.
This sequel to Silver (Morrow, 1988) is a stand-alone novel about relationships: between girlfriends, between mothers and daughters, between families. Although this book seems tame compared to some of what is being published these days for teens, Mazer still has a handle on the problem novel, creating a believable protagonist, real emotions, and a realistic plot. My one criticism is that Sarabeth is occasionally a passive character ??? much happens to her ??? but she finally breaks outs and takes action to act for her own best interests, since no one else seems willing to do it.
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Summary: GIRLHEARTS is worth a read.
Review: Like any kid her age, 13-year-old Sarabeth isn't sure what to think of her young, hard working, sometimes eccentric mother, but she is all Sarabeth has; her mother lost any sort of family support when she became pregnant with Sarabeth at 16. However, mother and daughter manage to form a semi-stable relationship and make a home for themselves in a modest trailer park. When a heart attack takes her young mother's life, Sarabeth is shocked. Left alone without a real family or a home, she moves in with Cynthia and Billy, two of her mother's friends. While trying to cope with the staggering loss of a loved one, Sarabeth finds herself dealing with vague feelings that she is intruding on Cynthia and Billy's life as well as confusion in dealing with her mother's estranged family and former boyfriend.
Most compelling in GIRLHEARTS is the conflict Sarabeth faces when dealing with the reactions of the people around her. The relationships Sarabeth has with her school friends are strained as she becomes cynical and hard. Also, the tenuous friendship between her and her mother's old boyfriend, Leo, changes rapidly over the course of the book. These developing conflicts were intriguing, and I eagerly waited to see how they would work out.
However, this was the best part of the book. Other characters seemed flat and lacked depth. Often, Cynthia and Billy's actions seemed pointless --- only occurring because the story needed to be moved along. Sarabeth was realistic only some of the time, and her emotions were often illogical and decidedly hard to believe. Of course, I don't expect to understand completely, never having lost such a close family member myself. Still, the story would have been greatly improved if there were more of a connection between Sarabeth and the reader. This might have been forgivable if the story had been stronger and the outcome more gripping, but because the story was not particularly extraordinary in those areas, it had no room for the uncomfortable flaws in Sarabeth's character.
Still, GIRLHEARTS is worth a read. It is flawed, but it is a fascinating process to watch Sarabeth change and grow as her situation evolves.
--- Reviewed by Mary Crew
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Summary: Amazing story!
Review: The book "Girlhearts" by Norma Fox Mazer is a great book. When Sarabeth's mom dies of a sudden heart attack at 29, Sarabeth must live with her mom's friend. Uncomfortable and unwelcomed, Sarabeth has to do some soul searching to find out where in life she really belongs!
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Summary: Loved It!!
Review: This book was very well writen! It was the sequel to the equely good book, Silver! This book takes you through the problemes of Sarabeth after her young Mother died of a Heart atack. It almost seems real, with all of the characters and the problems. It takes you through all of her problems so that you feel as though you're there!!! IT is difficult to say but this left much room for a third book to make the double set a trilegy!!!
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