Hokey Pokey

This is a fantastical view of life as seen through children's eyes and a wonderful coming of age story about first love. Spinelli's use of language is so poetic and fun -it's not what you will typically find in young adult literature. This book kept not only my 7 and 10 year olds entralled but also kept the two 40 something parents enchanted page by page. Definately one of my favorite young adult novels to date.

This is a unique book where there is a land of children. There are no adults except the ice cream man. Hokey Pokey is a perfect place for children with activities for every age group. The story is told through Jack, a boy who wakes up one morning to find his bike missing. The day is different from all others because Jack begins to discover things his has never noticed. He also develops a relationship with his arch nemesis, a girl named Jubilee. The story basically takes place as Jack goes through this one long day. There are lots of surprises and twists in this story. Hokey Pokey is not my favorite Jerry Spinelli book, but this one has a uniqueness that makes you remember it long after you finish the story.

My 6th grade son chose this book for his summer reading. It took him a bit, about 25 pages to get into it, then enjoyed it.

Unfortunately, from the start I did not care for Mr. Spinelli's writing style but I had heard good reviews of the book so I plodded through the book. I had hoped that the writing would improve. I reached page 70 and discovered a passage that would've provided an ending. The book became predictable and it was . . . a rehashed version of Polar Express.

This was a great book I rated this 5 stares and wouldn't take it back any day. Every body should read this book because in the most exiting parts when you are tiered you keep saying one more page but you just can't stop reading it so I had to read it in 2 days and I'm only11 Years old!

I have loved so many of Jerry Spinelli's books through the years, but this one just fell short of his usual brilliance.

This book is awesome. It's now one of my ultimate favourites. I'll probably read this book a couple more times and anyone who likes a good fantasy type story should definitely read this book!

A wonderful book which may leave leave in circles in the starting, but will definately grow on you. The ending is somewhat predictable but nevertheless, the book is a great read for readers from the ages of 8-12. Overall, it is an imaginative and exciting book packed with mystery and humor and it is sure to leave you thinking about it for a long long time.

Teachers at my kids' school keep assigning Jerry Spinelli books (grade 4 to 8), along with other dystopian fiction. My children loathe them (I agree--Milkwood was another I and my kids disliked--good for kids to learn about the Holocaust, but this isn't the book I'd choose), so I'm mostly writing this review in response to all the reviews by teachers praising this book. My children are extraordinary readers, who can and do read everything and read it fast. We don't have a TV and they read many books a week. They can enjoy Don Quixote, Swiss Family Robinson, Treasure Island, and other old fiction. They like most things. The only book my daughter rated lower than this one was "???? was a picker", a book about nose picking. This is such a negative view of childhood and children. The characters are unpleasant, and their activities reflect more my childhood than that of my kids. Why can't teachers assign well-written books with engaging characters and a good plot? Kids don't need to read fiction with such a negative view of humanity, no matter how "intellectual" adults may find it. Books like this if anything encourage bullying as "natural". My rules for kids' fiction are that it should be interesting, the characters should display reasonably good manners and ethics (no bathroom humour), and the characters should show respect for humanity. Selflessness, heroism, and kindness are good qualities that I'd like my kids to emulate. I have a PhD in the humanities, but admittedly I moved out of a joint English major because I like to read books for fun and couldn't stand how depressing "the canon" got after the late 19th century. Great literature does NOT need to be non-linear and depressing (Chaucer, Shakespeare, Restoration Drama, Jane Austen aren't for the most part). Apologies for the rant. I never write amazon book reviews, but I have four kids and I'm just so tired of my kids being assigned such negative and unpleasant books. Spinelli books are not going to make them better human beings.