Saturdays with Hitchcock

July 31, 2017
Twelve-year-old Maisie loves seeing old movies at the local theater with her best friend Cy, and she worships her Uncle Walt, who is in Hollywood trying to make it as an actor. When Walt injures himself on set and comes to stay with Maisie’s family, she’s overjoyed to have him visit. Less excited is Maisie’s mother, who feels that Walt has abandoned his family responsibilities, especially after Maisie’s grandmother starts displaying signs of memory loss. Worried about her grandmother, Maisie is also grappling with the fact that Gary, a classmate with a crush on her, has started horning in on her time with Cy. When Cy reveals that he “like likes” Gary, Maisie tries to figure out how it will affect their relationship and her own changing feelings for Gary. Wittlinger (Local Girl Swept Away) packs this sensitive coming-of-age story with movie references and trivia, but even readers less cinema obsessed than Maisie will sympathize with her conflicting desires to grow up and stay young forever. Her loyalty to Cy is especially moving, as is Wittlinger’s portrait of dementia’s impact. Ages 10–up. Agent: Ginger Knowlton, Curtis Brown.

August 15, 2017
A preteen deals with numerous changes in Wittlinger's sleepy middle-grade novel. Twelve-year-old Maisie loves classic Hollywood cinema with a passion. The only other people who love movies as much as she does are her best friend and neighbor, Cyrus, her actor uncle, Walt, and elderly Mr. Schmitz, the crotchety owner of the local movie theater. When Uncle Walt injures himself on set and moves in with Maisie's family for the duration of his recovery, tensions at home run high. But that's not all. Her grandmother is becoming dangerously forgetful while simultaneously rekindling an old romance with Mr. Schmitz. Her mother is laid off, and money becomes tight for their white, lower-middle-class family. Her friendship with Cyrus grows confusing as their classmate Gary worms his way into their circle. It seems closeted Cyrus has a crush on Gary, while Gary has a crush on Maisie, and Maisie isn't sure she's ready for any of them to be having crushes at all. Wittlinger's narrative feels painfully out of touch: these kids have landline phone conversations; Maisie's film references are overwhelmingly white. A handful of contemporary references (Inside Out, Kate McKinnon, among others) feel forced and land the book somewhere between the intentional nostalgia of The Penderwicks and a real embrace of present-day preteendom, never fully settling on a rhythm that feels right. Maisie's small Illinois town is a largely white one. A bland jumble. (Fiction. 8-12)

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September 15, 2017
Grades 5-7 Maisie, 12, is in the midst of several quandaries. She and her best friend, Cy, have become a trio, and Maisie is afraid that new addition Gary Hackett likes her. Then it becomes clear that Cy likes Gary. Menage a trouble! In addition, Maisie's actor uncle has moved back to their small house to recover from an accident, her grandmother is showing signs of dementia, and her mother loses her job. Tensions boil, but Maisie finds relief at the old movie theater in town, where she and Cy are regulars. The theater is owned by grumpy Mr. Schmitz, who has had his own decades-long crushon Maisie's grandmother. If this sounds like a full plate, it is, but each morsel is quite tasty, and veteran writer Wittlinger balances plots with aplomb. Some scenarios are more rosy than realistic, as in the cases of Cy's coming out to an unruffled Gary. Yet it is the novel's hopeful aspects that make this such an enjoyable read. Happily, all the (many) movies referenced throughout are listed at the book's conclusion.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2018
Twelve-year-old film buff Maisie's weekly movie routine is disrupted by a love triangle she's not ready for. Meanwhile, several changes within her family fuel conflicts. Distinctive characterization is a significant strength here, and Maisie's response to her friend Cyrus's coming-out is all her own. A late-in-life romance for Grandma lightens the family story line, but this honest novel should give tweens plenty to think about.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2017
Twelve-year-old film buff Maisie's weekly routine of seeing movies with her friend Cyrus is disrupted when Gary joins in. Maisie may not feel ready for dating or anything like it, but Gary has an evident crush on her, Cyrus has a secret crush on Gary, and suddenly everything's complicated. Meanwhile, her grandmother is showing signs of dementia, and her sympathetic but flighty uncle is staying with the family while he recovers from an injury--all of which fuels conflicts about family duty. Distinctive characterization is a significant strength here, and Maisie's response to Cyrus's coming-out is all her own--she's upset at first not for conventional reasons but because of her fear of change and maybe, just maybe, because of her own feelings for Gary. A late-in-life romance for Grandma makes the family story line lighter than it otherwise might be, but the novel acknowledges that, like the many films it references, its story ends at a good stopping point, which doesn't mean everything's perfect. Tweens who are wondering what their family relationships, and their romantic relationships, will look like as they grow up should find plenty to think about in this honest novel. shoshana flax

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)