Lizzie!

by Maxine Kumin, Elliott Gilbert (Illustrator)

Lizzie, age eleven, does not let her wheelchair get in the way of her curiosity. After she is partially paralyzed in a diving accident, Lizzie and her single mom are starting life over in a small town in Florida, where Lizzie’s thirst for knowledge and adventure makes her some unlikely friends and gets her into some sticky situations. Resilient and precocious, Lizzie has a passion for learning new words (especially those with Latin roots) and a propensity for finding trouble, which is how she ends up stumbling upon criminal activities involving seedy characters, beautiful golden monkeys, and murder.

Genres: Young Adult, Middle Grade

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Maxine Kumin's 17th poetry collection, published in the spring of 2010, is Where I Live: New and Selected Poems 1990-2010. Her awards include the Pulitzer and Ruth Lilly Poetry Prizes, the Poets’ Prize, and the Harvard Arts and Robert Frost Medals. A former US poet laureate, she and her husband lived on a farm in New Hampshire. Maxine Kumin died in 2014.

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

Before you read my review on this horrible book I have 3 disclaimers: Firstly, I won this book from the First Reads giveaway so it was an advanced uncorrected proof. This might be partly responsible for its awfulness. Secondly, I'm not a young adult so I'm not the book's target audience. However, I've taught middle school and high school English so I've read my fair share of YA books. Thirdly, I read Everything Is Illuminated before this and it was amazing. I'm sure it is a difficult book to follow.

This book was ridiculous. What 11 year old hangs out with retired old people, mentally handicap men, and likes to do the crossword puzzle and birdwatch? The dialogue also runs untrue and sounds old. What modern teen says, "Look at you, you old goon you! Hip hip! Three cheers!" and "But golly, goonie… that's beyond sweet!"? My favorite was, "Is that ever boss?" It sounds like an old lady was talking, and seeing that the author was 83, that makes sense.

Lizzie! (I'm assuming her name is spelled with an exclamation mark at the end because that's the title. I imagine Lizzie! must be said with lots of enthusiasm and jazz hands) gets injured in a pool accident that frankly sounds like her fault. Her mom sues someone and gets a ton of money. Lizzie! apparently only gets her mom's old computer. Why would her mom get the settlement money? WTF? That makes no sense. Because the mom is now rich, she buys her and Lizzie! a cottage on the beach in Florida and retires from teaching. They make friends with the retired couple who live nearby. They become her surrogate grandparents because Lizzie! has no Grandparents because she was the product of a sperm donor and apparently an orphaned mother.

There is a mentally challenged man who operates a zoo, which isn't really a zoo as much as someone's backyard. Stuff happened and Lizzie! sees a crime and blabs it to her elderly bestie. More stuff happens and she gets kidnapped and rescued in a matter of a few hours. Then the token misguided youth of the story who was in a gang but then was put into servitude (yet, he was supplied groceries) finds a job and the story ends happily except that Lizzie! is still crippled.

This book was an awful mess.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this young adult book. It was a lost and found item at my sister's workplace and I'm glad that she passed it along to me.
As a result of a diving board mishap, 13 year old Lizzie is in a wheelchair. She and her Mom now live in Florida - the warm temperatures are better for her. Lizzie does not let her chair confine her and she had a pretty active life. She still goes through the teenage angst at school but she gets involved in a mystery that takes her out of her everyday life.
This a delightful and mature story that I recommend to anyone of any age. I don't want to give away the mystery!

[Nichole Hollingsworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the way the narrator learned and played with words.
The supporting characters were rich and interesting but my biggest problem was everything worked out too neatly....a little too deus ex machina for me and I will go along with many plot lines.

[Katy Kissel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This work of contemporary fiction is for children ages 9-12. This is the story of Lizzie, a young girl who is just about to graduate from the eighth grade and is paralyzed from the waist down after an accident at a swimming pool. During the course of the book, she uncovers an animal smuggling operation, gets kidnapped, solves a mystery, and makes some new friends. This book was incredibly entertaining. Lizzie made an excellent narrator, with just the right amount of snark to keep the story interesting. She has a habit of breaking difficult words down into their latin roots, making it easy for younger children to understand the meaning of a word. She also, at one point, tells the reader to go look up the definition of a word. The book is full of random facts that all relate back to the story at large, many of them being facts about animals that might be interesting for younger children. Because Lizzie is wheelchair-bound and doesn't let that define her, I think she makes an excellent role model for younger children, especially children with disabilities. This would be a fun book for middle school students to read because it also shows that younger people can be quite brilliant. I would definitely recommend this book for middle school children, and maybe even for younger children to read. It's fun, it deals with important topics like endangered species and animal smuggling, and it shows that a disability doesn't have to define a person.

[Toni · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could never quite feel that Lizzie was an authentic character with an authentic voice. The inner-dialogue was cheesy. What I feel is most unfortunate is that you have a character with a disability, that is young, that it really had a chance to do something special. However, it didn't. It seemed to breeze through this thing that had to be frustrating for a newly paralyzed young woman. It didn't handle it with the complexity it could have. Sure, I love that Lizzie is gungho and won't let anything bring her down,but no insecurity? No frustration? No mixed feelings even?

I also felt that it didn't do a great job of building up tension to a climax, and what you were given was over too quickly.

I love YA fiction, but maybe I just didn't get this, because I wasn't the target audience.

I did get this book in the GoodReads First Read Giveaway.

[Justine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book free from Goodreads First Reads in exchange for an honest review.
This book was not at all what i was expecting and in a bad way. I wanted more of LIzzie's story of being confined to the wheelchair, instead I got a highly unbelievable story. I just found the whole story quite weird.
I couldn't believe that the main character Lizzie was only eleven. Yes I realize she was mature for her age but she acted like a thirty year old. I couldn't connect with any of these characters.
I'm hoping that because I received an uncorrected proof that maybe somethings were edited and the final version will be better. There were a few huge consistencies with the story. I don't think I would recommend this story to anyone unless the final copy is better.

[Kimber Burnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

11 year old Lizzie is confined to a wheelchair as a result from an accident in the pool. Her mother moves them to Florida for the warm climate. Lizzie doesnt really bond with anyone at her school until she meets Josh who is also in a wheelchair.
About once a week, Lizzie's mom takes her to a petting zoo about half hour from their home. Its on one of these trips that Lizzie finds some things that put her in danger...

I enjoyed this book. I think it is well written and the story is interesting, suspenseful and entertaining. A great read for any age.

[Cathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lizzie is the story of a young girl who does not let her limitations stop her. Paralyzed in swimming pool accident, Lizzie is highly intelligent and precocious. Having skipped several grades, she is not embarrassed by her smarts. Her curiosity, however, could get her into big trouble.
This is a good story for middle grades. Lizzie's strong personality and loving heart make her a great role model. I received a complimentary copy form the author in exchange for a review.

[Zinz Vandermeer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found Lizzie! to be a very well written piece. Obviously aimed at a younger age group, the conspiratorial writing style makes you feel like the protagonist is a close friend, whispering her secrets to you. The adventure is fast-paced, and just plausible enough to make it truly exciting. I love that the main character shows what you can do, even if you use a wheelchair as your primary mode of transportation.

[Kelcie Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads first reads giveaway, and it was amazing!!! So cute and I finished it in 2 days! It was very relatable and I read it on the first day of summer so it totally put me in the summer mood!!! Love the voice of Lizzie she was very smart and funny and really made the book for me! A summer must read for middleschoolers!

[N · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lizzie! starts off with an eleven year old girl who recently became paralyzed in an accident and relocates with her mother to a new state. Somehow endangered monkeys, modern slavery, and heart attacks get thrown in the mix.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The diversity of characters makes them relatable to nearly everyone in some way. I enjoyed a main character with a disability and the side character having a different one. The audience was younger than me but it was still enjoyable. Maybe a little more about the antagonist would have improved it.

[Lizzie]

I mean...!

[Susann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kumin was trying, for sure. But the plot and dialogue were highly unrealistic and Lizzie was far too didactic.

ALA Midwinter 2014

[sjams · Rating 4 out of 5]

ADORABLE.