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Expecting the Unexpected
On the edge of adolescence at age twelve, River is mortified when her Human Interaction teacher decides to turn getting a period into a party and encourages every girl in class to try out pads in their panties. Reprint.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
19 people want to read
About the author
Mavis Jukes
33 books7 followersMavis Jukes (born May 3, 1947 in Nyack, New York), is an American author of novels for children. She has also published nonfiction books for children and pre-teens about puberty. Her books are usually health-based.
Before becoming an author, Jukes was a lawyer and a teacher. Her first book, No One is Going to Nashville, was published in 1983. She lives with her husband, the sculptor and painter Robert H. Hudson, and their daughters in Sonoma County, California. She is the daughter of Thomas Hughes Jukes, a famous molecular biologist and nutritionist, who pioneered the use of methotrexate as a new cancer therapy and was one of the first to formulate the neutral theory of molecular evolution.
She received the Newbery Honor distinction in 1985 for her book Like Jake and Me.
Before becoming an author, Jukes was a lawyer and a teacher. Her first book, No One is Going to Nashville, was published in 1983. She lives with her husband, the sculptor and painter Robert H. Hudson, and their daughters in Sonoma County, California. She is the daughter of Thomas Hughes Jukes, a famous molecular biologist and nutritionist, who pioneered the use of methotrexate as a new cancer therapy and was one of the first to formulate the neutral theory of molecular evolution.
She received the Newbery Honor distinction in 1985 for her book Like Jake and Me.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 26, 2024
Two and a half to three stars. I read this book when I was ten, and it flew waaaaay over my head. Now, as an adult, I was curious to learn what I'd think. I wouldn't be able to relate, I guessed. And I wasn't, but not for the reasons I thought. Much is made in this book and also "I've Lost My Best Friend" by Megan Howard about the protagonists being in junior high school and how super exciting it is. I--what? I don't get the way the students are grouped, or the things they're looking forward to, especially in this book. I went to public middle school in the US, which is grades six, seven and eighth. High school is grades nine through twelve. Maybe junior high is an East Coast thing? I was born and raised in Seattle, lived here on the West Coast my whole life. I do remember a girl in a few of my classes kept insisting this was "(School Name) Junior High." Wrote it on all her in-school notebooks and papers and everything. She made it clear that she was trying to make our middle school cooler than it actually was. It was not a junior high, you weirdo. Part of it had to do with that she desperately wanted to be one of the popular girls, and instead just did this "too cool for school, I'm twelve going on twenty-five" thing It's stuff like that, that I associate with the phrase "junior high." Why would it be a reward to visit the local high school, as a junior high school student, as it was in this book? That really stumped me, especially as a kid and even now. What was the Classiest of Classes thing? My school didn't have those things. Nor were we able to design school borders. Was this school just overly permissive with a weird rewards system? Because we just went to school. Sometimes we competed with other district middle schools, and even regional ones, in choir competitions, or band or orchestra and such. That was pretty much it.
A lot of this book actually made me laugh. The dialogue was snappy. I liked how much of it I remembered. That was nice. And this book is an excellent example of vivid writing that's from the POV from a confident, self-assured tween. It was refreshing to the point of being shocking, when compared to other books I'd read. I feel like tween books in the nineties had characters that acted like littler kids than they actually were, or were kind of smart-alecks who were trying to act like they were in high school already. Now that I think about it, that was accurate to my middle school too. I understood this book a lot more as an adult, and appreciated it. I thought the teachers' relationships to the kids were pretty laid-back, and was surprised at how comfortable they were with one another. The pregnancy symptoms River thinks her sister has, made me giggle a little. I get how she thinks that, but--it is not necessarily that. The way it was discussed for teens, especially in the textbook, was incredibly progressive for the nineties, and I loved how matter-of-fact the textbook was. Bravo. The kitten birth scene was gross. When I was ten, it didn't bother me. Our pug dog had just given birth to puppies at three in the morning, and my mom invited us to support the dog through it. My brothers and i got bored and played cards. My mom had been pregnant a few times with us, and was able to comfort the dog. I felt bad for awhile later for playing cards, but I understand that hey, I was a kid. Plus the dog was basically mine. I got all the cuddles, and she slept in my bed up until a few weeks before her untimely death from an awful disease. Anyway, back to the book.
I have to say my favorite part was when Mr Elmo talked about Black History Month and the pilot, and saluted him. That got to me, and I was relieved that River spoke highly of the experience. I might hang onto this book. I finished it after having a weird day, and maybe the next time I read it, I will feel better. I'd definitely recommend this to my little cousins.
A lot of this book actually made me laugh. The dialogue was snappy. I liked how much of it I remembered. That was nice. And this book is an excellent example of vivid writing that's from the POV from a confident, self-assured tween. It was refreshing to the point of being shocking, when compared to other books I'd read. I feel like tween books in the nineties had characters that acted like littler kids than they actually were, or were kind of smart-alecks who were trying to act like they were in high school already. Now that I think about it, that was accurate to my middle school too. I understood this book a lot more as an adult, and appreciated it. I thought the teachers' relationships to the kids were pretty laid-back, and was surprised at how comfortable they were with one another. The pregnancy symptoms River thinks her sister has, made me giggle a little. I get how she thinks that, but--it is not necessarily that. The way it was discussed for teens, especially in the textbook, was incredibly progressive for the nineties, and I loved how matter-of-fact the textbook was. Bravo. The kitten birth scene was gross. When I was ten, it didn't bother me. Our pug dog had just given birth to puppies at three in the morning, and my mom invited us to support the dog through it. My brothers and i got bored and played cards. My mom had been pregnant a few times with us, and was able to comfort the dog. I felt bad for awhile later for playing cards, but I understand that hey, I was a kid. Plus the dog was basically mine. I got all the cuddles, and she slept in my bed up until a few weeks before her untimely death from an awful disease. Anyway, back to the book.
I have to say my favorite part was when Mr Elmo talked about Black History Month and the pilot, and saluted him. That got to me, and I was relieved that River spoke highly of the experience. I might hang onto this book. I finished it after having a weird day, and maybe the next time I read it, I will feel better. I'd definitely recommend this to my little cousins.
September 20, 2008
What a wacky book. This book deals with how uncomfortable it can be for adolescents to realize how our species reproduce. It is beautifully written. The main character is very herself through the whole thing. A book like this could easily have flopped. I applaud the author for accomplishing a book on this subject with such ease and grace.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews