Module 4: Junonia

Module 4: Junonia

Book Summary:

Alice Rice leaves her home in snowy Wisconsin and visits the Florida seashore every year on a weekly vacation that always falls around her birthday. As an avid shell collector, she looks forward to beachcombing and looks forward to the day when she finds her very own Junonia shell. Alice is certain that this year will be the most perfect and most lucky because she is turning ten years old. However upon arrival at the seashore, all her plans seem ruined. The usual children have not come, her favorite neighbor is snowed in and can't make it, and her usually doting aunt brings her new boyfriend and his bratty six year old daughter. Her parents still try to make the vacation special for her, but Alice is beginning to mature and learns a lot about the ways of the world in this one week. As Alice copes with the changes in her vacation plans, she learns a lot about growing up and that ten years old may be an even bigger milestone that she had ever believed.

APA Reference of Book:

Henkes, K. (2011). Junonia. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.

Impressions:

This novel focused on the subjects of maturity and growing up. Alice believes that turning ten years old is a big deal because of the significance of it, double digits. However as the story unfolds, Alice sees her maturity and how she has grown up in comparison to Mallory, the whiny six year old who intrudes on Alice's vacation. Despite the hurt feelings and anger Alice harbors toward Mallory for most of the book, at the end, it is with understanding that Alice views Mallory's family situation. Alice willingly sends part of her birthday gift to the younger girl to comfort her, something she almost certainly wouldn't have done earlier in the novel.

Another interesting part of the novel is Alice's interest in shells. She dreams of the day she will find her very own Junonia shell. She has found hundreds of other shells and now has a keen eye, only selecting the best materials to take home. She has seen Junonia shells at the store but she wants to find her very own. Near the end, she believes she has found one but it turns out that it was planted by a neighbor who had hurt Alice's feelings. However, he couldn't deal with the guilt of knowing it was not truly her find and confesses that to her. Alice's understanding of the situation is not that of a child, it is that of an adolescent. She doesn't throw a tantrum or get angry; she goes quietly into her room and puzzles out the issue in her head. This example is just one of many showing Alice's growth over the course of the novel.

Professional Review:

Every February, Alice and her family leave their wintry Wisconsin home for the

sunny shores of Florida on a week-long vacation that usually falls right around Alice’s

birthday. This year is going to be extra special as Alice turns ten, and she’s looking

forward to celebrating with her fellow snowbird neighbors, whom she considers to

be her extended family. From the minute she arrives, however, things are different:

Mr. and Mrs. Wishmeier’s grandchildren won’t be visiting due to school, another

friend is snowed in back in New York, and Aunt Kate—Alice’s favorite relative—is

bringing her boyfriend and his spoiled six-year-old daughter, Mallory. Perfectly

capturing a girl on the verge of adolescence, Henkes offers up a quiet and, at times,

almost mournful tale about the loss of simple childhood magic and the inevitable

arrival of adulthood. Well loved and sheltered, Alice is just beginning to peek out

at a world beyond her parents’ arms, and what she finds is both exhilarating and

unnerving. The independence, for example, to search the beach for shells by herself

is wonderful, but the specter of loneliness and abandonment, as represented by

Mallory and her wayward mother, weighs heavily upon a thoughtful Alice. The

story ends on a hopeful note as Alice steps into her role as the older, wiser child

through her friendship with Mallory, but an underlying thread of grief, simple and

unaffected, remains palpable even at the conclusion. Readers who find themselves

reluctant to leave behind the comforts of familiarity, even as they yearn for freedom

and excitement, will readily relate to Alice’s dilemma. Black-and-white line drawings

gently textured with hatching open each chapter. KQG

Quealy-Gainer, K. (2011). [Review of the book Junonia, by K. Henkes]. Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, 64(10), 472. Retrieved from: http://bccb.lis.illinois.edu/

Library Uses:

Make the book part of a suggested reading list for children transitioning to adolescence.

Showcase the book along with a shell collection as part of a display about collecting/collections.