When the Phone Rang

by Harry Mazer

Book Overview

After hearing that his parents have been killed in a plane crash, Billy tries to keep his family together. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0590447734
• ISBN13: 9780590447737
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: Scholastic
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

A Sad Start but Happy Ending

The phone rang a calm afternoon in the house of Billy and changed his life forever. Billy was a teenager who live with his parents and a younger sister in a new city. One afternoon Billy and his sister Lori were cleaning the house because they were waiting for their parents who were on a business trip. Suddenly the phone rang and it was a woman who told Billy that his parents had suffered a airplane crash in the Caribbean and that their parents were dead. At first Billy thought that it was a joke and hung up the phone, but when the woman called again and said that same thing as the first time, Billy went into shock ands didn't say anything. Later they receive a phone call from their uncles and from his brother Kevin an older brother who was in the college in Boston studying to be a doctor. The next day his brother Kevin comes to visit them to be together, and a few days later their uncles and grandmother came too. After a few days the family members needed to go back to their homes, and they were going to take Billy and Lori with them. But Billy and Lori didn't want to go because they want to be in the house of their parents and for their older brother to stay with them. After hours of discussion, Kevin thought that it was the better that he stay with his younger siblings and not go back to Boston to finish his career, because they were suffering a lot. Kevin stayed with his brothers, he got a job and went to the college in teh city, while his siblings go to school. Billy in the afternoon tryed to fix a room that was in the top of his house, something that he was doing with his father. He needed to fix it becuase they need to rent the room. At this tiem the brother had some problems, like one wiht the car that was from their parents, Billy love this car because it was the familu car and it bring memories to him of when the whole family went out in it and they were happy. They had problems because Kevin sold the car, and Billy did't want to separate from the car. Also Lori, the younger sister, had problems because she had a friend who smoke and stole things from the stores she teached it to Lori. Lori say that she does this ceause she felt lonely and the her friend was the only one who loves her. At this momment Billy felt bad because he was suppsoed to be in charge of his younger sister. Billy wants to do what thier parents wil do if thery were i this situation, but he knew that he is never going to make Lori feel like her parents were there. Finally Lori went on vacation to visit her grandmother and stayed away from her friend. Kevin continuos workin gand going to college. Billy found a part time job in a arcade while he was on vacation. Billy also finished fixing the room and thy found someone who rent it. The three siblings continue their life missign thier parents. I recommend this book because it is very interesting. I personally learn a lot from it. I will recommend for everybody but especially teenagers because when they lose a family memb

A Pretty Good Book

I think that when the phone rang was a pretty good book. Personally I like the book because it had all the conflicts that brothers and sisters go through. I also like how they figured out there problems so I think that this book wasnt really a bad book at all. So I would recommend this book to some body who like changes that happen in real life and what and how the little girl who is twelve changes, her name is Lori.

So good you can't put it down!

The book When the Phone Rang was and is a really good book when I saw the cover it looked like it would be one of those murder mystery books and i like those.It is about two boys and a girl whose parents died in a plane. It is a really good book if you start reading it you can not put it down. I do not read alot of books but this book made me just want to read and read some more. My favorite character would have to be Billy the middle son he is the person who solves all the problems and he is the one who is telling the story . My favorite part of the book was when Lori the younger sister was walking on the edge of the roof.

It could happen to any of us................................

I sympathize with the previous reviewer... this is a difficult subject to read about, but also to write about. This is an extremely common fear for youths, Mom dying, Dad dying, what if (even worse) they both die! I found this story not predictable and very realistic. The conversations are quite natural and not artifically spiked with interesting tidbits that real life doesn't often have. Real life can be monotonous and petty, yes you still get hungry even if you have had a death(s) in the family. There is something reassuring and so normalizing about the icky relatives, the old pizza boxes, the arguments. There is no need to feel guilty that we are still alive, we continue to have good days and bad days, hopefully families pull together and make a new path from chaos.

An interesting book

The whole book is written from Billy's point of view.Billy has a friend called LJ who appears later. Billy is 16years old has a driving licence and a 12year old sister. In the beginning of the story the phone rang and a woman told them that their mother was dead they didn't want to belive it, but then they saw it in the news and had to. Then as it is obvious the relatives saw it, too and came to their house. (relatives=Aunt Joan, Uncle Paul and their Grandma).But they were lucky they had also a big brother who was in college. He came, too. The relatives wanted to seperate the family,but Billy and Lori didn't want to. So they had to do something and what they did is easy they told Kevin(=big brother)to stay and go to college there. The only problem was money but they solved it,too by finding Kevin a job. So Kevin had to go to college and to work.......(to be continiued)