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villianess's review
4.0
Jack, Dusty, LJ,are Amigos. The play, ride and have all sorts of adventures in Hokey Pokey. While jack is sleeping his enemy, Jubilee steals his beloved Scramjet, his steed. As he and his friends try to steel it back you get to see and experience the town of Hokey Pokey. Every kids dream playground. while Jack is searching for ScramJet he lifts his arms and Dusty and LJ realize that the eye tattoo on his belly, that every kid in Hokey Pokey has, is almost gone, how could that be no ones tattoo has ever faded. They both realize that ever since Jubilee stole Jack's steed there is something different about him, something they and everyone else in Hokey Pokey don't understand. When Jack finally gets ScramJet back and tries to ride him, he realizes that ScramJet no longer is loyal to him and returns to Jubilee. Jack knows that the story of The Kid is coming true and his time in Hokey Pokey is coming to an end. He can hear the train whistling and calling to him.
This is a story of growing up and to be honest i didn't quite understand that until 3/4 way through the book. It was such a surprise that I found I really enjoyed reading it.
This is a story of growing up and to be honest i didn't quite understand that until 3/4 way through the book. It was such a surprise that I found I really enjoyed reading it.
brandypainter's review
2.0
Originally posted at Random Musings of a Bibliophile.
[a:Jerry Spinelli|12696|Jerry Spinelli|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1201118632p2/12696.jpg] is a prolific and much beloved children's book author. His books have always been sort of hit or miss with me. Loser, Crash, and 2011's Jake & Lily were hits. Maniac Magee and Wringer were misses. Spinelli's new book Hokey Pokey falls in this latter category. Those are the books the Newbery committees seem to like though so what do I know? I know that I did not enjoy this book even a smidgen.
Jack may have been an interesting character to follow if the narrative had not shifted perspectives so much. Jubilee may have been an interesting foil for him, an intriguing enemy, if the book wasn't so hung up on its own cleverness. That was the obstacle for me. Hokey Pokey is one big symbol for the joy of childhood. Jack is growing up. The problem with this world is that are all these made up words and places and things going on that are left unexplained so there is a healthy chance that the reader will just be confused and not want to continue. I can see that happening with many young readers who come at this book. The whole story is a metaphor and when I finished it the only word on my mind was pretentious. Just as there are adults who enjoy pretentious meta works of literature, I'm sure you can find kids who will too. Probably not as many, but when you find them they may enjoy this. I think it will be a hard sell for most kids.
I read a copy of this provided by the publisher via NetGalley. Hokey Pokey will be available on January 8.
[a:Jerry Spinelli|12696|Jerry Spinelli|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1201118632p2/12696.jpg] is a prolific and much beloved children's book author. His books have always been sort of hit or miss with me. Loser, Crash, and 2011's Jake & Lily were hits. Maniac Magee and Wringer were misses. Spinelli's new book Hokey Pokey falls in this latter category. Those are the books the Newbery committees seem to like though so what do I know? I know that I did not enjoy this book even a smidgen.
Jack may have been an interesting character to follow if the narrative had not shifted perspectives so much. Jubilee may have been an interesting foil for him, an intriguing enemy, if the book wasn't so hung up on its own cleverness. That was the obstacle for me. Hokey Pokey is one big symbol for the joy of childhood. Jack is growing up. The problem with this world is that are all these made up words and places and things going on that are left unexplained so there is a healthy chance that the reader will just be confused and not want to continue. I can see that happening with many young readers who come at this book. The whole story is a metaphor and when I finished it the only word on my mind was pretentious. Just as there are adults who enjoy pretentious meta works of literature, I'm sure you can find kids who will too. Probably not as many, but when you find them they may enjoy this. I think it will be a hard sell for most kids.
I read a copy of this provided by the publisher via NetGalley. Hokey Pokey will be available on January 8.
rdyourbookcase's review against another edition
3.0
So... I don’t think I know many kids who would like this book. I probably wouldn’t recommend it to any children. What a trip! My copy didn’t have a description on the back, so I had no idea what I was getting into. It took me a while to figure things out, but to me, it seemed like Neverland. If I wanted to read about a place like Neverland, I would just read Peter Pan... It was interesting and well-written, but I just feel like the story has been told before, so I wasn’t personally very interested in it.
storywarden's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not sure what to do with this book. I tried reading it and ended up getting the audio book which might be how I managed to make it through. Nice narration, and it's definitely the kind of book where you kind of want to sink into the sounds of the words and the rhythm of the sentences.
I get it, it's a story about growing up. The problem that I have is that it is very poetic prose (if that's a thing) and I am having trouble thinking of a single kid I could recommend this to. It just feels like a book about children that adults would understand better having already done the growing up thing(and also having already gone through literature classes).
I get it, it's a story about growing up. The problem that I have is that it is very poetic prose (if that's a thing) and I am having trouble thinking of a single kid I could recommend this to. It just feels like a book about children that adults would understand better having already done the growing up thing(and also having already gone through literature classes).
librariandest's review
1.0
This was an interesting read, but I would never recommend it to a kid, and I'd doubt I'd have read it at all if the author weren't Jerry Spinelli. It seems more like a book written for adults (or maybe nostalgic teens) who want to dwell in a romanticized and stylized version of childhood. The language was creative, the plot a little dull, the setting cool. My one-star rating comes down to this: the reality of growing up is never as poetic and symbolic as it is in Hokey Pokey. Some readers will revel in Spinelli's fanciful prose-poetry and whimsy-laden metaphors. Others will feel nauseated. I went back and forth, but mostly felt nauseated.
There are obvious comparisons to be made to Peter Pan. Hokey Pokey seemed to me at first to be another version of Never-Never Land and Jack was an obvious Peter Pan-type leader. But that's kind of a misleading comparison. Jack's journey in this book is all about accepting that he's growing up and exiting childhood--there's nothing very Peter Pan in that. Also, there's no Captain Hook.
There are obvious comparisons to be made to Peter Pan. Hokey Pokey seemed to me at first to be another version of Never-Never Land and Jack was an obvious Peter Pan-type leader. But that's kind of a misleading comparison. Jack's journey in this book is all about accepting that he's growing up and exiting childhood--there's nothing very Peter Pan in that. Also, there's no Captain Hook.
tiffyofthemonts's review
4.0
Lovely as a Lenka song.
I'm stealing the following paragraph from Holly Goldberg Sloan's New York Times review of Jerry Spinelli's new book, The Warden's Daughter – I find it applicable to Hokey Pokey: "The last passages of this novel read like a fever dream, with Cammie moving her story forward in leaps and bounds. ... While somewhat frustrating in the fitfulness of the storytelling, this book is never boring and never predictable. It is possible adults will respond to the material even more than children."
I'm stealing the following paragraph from Holly Goldberg Sloan's New York Times review of Jerry Spinelli's new book, The Warden's Daughter – I find it applicable to Hokey Pokey: "The last passages of this novel read like a fever dream, with Cammie moving her story forward in leaps and bounds. ... While somewhat frustrating in the fitfulness of the storytelling, this book is never boring and never predictable. It is possible adults will respond to the material even more than children."
raechsreads's review against another edition
3.0
Oh my goodness! Hokey Pokey is a great book about growing up and how the transition can seem like a huge deal, but may actually be a small change. The only draw back is that it takes a few chapters to be captured and pedaled through the book.
sandraagee's review
I wanted to like this book, but it just isn't working for me. Gave up after about 100 pages. It was slow to start and while some other reviewers have said that the pace pick up later on, I don't think that I care enough to see if it does.
From the bit I read the vibe of this book seemed very surreal. There's an odd internal logic and the story certainly isn't straightforward. None of these traits are necessarily bad, but I had a hard time envisioning what sort of kid would really want to read this book. In a way it seemd to be more of a book about childhood (see also [b:The Little Prince|157993|The Little Prince|Antoine de Saint-Exupéry|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1350961171s/157993.jpg|2180358]), rather than a book for children.
From the bit I read the vibe of this book seemed very surreal. There's an odd internal logic and the story certainly isn't straightforward. None of these traits are necessarily bad, but I had a hard time envisioning what sort of kid would really want to read this book. In a way it seemd to be more of a book about childhood (see also [b:The Little Prince|157993|The Little Prince|Antoine de Saint-Exupéry|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1350961171s/157993.jpg|2180358]), rather than a book for children.
star63's review
1.0
I picked up this book because it is on so many reading lists, even some lists of possible Newbery contenders. I really didn't like it. I understand that the land of Hokey Pokey is an allegory for childhood but it was really hard to sustain my reading through this book. It wasn't until the middle/late part of the story that I began to really put the pieces together and understand what was going on. Herds of wild bikes? A belly stamp like the Sneetches?
So I decided to hand it over to one of my strongest readers to see what she thought of the book (6th grade), she felt the same way that I did, she finished it but found it laborious. Another strong reader abandoned it after about 50 pages with an, "I don't get it." It's in my classroom library but I'm unsure who I would hand it to.
So I decided to hand it over to one of my strongest readers to see what she thought of the book (6th grade), she felt the same way that I did, she finished it but found it laborious. Another strong reader abandoned it after about 50 pages with an, "I don't get it." It's in my classroom library but I'm unsure who I would hand it to.