Flip-Flop Girl

by Katherine Paterson

Book Overview

Written by Newbery Medalist, National Book Award winner, and Laura Ingalls Wilder Award recipient, and author of Bridge to Terabithia.

Vinnie Matthews needs a real lifesaver--on that will bring her father back to life and let her family go home. Living with Grandma means having to be responsible for her little brother, Mason, who refuses to speak, and ignoring the kids who ask why he's so crazy. Then Vinnie meets Lupe, the mysterious...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140376798
• ISBN13: 9780140376791
• Release Date: February 1996
• Publisher: Puffin Books
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.2" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Flip Flop Girl great read!

The Flip Flop Girl is an excellent read. You are taken right into the life of Vinnie, a young girl who is facing a lot of tough challenges. The author makes this wonderful contemporary fiction book very realistic! The problems of death, moving and changing schools, little brothers and making new friends all plays an important role in making this book what it is. The setting is one that a young reader could very easily imagine and visualize. Paterson also does an excellent job of dealing with the feelings of loss and confusion that surround death in the eyes of a young child. I think every young reader shoud read this book. It has so many different aspects within, it's bound to touch the heart of every reader.

The Flip-Flop Girl

I really enjoyed the way that I was drawn into Vinnie's life in the story of the Flip- Flop Girl. Since the story was written in first person, it really helped me to understand how Vinnie was feeling about the obstacles she was facing in her life. I could feel her frustration as I turned the pages and all I wanted to do was give her a hug and tell her that she was important and that everything would be okay. It irritated me to think that the adults around her were ignoring her in a time when she needed them the most. I have never had to personally face moving away from home or losing a parent, but I could tell how painful it must be to go through these things after reading the way the author described them in this story. Losing her father was hard enough, but then her mother moved them to live in a new town and start a new life with their grandmother. I honestly do not understand how this poor girl dealt with these kinds of changes for as long as she did. I personally could not have held up the way she did. This book would be great to put into my own classroom. It isn't a "sugar coated" book and I like that about it. It shows students that things will not always be happy and cheery all of the time. It also shows them that kids their age do face obstacles and successfully overcome them. This book might also touch a child that has personally gone through a tough time in their own life experiences and they can relate to what Vinnie went through. This might help them to get through the issues in their life a little easier. Katherine Patterson did a great job once again! I loved Bridge to Terabithia and I loved Flip-Flop Girl. The way she brings your emotions into her stories really makes them more meaningful and they stay in that special place in your heart. She would have had my vote for another Newbery Medal winner with Flip-Flop Girl.

Review on "Flip Flop Girl"

Has life got you down? Annoying little brother? No friends? This is the book for you! See how Vinnie over comes every one of these problems and more!If you want to hear about all her adventures with thrills and spills, you need to read this book!

Flip-Flop Girl

This book should be required reading for every school administrator, teacher, and student teacher to help them better understand the behavior of children who have encountered the death of a parent. This book also reminds us that every student has potential. The author has blended suspense with sorrow.

I LOVE THIS BOOK!

THIS IS SUCH A GOOD BOOK! YOU FEEL BAD FOR VINNIE BECAUSE EVERYTHING'S WRONG FOR HER. i WAS SO GLAD WHEN SHE MET LUPE! I FELT SOOOOO BAD WHEN VINNIE FOUND OUT HER TEACHER WAS GETTING MARRIED! I WAS SO GLAD WHEN LUPE FOUND MASON AND MASON FINALLY SPOKE! THE WORDS THAT HE FIRST SAID MADE ME CRY! KATHERINE PATTERSON IS SUCH A GOOD WRITER! READ THIS BOOK!