The United Tates of America

by Paula Danziger Narrated by Carmen Viviano Crafts

Overview

Skate Tate has a good life. She has close friends, a loving family, and her beloved Great Uncle Mort (GUM for short) who lives every day as if it were an adventure. Skate would like things to stay just the way they are. But life doesn't work that way. For one thing, Skate has to figure out the strange new world of Biddle Middle, where eighth graders rule the roost, old friendships start to change, and a lowly sixth-grader has to struggle to make a place for herself. But other, more painful changes, are also in store for the Tates, and the story of how this close knit family responds to sudden tragedy will move and delight listeners everywhere. Told with her trademark wit and wisdom, filled with big laughs and unexpected tears, Paula Danziger's newest novel is one of her finest achievements.

Editorial Reviews

bn.com

The Barnes & Noble Review
It's the first day of sixth grade at Biddle Middle, and Skate Tate is nervous. (No, her real name's not Skate! It's Sarah Kate, but she prefers her nickname.) New school, new teachers, lots more homework, and she has to ride the bus. And never mind that her cousin Susie has found a new friend, Kiki, who takes up all her time. Thankfully, though, Skate has some great people to give her advice, along with lots of her own creative talent to keep her busy. She convenes regular meetings of "The Happy Scrappys," a scrapbook club, with her friends Daisy and Liberty. She also tries out for the school newspaper's cartoonist job, and she winds up being co-cartoonist with Garth Garrison (if he talked more, she'd "probably be totally in like with him right now"). And, she artfully deflects groan-out-loud duck jokes from three boys named Huey, Duey, and Louie -- the Donald Duck Trio (DDT).

But one of Skate's favorite activities is spending time with GUM, her Great Uncle Mort, who travels all over the world learning about different cultures and bringing back plenty of cool presents. After the Tates get a shocking phone call one day about him, they find themselves packing their bags, hitting the road (in Vincent Van Go -- get it?) for Plymouth, Massachusetts, and learning some valuable life lessons along the way.

With sensitivity that's not too mushy and a gifted knack for puns, acclaimed author Paula Danziger delivers a lighthearted and thoughtful book about handling tough changes. Middle-grade readers will recognize Skate's fears, and the discovery of her inner strength will give them courage to find their own. But creative juices will really start flowing when they see those hilarious full-color photos of Skate's scrapbooks -- created by Danziger herself -- in the back of the book. Included are Skate's school photos from kindergarten through sixth grade, lots of photos of GUM, Funny Plymouth Sites, and even a Plymouth Rock & Roll game.

Watch out, America! A country full of United Tates–inspired scrapbookers is on the way! (Matt Warner)

Kirkus Reviews

Danziger (What a Trip, Amber Brown, 2001, etc.) breaks new ground with this amusing middle-school story illustrated in a novel way-with scrapbook art by the author done in the style of the sixth-grade narrator, Skate Tate. (Scrapbooking is the popular hobby of compiling photo albums and decorating the pages with stickers and special papers.) In diary-like fashion, Skate tells the story of her first stressful months at Biddle Middle School, when she must adjust to a long bus ride, a new building, different friends, and the sudden death of her adored globetrotting relative called GUM (the family nickname for Great-Uncle Mort). The first-person story is told in present tense, mainly in one-sentence paragraphs that approach stream-of-consciousness mode, supplemented with the addition of a few school assignments and scrapbook entries in different typefaces. Skate has lots of typical sixth-grade worries about her place at school and with her friend, but she has a solid, happy family life, and her wise great-uncle helps her with her self-confidence issues in some creative ways that support Skate's budding talent as an artist. A 32-page, full-color insert of sample scrapbook pages shows photographs of Skate and her family and friends (using friends of the author for the models), including several pages detailing a family trip to Plymouth, Massachusetts. Danziger creates a believable, humorous world for Skate and her family, and GUM is a character anyone would love to have as a relative. The author's scrapbook art may inspire readers to try crafting their own documentary pages. (Fiction. 9-11)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170086351
Publisher:	Full Cast Audio
Publication date:	01/01/2002
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	10 - 13 Years

Videos