Abstract
Reviewed by: The Top-Secret Diary of Celie Valentine: Friendship Over by Julie Sternberg Deborah Stevenson Sternberg, Julie The Top-Secret Diary of Celie Valentine: Friendship Over; illus. by Johanna Wright. Boyds Mills, 2014 [160 p] ISBN 978-1-59078-993-3 $15.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 2–4 For her tenth birthday, Celie receives from her loving father the gift of a punching bag (to take out her frustrations about her older sister, Jo) and a diary. Celie takes to the journal immediately, pouring out her grievances, pasting in assignments from her spy notebook, and sketching the events of her day. What’s she’s mostly concerned about, though, is her best friend Lulu’s sudden shunning, and the indications (gleaned largely from spying) that her beloved grandmother, living in the South, is starting to develop health problems. Sternberg (Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie, BCCB 3/11, etc.) is a natural at the popular diary-format genre, and she brings her impressive perceptivity and lively humor to a sparky new protagonist. Where Pickle Juice’s Eleanor was uncertain, Celie is indignant, constantly seeking information and leverage to heighten her authority and keep up with the adults and her sixth-grade sister (readers will sympathize with her complaint of “Everybody excluded me from everything! It wasn’t fair”). Her split from Lulu is one of those elementary-school rifts that seems inexplicable until closer examination reveals the cause, and while the girls’ move toward rapprochement involves some wishful maturation, it provides good relationship modeling. The scribbly artwork is nicely balanced between plausible and effective, and the layout—often bedecked with tape sporting Celie’s beloved narwhals—is invitingly browsable and undemanding. Sternberg fans will leap on this, but it’s also an excellent entry for readers who love peeking into fictional diaries and are looking for a spirited new elementary-schooler heroine. [End Page 231] Copyright © 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
