I love Karen Hesse's novels in verse, so I was surprised that I didn't enjoy this (though this is straight prose, not poetry). There were two separate stories going on in this book, which made it a little disjointed. Overall, I thought there was just too much going on. The main story is about a 14-year-old son of Russian-Jewish immigrants who invent the teddy bear (we're talking 1900ish Brooklyn here). The secondary plot line is a kind of ghost story about lost children living under a bridge. And there's lots of stuff thrown in about the opening of Coney Island.

We have all the standard stuff you would expect from turn-of-the-century Brooklyn: baseball, the grippe, poverty, immigrant issues, etc. It just never gelled for me. I never cared very much about the characters and I found what few plot turns there were to be melodramatic.

I might still recommend this to someone interested in the time period, but I was pretty disappointed. ( )

It's the summer of 1903 in Brooklyn and all fourteen-year-old Joseph Michtom wants is to experience the thrill, the grandeur, and the electricity of the new amusement park at Coney Island. But that doesn't seem likely. Ever since his parents Russian immigrants invented the stuffed Teddy Bear five months ago, Joseph's life has turned upside down. No longer do the Michtoms gather family and friends around the kitchen table to talk. No longer is Joseph at leisure to play stickball with the guys. Now, Joseph works. And complains. And falls in love. And argues with Mama and Papa. And falls out of love. And hopes. Joseph hopes he'll see Coney Island soon. He hopes that everything will turn right-side up again. He hopes his luck hasn't run out because you never know.

Through all the warmth, the sadness, the frustration, and the laughter of one big, colorful family, Newbery Medalist Karen Hesse builds a stunning story of the lucky, the unlucky, and those in between, and reminds us that our lives all our lives are fragile, precious, and connected.

Narrated by Fred Berman. A delightful story about the day-to-day life of a Jewish Russian immigrant family living in Brooklyn. Joseph, the older son, knows his family is extremely lucky to have succeeded in the teddy bear business but with so much work put into it, all he dreams of is taking a break and enjoying a day at Coney Island. Until then, the family experiences the ups and downs of life: sister Emily gets to establish a home lending library; the baby develops pneumonia; a matriarch aunt dies. Interludes between chapters describe a society of rejected and homeless kids living under the Brooklyn Bridge. Narrator Berman reads in a Jewish New York City accent that brings out the spirit of this historical novel. ( )

Strange story. The teddy bear angle makes it different. Good family feelings but then the children under the bridge... ( )