Reviews

Quinny & Hopper by Adriana Brad Schanen

the_enobee's review

3.0

This was a quick and enjoyable read that focuses on the importance of friendship and loyalty to friends. Quinny and Hopper touches on myriad subjects, including sibling relationships, being the new kid, socialization in school, introverts, extroverts, and how hard it can be to just be yourself. Highly recommended to read with an elementary aged-child (especially a third grader since Quinny and Hopper are entering third grade) as this will lead to a lot of important conversations and get kids to open up about their own experiences and thoughts. Good stuff. Oh, and last but not least, the illustrations are excellent and capture the essence of the characters.

pacifickle's review

4.0

Love the truly different alternating voices of our titular characters, and I'm pretty sure Quinny's interior monologue is exactly like mine. The illustrations are great, too. I love this book more than a backpack that's orange with green dots, or one that's green with orange dots.

yapha's review

3.0

Quinny just moved to a small town and misses her friends and the hustle and bustle of New York City. She is excited to meet Hopper, who lives next door. Hopper feels that he is the opposite of Quinny, and doesn't understand why she would want to be friends with him. He thinks Quinny is fun, happy, and exciting, and that he is none of those things. When his two older brothers (who tease him mercilessly) go away to soccer camp, Hopper finally has a chance to come into his own. It seems as though Quinny and Hopper will be good friends after all, until the looming specter of school starting throws a damper on things. Told in alternating chapters from Quinny and Hopper, this book looks at the slow growth of friendship and how there are two sides to every story. Recommended for grades 2-4.

darthchrista's review

4.0

Great message in this book about being who you are.

keketx's review

5.0

My daughter and I read this together. A fun book.

misha7094's review against another edition

4.0

This is written from an elementary school teacher/librarian perspective: This is a very cute book. The chapters alternate Quinny and Hopper as narrators with a very good flow and transition between each. Quinny reminds me of Pennypacker's Clementine in several ways but Quinny's character is portrayed more developmentally accurate for her given age than Clementine's character, something that always bugged me about the latter. This book would be a good read-aloud for 1st-3rd grades as a tool for discussing types of bullying, recognizing bullying and dealing with bullying. Other topics are friendship, sibling relationships, moving / new students, and in writing: developing voice. Two aspects that didn't sit well with me are Hopper's mom's apparent obliviousness to how Hopper's brothers practically terrorize him, and then the little surprise at the end. That surprise seems unrealistic due to the given time frame and it's unnecessary. Save for those two items, I'd have given the book 5 stars. I love Quinny and Hopper and would gladly purchase more books for my school library were they to be published.

elephant's review

5.0

Great for children in first through 4th grades, this is the story of 8 year old Quinny, who has moved from New York City to a small town. She misses all of her friends from New York, but soon makes friends with her next door neighbor, an 8 year old boy named Hopper who is much quieter than she is. They spend the summer trying to catch a chicken named Freya who had belonged to the former owner of Quinny's house. The book is silly and reminds me a bit of the Junie B. Jones and Ramona series. Touching on friendship, bullying and kindness, this book is sure to be enjoyed by elementary aged children.

cillabrarian's review

4.0

This is a very, very, extra-very sweet story!! Quinny moves to a quiet town from NYC and befriends her new next door neighbor Hopper. They spend the last few weeks of summer together. The book alternates between his and her point of view, and deals with issues readers can relate to like feeling left out, teasing, bullying, and being nervous on the first day of school. Above all, it's a story of friendship and it kept me smiling the whole time.

darthchrista's review against another edition

4.0

Great message in this book about being who you are.

jayce's review against another edition

5.0

Such a fun, sweet book. Everyone knows the feeling of being left out, of having a misunderstanding with a friend. Everyone knows what it feels like to have a true friend who sticks with you through it all and gives us the strength to be ourselves.

This book is broken into alternating points of view, Quinny’s and Hopper’s. Quinny’s chapters remind me strongly of Junie B. Jones. Hopper is much quieter and thoughtful.

Genre: Realistic
AR level: 4.0
Grade appropriate: 2nd and up

RATING BREAKDOWN:
Overall: 5/5-- Precious!

Creativity: 5/5

Characters: 5/5-- Quinny and Hopper are every man. Everyone’s got a little Quinny and a little Hopper in them and everyone has felt the way they feel in this book!

Engrossing: 5/5-- a quick fun read.

Writing: 5/5

Appeal to kids: 5/5-- Fans of Junie B. who are outgrowing her books will love Quinny & Hopper.

Appropriate length to tell the story: 5/5

CONTENT:
Language: none

Sexuality: none

Violence: none-- Quinny IS a green belt in tae kwon doe… And she might have to fend off mean girls who are trying to get her to kiss a boy at recess.

Drugs/Alcohol: none