What do you think?
Rate this book
Product of a Jewish-Protestant marriage, Kate finds her dilemma over her religious leanings threatening her relationship with her best friend.
162 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
91 people want to read
About the author
Jean Little
107 books193 followersJean Little is a Canadian author, born in Taiwan. Her work has mainly consisted of children's literature, but she has also written two autobiographies: Little by Little and Stars Come Out Within. Little has been partially blind since birth as a result of scars on her cornea and is frequently accompanied by a guide dog.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 31, 2010
This is one of my favorite books of my childhood. I reread it nearly every time I'm at my parent's house.
I was always intimidated by this book, because I was intimidated to meet Jean Little. She was billed to us in second grade as an inspiration; a partially blind author as evidence that we could do whatever we set our hearts to. I was nervous to meet her less because she was an inspiration and more because it was the first time that I'd ever met an author. But then I was nervous to read her books because I was scared that they would be books about being an inspiration over and over.
However, her books stand completely on their own merit. Kate in particular is my favorite. It is the most honest narrative I've ever read about friendship and the perils of being friends as middle schoolers, who are constantly changing, but trying to be the best self that they can. It also deals with being the product of an inter-faith marriage and about finding an identity separate from that of your parents while still being a part of the family.
More than any other childhood book, Kate still speaks to me when I read it. It's rare to find a book about middle school that's this faithful, especially one like Kate, which deals with the parts of middle school that apply to everyoneover and over throughout life
I was always intimidated by this book, because I was intimidated to meet Jean Little. She was billed to us in second grade as an inspiration; a partially blind author as evidence that we could do whatever we set our hearts to. I was nervous to meet her less because she was an inspiration and more because it was the first time that I'd ever met an author. But then I was nervous to read her books because I was scared that they would be books about being an inspiration over and over.
However, her books stand completely on their own merit. Kate in particular is my favorite. It is the most honest narrative I've ever read about friendship and the perils of being friends as middle schoolers, who are constantly changing, but trying to be the best self that they can. It also deals with being the product of an inter-faith marriage and about finding an identity separate from that of your parents while still being a part of the family.
More than any other childhood book, Kate still speaks to me when I read it. It's rare to find a book about middle school that's this faithful, especially one like Kate, which deals with the parts of middle school that apply to everyoneover and over throughout life
August 24, 2015
This book was nice, but Kate's poems were the only memorable parts. I was half-heartedly interested in the plot and characters. If I found the sequel and prequel to this book, I would read them for Kate's poetry and nothing else. Even though I'm in love with her writing, the author's writing didn't really capture me.
September 17, 2021
It is hard for me to evaluate this book due to how dated it is. I like Kate as a character and think it's so cool that there's a middle grade book about growing up with one Jewish parent, deciding what it means to be Jewish when you don't observe anything and it just makes you feel vaguely different, deciding what you want your own involvement with Judaism to be. I like that this author's books are so serious - the characters are thinkers and the books tackle serious topics.
Because the book itself is written in a somewhat overly dramatic style, the story feels overdone, and it's hard for me to tell how much of that is the author's doing and how much is to the time period in which the book was written. It was a much bigger deal for a Jew to marry a non-Jew in the 1950s or 60s (when Kate's parents presumably married) than it is today, and I've seen a big shift in my own lifetime as well. The book felt a bit alienating to me in a way, because Kate's Jewishness makes her feel SO other, in a way I don't feel, and her parents' intermarriage caused such family tension. I'm not sure how this book would land with someone who is Jewish a child today, whether they'd understand this was the 1970s and things are different today, or if it would make them feel othered when they didn't previously.
Because the book itself is written in a somewhat overly dramatic style, the story feels overdone, and it's hard for me to tell how much of that is the author's doing and how much is to the time period in which the book was written. It was a much bigger deal for a Jew to marry a non-Jew in the 1950s or 60s (when Kate's parents presumably married) than it is today, and I've seen a big shift in my own lifetime as well. The book felt a bit alienating to me in a way, because Kate's Jewishness makes her feel SO other, in a way I don't feel, and her parents' intermarriage caused such family tension. I'm not sure how this book would land with someone who is Jewish a child today, whether they'd understand this was the 1970s and things are different today, or if it would make them feel othered when they didn't previously.
October 29, 2008
I admit to liking just about everything I've read
by Jean Little, but this book has more depth than some of the others. My first exposure to Kate was in reading HEY WORLD, HERE I AM! (also by Little), "Kate Bloomfield's" poems about school, her friends, feelings,
etc. Then I read in the introduction that Kate Bloomfield is the main character in her own book, KATE, and I decided I wanted to read it.
Kate has a Jewish father and a "nothing" mother, and Kate
isn't sure what she herself is, but would like to find out. Her father and mother own Bloomfield's Books, and she often helps them there after school. Her best friend is Emily Blair. KATE focuses on Kate's desire to learn more of the secret behind her father's withdrawal into himself
whenever anyone asks about his parents or other family members. He has told many family stories of his childhood, but afterwards he goes into his own world and shuts the door. He has also forsaken going to the synagogue.
Kate has always wondered about this, but everything comes to a head when the Rosenthal family moves into town, and the oldest daughter, Sheila, is definite about not wanting to be friendly. Sheila's father also seems to be at odds with Kate's father, and she doesn't understand why. The mystery
grows when Mrs. Rosenthal appears at the bookstore one afternoon and Kate overhears her tell Mr. Bloomfield, "Your sister needs you, Jonathan," to which Kate's father "slammed back, 'I'm right here. She knows where to
find me.'" Then Mrs. Rosenthal asks Mr. Bloomfield if Kate even knows she has a grandfather and a cousin. (which Kate doesn't)
Through the rest of the book Kate tries to put the pieces of her family history together, and in the process there is a peaceful resolution of some long standing family grievances. And Kate also is able to mend a rift that occurred in her friendship with Emily because of Sheila.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and think girls who are interested in friendships, family problems, and writing would enjoy it, too, especially aspiring poets. It's not for girls who need a lot of adventures in a plot to keep them interested.
by Jean Little, but this book has more depth than some of the others. My first exposure to Kate was in reading HEY WORLD, HERE I AM! (also by Little), "Kate Bloomfield's" poems about school, her friends, feelings,
etc. Then I read in the introduction that Kate Bloomfield is the main character in her own book, KATE, and I decided I wanted to read it.
Kate has a Jewish father and a "nothing" mother, and Kate
isn't sure what she herself is, but would like to find out. Her father and mother own Bloomfield's Books, and she often helps them there after school. Her best friend is Emily Blair. KATE focuses on Kate's desire to learn more of the secret behind her father's withdrawal into himself
whenever anyone asks about his parents or other family members. He has told many family stories of his childhood, but afterwards he goes into his own world and shuts the door. He has also forsaken going to the synagogue.
Kate has always wondered about this, but everything comes to a head when the Rosenthal family moves into town, and the oldest daughter, Sheila, is definite about not wanting to be friendly. Sheila's father also seems to be at odds with Kate's father, and she doesn't understand why. The mystery
grows when Mrs. Rosenthal appears at the bookstore one afternoon and Kate overhears her tell Mr. Bloomfield, "Your sister needs you, Jonathan," to which Kate's father "slammed back, 'I'm right here. She knows where to
find me.'" Then Mrs. Rosenthal asks Mr. Bloomfield if Kate even knows she has a grandfather and a cousin. (which Kate doesn't)
Through the rest of the book Kate tries to put the pieces of her family history together, and in the process there is a peaceful resolution of some long standing family grievances. And Kate also is able to mend a rift that occurred in her friendship with Emily because of Sheila.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and think girls who are interested in friendships, family problems, and writing would enjoy it, too, especially aspiring poets. It's not for girls who need a lot of adventures in a plot to keep them interested.
June 28, 2020
Continuing my summer of Jean Little reading. I somehow didn’t read this as many times as a kid as I read Look Through My Window, but as an adult I am impressed by the way Little lets Kate begin to consider what her parents’ choices about religion, marriage, and family mean for her. Kate gets to at least meet her grandfather before he dies, and we have the sense that her cousin Sol will become a friend of sorts. Maybe even the timid Aunt Abby will come around, and the Rosenthals - the family of the enchanting Susannah who Kate meets and bonds with before she realizes that their father were childhood friends, and that Shelia, who Kate dislikes, is her her sister, and, most importantly, that the Rosenthals are basically family — the father was her father’s childhood best friend and features in his stories, and Sammy’s older brother Phil married Aunt Abby and is the father of Sol. I like that the novel ends with Kate and her father going to the synagogue; Kate has done her Jewish reading as an entry point to self-understanding, as befits the child of bookstore owners who live for books (we learn that older sister Marilyn, offstage, has married someone in a different church than their mother’s and doesn’t like books and is shallow) and seems to realize that even though her father put away his Judaism when his family rejected him for marrying Kate’s non-Jewish mother, she sees herself as Jewish and needs to know what that actually means. I wish we could see Kate as an adult - I imagine her as the President of an accepting Reform congregation with many intermarried members, perhaps married to someone like her, and with several children who she loves. And that she is close to Susannah/Susan Rosenthal, speaks with Sheila, and has made friends with cousin Sol. (Oh, maybe Emily will marry the Rosenthal brother or cousin Sol and raise Jewish children in the next generation...)
Anyway, a satisfying read, with themes far more complex than most kids might understand.
Came back to add: also powerful is Kate’s realization that her parents are people in a way that isn’t specifically related to her — they have an unusually tight, companionate marriage that focuses on a shared love of books and ideas, and both Kate and her mother are shut out, to an extent, from Jonathan’s unresolved feelings about his family and about Judaism. He clearly loved his mother Bess and sister, and friends Sammy and Phil, but was able to walk away from them entirely when they rejected his wife. Kate comes to see her father as closing a door on this topic, which is one that makes him sad even though he loves to tell stories about his mother Bess, who was clearly a total character, but who also seems to have loved her husband, another of Kate’s realizations.
Anyway, a satisfying read, with themes far more complex than most kids might understand.
Came back to add: also powerful is Kate’s realization that her parents are people in a way that isn’t specifically related to her — they have an unusually tight, companionate marriage that focuses on a shared love of books and ideas, and both Kate and her mother are shut out, to an extent, from Jonathan’s unresolved feelings about his family and about Judaism. He clearly loved his mother Bess and sister, and friends Sammy and Phil, but was able to walk away from them entirely when they rejected his wife. Kate comes to see her father as closing a door on this topic, which is one that makes him sad even though he loves to tell stories about his mother Bess, who was clearly a total character, but who also seems to have loved her husband, another of Kate’s realizations.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 28, 2025
The second half of my teaching career I was a school librarian (media specialist). I had just finished my specialist degree in Early Childhood Education and thought I was done with graduate school when I was offered the position as media specialist. Back I went to get my additional degree. One of the first things I was taught was to never to caught sitting at the circulation desk reading because people would think I wasn't working. I never understood that. This is one of the stories that drew my interest because my eldest niece's name was Catherine and we called her Katie, which is a lot like Kate. Well, I'm retired now and I finally got around to reading this book. It was worth the wait. It was alsos a wonderful touching story.
December 7, 2024
Not my favorite Jean Little, because I didn't really warm to Kate's character. Perhaps if I'd realized it was a sequel to Look Through My Window, which I read years ago and remember liking, I'd have reread that first and enjoyed this more.
December 8, 2019
It was good.
December 30, 2022
Loved this!
April 19, 2008
This is one of my favorite Jean Littles, and unusually for its era depicts a heroine who, if I recall correctly, is half Jewish and half Christian but practices neither faith. As Kate enters adolescence and starts to wonder about religion she also has to deal with the angst of teenage friendships. Little memorably quotes the Proverbs, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful" as Kate becomes alienated from her friends and tries to figure out who she is. One of her friends is Lindsay, the younger sister from Take Wing.
May 25, 2011
Another superb read. I am very impressed with books written for children, lately.
I devoured this story in one evening, in one sitting. I know I read it when I was young, but didn't remember it at all. It is a very good story, with an interesting plot. i can't believe it didn't make more of an impact on me before.
I loved it. The whole story, the way it unfolded, right down to the very last, suspenseful two pages.
"Then we went in together."
I devoured this story in one evening, in one sitting. I know I read it when I was young, but didn't remember it at all. It is a very good story, with an interesting plot. i can't believe it didn't make more of an impact on me before.
I loved it. The whole story, the way it unfolded, right down to the very last, suspenseful two pages.
"Then we went in together."
January 31, 2014
This is one of my absolute favorites from childhood...it is on my top ten list of a book I would need to have alone on a desert island (right up there with "Little Women." I've read just about everything Jean Little has ever written, and this novel, and Kate Bloomfield as a character, is still my favorite. I just can't understand why it's not still in print!!
January 21, 2015
This book wasn't what I was expecting. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but not this. I don't think I'd recommend this book to anyone.
August 2, 2017
Can I just say that I like Jean Little?
April 7, 2011
Another absolute favorite from childhood.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews