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[ [ [ Circle of Gold (Apple Paperbacks) [ CIRCLE OF GOLD (APPLE PAPERBACKS) ] By Boyd, Candy Dawson ( Author )Jan-01-1996 Paperback
The death of Mattie's father throws her entire family into hard times. As Mother's Day approaches, Mattie becomes determined to buy her mother a gold pin.
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First published January 1, 1984
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
March 3, 2011
The story Circle of Gold is about a girl named Mattie. Mattie had just lost her father and she lives with her mother and her two little brothers. Mattie’s mother has not been feeling well so Mattie decided to buy her a wonderful present for mother’s day. One day while Mattie was shopping , she saw a gold pin, which she taught would be the perfect gift to her mother but the pin cost 50$. Mattie didn’t have have 50$ so she paid 10$ so that the store would keep it for her for 30 days. Mattie needed a way to find money, so one of her friends told her to join a contest. The contest was to write what your mother means to you. Mattie decided to enter the contest and after a couple of weeks she sent her essay to the office. While Mattie was waiting, she got in trouble at school. Her friend Angel accused Mattie of stealing her bracelet. After a couple of days Charlene was the person who the bracelet. The same afternoon Mattie got a letter telling her she won the contest, but it was too late because someone had bought the gold pin When Mattie’s mother found out she was very happy and things started changing in Mattie’s life. The theme of this story is that love can cause people to change because in the beginning Mattie’s mother was always frustrated but when she found out what her daughter was doing she started changing.
August 14, 2017
Dawson did a fabulous job showing the reader children's hearts. Children experience death, friendship, love, etc. as adults do they just don't always express their feelings the way adults do. What I enjoyed most what the love this family had, yet each character expressed it differently. I could re-read this book by the fire place and feel all warm and fuzzy. Great read!!!
May 25, 2024
A moving and beautiful Newberry book. TW: for child abuse, death of a parent, false accusations about theft, bullying.
May 20, 2012
Trying to find a job in a small neighborhood is hard.Mattie just got called off on a babysitting job and her mother is in bad condition. While shopping with her best friend Toni, Mattie finds the perfect gift for her mother for mother's day but the problem was that she didn't have enough money to buy such an expensive gift.she try to put a deposit and was left with 30days to come up with the money to buy the gold pin* with one perfect pearl on top. Mattie thought this gift would bring everyone in her family back together again and to show her mother that she loved her very much.after Mattie's father had died,everything at home was rough.but Mattie believed that it would be a first step to what she dream,to have a loving family that's together and happy.to find the way to get enough money to buy the pin,Mattie gives in a try to write an essay for the contest to win $50.but Mattie isn't the best writer so in the end she asked her best friend Toni to.but she asked " is lying to win something worth it?" in the end she wrote a letter to the editorial and she had tied for first prize for the contest and to her surprise though she didn't buy the pin herself when her date was up the the prize to the contest was the pin and her mother bursts in tears saying that she loved Mattie.
March 23, 2025
Mattie's father died about six months ago and Mattie and Matt, the twins are trying to help their mother as she works hard to make a living for the family. Mattie feels like her mother may not love her as much as she does her brother and wants to show her mother that she did, in fact, have two children. In order to that she needs to buy her mother something really special for Mothers day so she decides on a gold bracelet and puts one on layaway.
Meanwhile she and her best friend, Toni, are picked on at school at some "mean girls" and one of them puts something in a "secret place", it disappears and the finger is pointed at Mattie. It takes her mother leaving work to go to school before finally the mystery is solved and Mattie's reputation is cleared at school.
Part of getting the gold bracelet was a paper she wrote for a contest but time runs out before she has all the money and she is heartbroken. However, though a twist of fate, everything is better and she knows her mother does, in fact, love her also.
This is the story of a less affluent family in Chicago in the African-American community and I wouldn't recommend this to the same extent that I did the other two books that I found at a free library but it is a short and quickly read story and make a good point about family interaction and doing the right thing.
Meanwhile she and her best friend, Toni, are picked on at school at some "mean girls" and one of them puts something in a "secret place", it disappears and the finger is pointed at Mattie. It takes her mother leaving work to go to school before finally the mystery is solved and Mattie's reputation is cleared at school.
Part of getting the gold bracelet was a paper she wrote for a contest but time runs out before she has all the money and she is heartbroken. However, though a twist of fate, everything is better and she knows her mother does, in fact, love her also.
This is the story of a less affluent family in Chicago in the African-American community and I wouldn't recommend this to the same extent that I did the other two books that I found at a free library but it is a short and quickly read story and make a good point about family interaction and doing the right thing.
December 6, 2018
The whole story is around a little girl called Mattie. She lost her father because of a car accident. Her mother could not accept her father’ death so she always felt upset. One day, she went shopping with her friend, Toni. A filigree pin caught her eyes. She wanted to buy it for her mother as a gift in the mother’s day, but it is so expensive 55 dollars. She only had 10 dollars. The after story states how this little girl earned money to achieve her dream. Although she struggled with many troubles from her family, classmates, she still bravely faced them and encouraged her mother to live positively. From this book, I learn many about family love, friendship.
September 18, 2021
Mattie and Matt are twins living with their mother in Chicago; their father has recently dies very unexpectedly. Mattie feels as if her brother is loved more by her mother and she sets out to make her mother love her and to make their lives happier as a “real family”. Seems like the plot is based on what children often feel as children and one that young teens would love. Very quick and easy read.
August 17, 2017
When Mattie's father was alive. Everything seem perfect but after his died everything is changed. Her mother is always angry and never smiles. And her twins brother alway quiet. But Mattie know that Mother Day is coming she decided to buy a perfect gift for her mother But she don't have even money to buy a gift for mother.
Great story!
Great story!
October 28, 2022
I initially read this at a young age when I ran out of my own books and came across this from my older sister's pile of literature books she had to read for class. It was the first time I saw someone that looked like me on the cover of a book. I loved it, and I even read it again about a year or so later.
February 5, 2020
An absolutely beautiful and heart touching story. Mattie's whole world changed when her father passed away. Her mother , brother as well as Mattie are struggling to go on with Mattie shouldering the burden to get her family back on track. Read this book. You will be glad you did.
December 27, 2020
Being a good child was not easy. Specially when you have to deal with bullies at school and a depressed mom at home and beautiful memories with your passed away Dad. However, the girl in this story did a great job with her strong love...
July 26, 2018
I really want to but I don't know how
June 13, 2019
I will totally read this with my students again next year. Works great as Mother's Day is coming up. Beautifully, dramatic, suspenseful, and personally meaningful for many of my little babes. Love!
December 4, 2019
Great book about experiences tough times and being able to express those feelings.
September 13, 2021
I read this book when I was 9. It was so relatable. I am now 36 and still remember this book. It made me cry. Such a powerful story.
January 6, 2022
This is a very beautiful book and was one of my favourite growing up that made me cry it’s a truly heart warming and well written story for young tweens and young teenagers!
March 2, 2023
A quiet feel-good story which readers of all ages can enjoy.
March 31, 2023
A classic award winning book (Coretta Scott King Award) about a young Black girl in Chicago. I really appreciated the layers to this book and how it all resolved. I'd recommend for 3rd grade and up.
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October 28, 2015I really enjoyed this book, largely because it was well written. The characters were believable and likable. The dialog wasn’t stilted or dated. The problems they faced were tough, but not insurmountable and probably not unfamiliar to many kids.
Mattie believes that by buying her mom a beautiful pin for Mother’s Day, it will show how much she loves her mother and will help her mother show more affection toward her. Since her father’s death, Mattie feels like there is a growing gap between herself and her mother and that her mother is unfairly harsh with her. In a lot of ways Mattie is correct, but she doesn’t understand that it all comes from a deep place of grief and that her mother needs help. The whole idea of the jewelry as a fix for their problems is both sweet, heartbreaking, and clearly not going to work the way Mattie hopes.
Probably the best part of the book was the fact that, while things are still tough in the end, there is a hopeful ending. I think I’m beginning to jump on the enough-with-the-sad-books-already bandwagon. I know there are a lot of sad kids out there and I get why they may want to read sad books, but they may also want to read happy ones as well. By the end of Circle of Gold, Mattie has learned a lesson about honesty, she has seen a bully for what she is, and her mother is getting professional help to cope with the loss of her husband and all the complications that have come with that.
I can certainly see handing it to kids who like books with a touch of melodrama. I can see kids who like relationship books, particularly friendship and family, enjoying it. But it’s still going to be a hard sell. The options for covers are pretty terrible and it just has a slightly dated feel- like putting something on lay away at a department store, do kids even know about that? I suspect the kids in my school don’t. I think I’ll hold off buying a copy until I week our beginning chapter books section and see what’s left.
Mattie believes that by buying her mom a beautiful pin for Mother’s Day, it will show how much she loves her mother and will help her mother show more affection toward her. Since her father’s death, Mattie feels like there is a growing gap between herself and her mother and that her mother is unfairly harsh with her. In a lot of ways Mattie is correct, but she doesn’t understand that it all comes from a deep place of grief and that her mother needs help. The whole idea of the jewelry as a fix for their problems is both sweet, heartbreaking, and clearly not going to work the way Mattie hopes.
Probably the best part of the book was the fact that, while things are still tough in the end, there is a hopeful ending. I think I’m beginning to jump on the enough-with-the-sad-books-already bandwagon. I know there are a lot of sad kids out there and I get why they may want to read sad books, but they may also want to read happy ones as well. By the end of Circle of Gold, Mattie has learned a lesson about honesty, she has seen a bully for what she is, and her mother is getting professional help to cope with the loss of her husband and all the complications that have come with that.
I can certainly see handing it to kids who like books with a touch of melodrama. I can see kids who like relationship books, particularly friendship and family, enjoying it. But it’s still going to be a hard sell. The options for covers are pretty terrible and it just has a slightly dated feel- like putting something on lay away at a department store, do kids even know about that? I suspect the kids in my school don’t. I think I’ll hold off buying a copy until I week our beginning chapter books section and see what’s left.
January 27, 2024
Since Mr. Benson died, Mrs. Benson works two jobs and manages the apartment building where they live. She's always tired and cranky, and she seems to take her anger and frustration out on Mattie. Why doesn’t Mama love her like she loves her brother, Matt? With Mother's Day coming, Mattie wants to find her mother the perfect gift—one that will make things all right again. When she sees the gold and pearl pin at Sterns, she makes a down payment and puts the pin on a 30-day layaway. She isn’t sure how she will ever pay the other $40 out of her baby-sitting money. Then her best friend, Toni, encourages her to enter the Mother's Day essay contest sponsored by the local newspaper. Mattie agonizes over writing an essay describing what her mother means to her and, finally, asks Toni to write the essay for her. Toni does, but neither Mattie nor Toni feel right about it. The night before the deadline, Mattie writes her own essay and submits it in place of Toni’s. The week before Mother's Day, Mattie goes to Stern's to pay for the bracelet. She is one day late, and the bracelet has been sold. The announcement of Mattie's winning essay doesn't do much to raise her spirits. She is happy that Toni knows that it was Mattie's own essay that won. Then, her happiness turns to sheer ecstasy. Mattie told all about the pin and her father's death in her essay, so the paper bought the pin for Mattie's mother. That Mother's Day Mattie starts believing that her mother really loves her.
©Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com
©Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com
January 1, 2014
This is a great book from the 80s about dealing with loss and maintaining your integrity. Mattie, the main character, comes to grips with losing her father, her mother's increasing emotional distance, being bullied at school, and trying to help out with chores and earning money. With the support of her twin brother, a very mature boy who deals with the loss of their father by proving himself at school, a good friend, Toni, who would do anything for her, and Mrs. Stamps, a wise old neighbor, she navigates the tough days leading up to Mother's Day.
My favorite bit of Mrs. Stamps wisdom is, "A chance to stretch your skin is rare, Mattie. Most folks feel safer stuffed in old, too-tight skins. It's better to grow, Mattie, inside." (p. 102)
My favorite bit of Mrs. Stamps wisdom is, "A chance to stretch your skin is rare, Mattie. Most folks feel safer stuffed in old, too-tight skins. It's better to grow, Mattie, inside." (p. 102)
February 5, 2017
I read this at about age 10 but I don't remember much about it.
November 4, 2012
I remember reading this when I was about 5th grade or so. I loved it! It's about a little girl whose family seems to have fallen apart after the loss of her father. she wants to give her mother the perfect Mother's Day gift: a gold pin...She spends most of the book working hard to earn it. Beautiful story about growing up. A must read for ages 10-14.
August 28, 2013
Katelyn brought this home at the end of last school year...one of the books they just give out for free. It's a touching story of a girl trying to get her mother to see how much she loves her after the death of her father to try and bring the struggling family together again. Katelyn said she liked it. I did as well but I needed tissues to wipe tears away during a few parts.
November 13, 2008
This book is great for Jr. High students leaning what it is like to be in poverty with siblings. The main little girl tries to save her money in order to purchase a gold pin for her mom for mothers day. A wonderful story.
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May 10, 2009I've used this book for my fourth grade reading groups, and it's one of the most insightful kids' books I've ever read. Evokes deep feelings on many issues that some children's books gloss over. Truly a wonderful experience for readers of any age.
June 25, 2011
This book was really good. It had a realistic twist. I could have related to a lot of the things.It had a lot of emotion and I really like it and i am not just speaking for myself. Many of the girls my age liked this book and I think that you should read it and trust me you would enjoy it.
June 10, 2016
I have read this book in 5th grade. It was of a simple story as I remember it but it was one of those stories that made you happier after reading it. It is a good book for its targeted audience. The simplicity of the story is a part of it being a relatable tale of kids.
October 19, 2007
What I learned from this book is that good things can happen when you work for it.
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December 1, 2008This book is a great book.The book made me cry. The main character tries so hard to impress her mother. Then she enters a contest
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews