Squashed |  | Author: Joan Bauer
Publisher: Speak
List Price: $7.99
Buy New: $1.19
as of 11/24/2009 20:51 CST details
You Save: $6.80 (85%)
New (32) Used (21) from $0.64
Seller: marialiceb
Rating:  33 reviews
Sales Rank: 271949
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Young Adult
Pages: 208
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.2 x 0.6
ISBN: 0142404268
EAN: 9780142404263
ASIN: 0142404268
Publication Date: June 2, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Features:
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
Have you ever played the "if only" game? Well, if only Ellie's potentially prize-winning pumpkin would gain 200 more pounds in time for the Rock River Pumpkin Weigh-In, and if only Ellie could lose 20 or so pounds herself, her life might be perfect. Well, at least it would be perfect enough to give her the courage to make friends with Wes--the cute new guy at school. She's well on her way to winning big on all counts when frost and pumpkin thieves begin to attack! The thing is, Ellie has the sass, humor, and smarts to be a winner--whether or not her pumpkin breaks the scales ... if only she would realize it. Smashing!
Product Description
While Ellie tries to get her potentially prize-winning pumpkin to put on two hundred more pounds, she struggles with her own weight, using her sense of humor to get through the struggles of life.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 33
 Wonderful October 28, 2007
Tragiclaura (Los Angeles, CA)
This is a unique and very entertaining book for juveniles--especially young girls would like this. I like this because it is a story about a farm girl in Iowa--something that young girls don't get exposed to very often these days, and it's so nice to have a young female heroine whose noble goal is to grow a giant pumpkin rather than some superficial nonsense. Funny and real.
 "Max"imum Fun October 8, 2007
S. Baxter
Joan Bauer, a Newberry Honor author for Hope Was Here, has another winner with Squashed. From the first sentence the reader is plunged into the tumultuous world of Ellie Morgan, and her giant pumpkin, Max. The fact that the giant pumpkin in her backyard takes up most of Ellie's time lends to the idea that she is not the average sixteen year old girl, but behind Max's 500 plus pound frame is a regular girl with all the challenges of high school. Ellie struggles with her weight, a father who doesn't support Max, and the death of her mother, not to mention Wes, the new kid at school who happens to love growing as much as Ellie.
Bauer's style allows for laughs, even when talking about serious issues, such as Ellie's most recent diet, which isn't going too well. Joan Bauer helps young adult readers to deal with their faults and through wisdom shared in Squashed, focus on the positives about themselves. Overall it's a very fun book, and one that I had trouble putting down. Squashed has 194 pages and is a relatively quick read, with a reading level of about twelve years old, though the interest level is higher, ranging from fourteen to all ages of adults.
Squashed August 12, 2007
A. Young (Midwest)
This is one of the funniest and one of the best written teen stories I've read in a long time! As a high school English teacher, I cannot wait to implement this story into my class this fall--right in time for our annual Fall Festival! How perfect!
Pumpkins and Life April 24, 2007
A. Luciano (Lowell, MA United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Ellie's whole life is pumpkin growing. On the small patch of land in the yard of her home where she lives with her widower father, Ellie tries to grow giants big enough to win the town's annual pumpkin growing contest. The fall festival is the biggest holiday of the year in town, and even though Ellie is still a teenager, she has been entering the adult growing division for years.
The problem is Cyril, a nasty and mean-spirited grower who also aims to grow the town's biggest pumpkin and has taken the fair's first-place title for many years. Ellie always seems to be second place to this despicable man, who enjoys rubbing his victories in her face. This year, though, Ellie is more determined than ever. She is confident that Max, the biggest pumpkin she's ever grown, will be a champion.
That is, she is confident until she sees Cyril's giant.
Ellie continues to nurture her pumpkin while trying to do well in school, convince her father that growing pumpkins is important, and attempting to gain the attention of the new boy at school, the president of his former school's agriculture club. It is a stressful life for Ellie, but will it all be worth it?
I liked how Ellie was able to relate everything going on in her life to growing. She used the analogy to explain everything to the reader, which showed just how important it was to her. The characters in this story were really good. I liked the way they interacted with each other and stood up for each other. I especially liked Richard and the way he supported Ellie.
However, Ellie took everything too seriously and overanalyzed everything. If she were a real person, I don't know if anyone would ever want to be around her. It also bothered me that Ellie was constantly obsessing over her weight and then overeating. Someone strong enough to do all of the work it took to grow those pumpkins should have been strong enough to go on a diet, if her weight was such an issue to her.
Abagayle's review February 2, 2007
I loved this book with all the excitement in it like when Ellie was catching those pumpkin thieves. There was also romance like when Wes (Ellie's crush) kissed her and she kissed him back. This book had many types of emotions throughout it.
One of my favorite parts of the book were when Ellie embarrassed Sharell in front of Wes. Another was when Richard (Ellie's cousin) brought over Spider. In my mind Spider reminded me of a street dog. It said that he had dirty ruffled fur and he had no teeth so he gummed everything. The last was when Max stole the first place ribbon away from Big Daddy and his grower Cyril Pool.
I would recommend this book to someone who likes books with action like when Ellie caught the pumpkin thieves, suspense like when Cyril's pumpkin is weighed, and some romance like when Wes kisses Ellie. This book had to be one of the best I ever read and I know it will be the same for you
Showing reviews 1-5 of 33
|
|
|
|
