Keep Smiling Through

( 4 )

All Available Formats + Editions

——

$10.46

NOOK Book

——

$10.46

Keep Smiling Through (eBook) Pub. Date: 5/1/1996 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
$0.01

$12.55

Paperback

$0.01

$12.55

Keep Smiling Through (Reissue) Pub. Date: 3/1/2005 Publisher: Harcourt Books, Inc

$0.01

——

Keep Smiling Through Pub. Date: 5/1/1996 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
$0.01

——

Hardcover

$0.01

——

Keep Smiling Through (1) Pub. Date: 5/1/1996 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Customers Who Bought This Also Bought

Advertising

Overview

A ten-year-old girl growing up during World War II learns the painful lesson that doing what's right is not always easy.
Includes a reader's guide.

A ten-year-old girl living in middle-class America during World War II learns the painful lesson that doing what's right is not always an easy thing to do.

Editorial Reviews

Children's Literature

The title is the motto and the theme of this book about daily life in New Jersey during World War II. Given as a piece of advice from her departing housekeeper, young Kay Hennings uses this phrase as a source of encouragement as she struggles to make sense of her own life in a time of turmoil. Her country is at war; her family is overshadowed by the unrelenting demands of her pregnant stepmother, and her brothers are sure the German residents of their town are Nazi spies. Rinaldi provides so many minute and intriguing details that she makes it seem as though the Nazi phobia, rationing, and the heightened patriotism of the radio programs of this period could be a part of any reader's life. Kay wants to break free of her stepmother's control. She's given the opportunity when she must decide between telling the truth and doing as she's told, when her German grandfather becomes inadvertently involved in anti-patriotic activities.

The ALAN Review

Kay is ten. She believes that the ideals of loyalty to country, truth, and respect espoused by radio program heroes will make everything go right, even in the midst of WWII. She keeps "smiling through," yearning for bacon, sugar, and Mary Jane shoes - all rationed. America and its soldiers come first. Hero's platitudes seem clear, but Kay struggles, puzzled, as she watches "Amazing Grace" - her pregnant, pampered, and fit-pitching stepmother - nourish her unborn child and feed her own selfishness while the family does without. Clear truth vanishes altogether when Kay's German grandfather is dubbed a "Nazi traitor." Kay speaks out - after she realizes that loyalty to family and country demands courage. Rinaldi's well-researched story and vivid characters will hook and hold readers from grades 7 - 10 and provide an excellent companion piece to history units.

More Reviews (2) Fewer Reviews

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8Despite a lack of focus in plot and theme, this novel succeeds in providing a detailed picture of the World War II homefront in New Jersey in 1943. Ten-year-old Kay is an appealing heroine caught in an unloving home situation. Her stepmother, "Amazing Grace," exercises incredible abilities in the humiliation and cruelty departments, and her best friend is taken over by the golden girls at school when her brother dies in combat. The war is very distant and it hardly seems a crime when father won't let the older sisters buy bonds. Far worse is that he makes them quit school to work, and takes their pay checks and demands control of their lives in ways that girls of the `90s will find hard to accept. When Kay's grandfather, a German immigrant, is arrested and only Kay knows the identity of the traitor, personal bravery in support of the country becomes real. The death of her stepmother's baby that arrives prematurely and Kay's feeling of responsibility seem extraordinarily melodramatic, and are undercut by the sacrifice of her only doll for scrap rubber. It's the little details of rationing, the radio soap operas, and the ever-desirable "Mary Janes" instead of Buster Brown oxfords that make this story work.Carol A. Edwards, Minneapolis Public Library

Kirkus Reviews

Wrapped in a WW II world of rationing and radio dramas, 10- year-old Kay learns that doing the right thing in life doesn't always mean a happy ending. Kay has become her pregnant, pampered stepmother's target for abuse: blamed for everything, slapped for minor infractions, forced to wear dresses made from feed sacks or festooned with ugly ruffles. Her stepmother's parents are kind to her, but Kay is horrified to overhear her German-born stepgrandfather discussing the old country with a local merchant, even taking a political pamphlet. After he and the merchant are assaulted by anti-German thugs, Kay tells what she heard to a reporter, making sure he knows that her grandpa was showing concern, not disloyalty. Her enraged stepmother straps her, later goes into premature labor, and gives birth to a daughter who dies in the hospital.

Writing about an era in which she lived (explained in an author's note), Rinaldi (The Secret of Sarah Revere, 1995, etc.) fills her story with lively period detail (from Mary Janes to Margaret O'Brien) and period attitudes, too (others know of Kay's suffering but don't try to help her). Though her characters tend to be types, or, in the evil stepmother's case, caricatures, Rinaldi allows Kay to salvage her self-respect with the information that the baby's death was the result of an equipment shortage—far from the front, she was a war casualty nonetheless. A bittersweet historical novel.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780152053994
Publisher: Harcourt Books, Inc
Publication date: 3/1/2005
Edition description: Reissue
Pages: 210
Sales rank: 646,769
Age range: 9 - 12 Years
Lexile: 0570L (what's this?)
Series: Great Episodes Series
Product dimensions: 0.48 (w) x 5.00 (h) x 8.00 (d)

Meet the Author

ANN RINALDI is an award-winning author best known for bringing history vividly to life. A self-made writer and newspaper columnist for twenty-one years, Ms. Rinaldi attributes her interest in history to her son, who enlisted her to take part in historical reenactments up and down the East Coast. She lives with her husband in central New Jersey.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 5

( 4 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(3)

4 Star

(1)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines

Tell the world what you think of this product.

Add Recommendations

Your Name: Create a Pen Name or Leave Anonymously

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

- HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
- Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
- Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
- Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
- Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
- Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
- Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

- By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
- Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
- See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.

Anonymous

Posted May 21, 2008

I loved it!!!!!

Kay Henning is a little girl growing up in New Jersy during the war. She always depends on her radio heros, but she finds out that doing the right thing is not always the easy thing.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous

Posted August 22, 2000

outstanding!

this book was amazing. i mean you really got to understand a little girl's point of view on a hard life, in the time of the war. i think that kay was so brave in front of her step mother. a must read, a newyears resalution!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous

Posted November 5, 2002

A Wonderful Work of Historical Fiction

This book, about a 10-year old girl named Kay Hennings growing up in the mid-1940s, is a wonderful historical fiction story. Kay has troubles at home, at school, and not to mention what was going on in the war around her. Yet she seems to manage while being the subject of her stepmother, Grace's abuse. She is a selfish woman who thinks little of Kay. She blames her for everything that goes wrong. Kay loses her friend when she moves to New York. Her parting words were, "Keep smiling through, honey." But Kay doesn't think there's any way she can smile through without her best friend. Things don't get any better when she witesses her grandfather being arrested at the local ice-cream shop and the reporters want to interview her to find out what really happened. Grace says that if Kay tells the truth, her grandfather will be looked down upon. But Kay's new friend, Mrs. Leuldoff, says go with what her heart says. Does Kay do the right thing? Or does Grace's opinion get the better of her? All Kay knows is that she has to keep smiling through and hope for the best..
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous

Posted March 23, 2011

No text was provided for this review.

If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble