I am a third grader and thought that the book was very good and funny. It is a Sunshine State Book in Florida and I took a Reading Counts test from it. It was hard to put the book down. I recommend this book to anyone that likes 'happy ending' books.

I'm glad I purchased this book. Jonah is an appealing character, someone you sympathize with and root for--his propensity to "make lemonade out of lemons" is refreshing. I wish more kids today would see the potential within themselves like Jonah did. The only thing I did not like about the book was the plot twist to the mother-boyfriend relationship at the end of the book--not very realistic, but then maybe there's too much realism in children's books these days. Otherwise, it's a wonderful book.

The book's title raised my expectations unjustly. I was expecting powerful essays like James Baldwin's "The Fire Nextt Time," but remained unfullfilled. Perhaps it a sad byproduct of progress that writers see it fit to deal with such enormous issues with very short accounts that go deeply into personal experince, but shamelessly gloss over the depth of enormous events. These are mentioning in grossly conventinal terms.

i received this book from a friend not expecting a whole lot from it. but to my amazement i found it refreshing. this is, imho, a collection of well written essays. it is, in some ways, an uncontrived look into the minds and personal thoughts of writers. through his 'dead cat, floating boy' essay, which i found to be the most entertaining, i was introduced to john barth (i am now reading 'the sot-weed factor'). the central theme being 'who are we and where are we going?', it is a collection of modern essays for modern times.

Before I read this book I read the two previous readers' reviews, which made me approach the book with great curiosity (and even a little ambivalence). Happily, I would like to report that I was delighted and surprised by these essays; they are written so well, so beautifully-- really a pleasure to read and to be intellectually provoked at the same time. I especially love how personal these essays are; it's not the usual didactic fretting about the postmodern technological age. Here, people write about how their lives truly are affected by the various kinds of "progress" (the word itself is contemplated wonderfully) in America today. An admirable book!

The author of the "Joshua Bates" line does not exhibit much ability to write above the third grade level herself. It is a horrible book to expose young readers to, both for a poor story line and for terrible grammatical errors in the text. It is best avoided and has been removed from our curriculums allowed reading list.

Both of my children gobbled up this delightful 1993 sequel to The Flunking of Joshua T. Bates in the second or third grade. There's great appeal in the realistic characters and dialogue. They fell in love with Joshua.

Joshua was entering the fifth grade. As the school year opened, however, the class (and school) bully, Tommy Wilhelm announced plans for a new "Nerds Out" club. Still sensitive to his failure to make fourth grade on time, Joshua at first refused to stand up to the gang.

That made things worse for him. They put the whole school on the defensive, but Joshua got the brunt of their nastiness--until, that is, they decided to pick on a new kid in the class who had no friends and liked Joshua. Worse, Joshua's mother told him to be nice to the new boy.

The N.O.s plotted and planned and pulled a very nasty prank, which worried the entire class, and all the teachers. It was up to Joshua to set things straight. And this he did, managing to put the class bully and his clique in their place. How, I can't say.

Parents, take note. This book is "just right" for kids moving on from early chapter readers. It's challenging but not too hard, and the charmer story line keeps them turning the pages. Alyssa A. Lappen

Another frustrated children's author must have written the last review, because this sequel to the sweet and hilarious The Flunking of Joshua T. Bates is every bit as wonderful as the first book. Susan Shreve is one of our best young adult writers.

The power of Plum and Jaggers is how long after reading it I was still thinking about the characters and their story. Sam, as the eldest of four who were orphaned when their parents were blown up on a train, has the burden of protecting his siblings - even when and where they didn't need protection. His resiliency has its price in that he is troubled, overbearing, yet incredibly strong.This is a story of family values with an edge. As in an earlier book, A Country of Strangers, Susan Shreve is able to constantly link comedy and tragedy in a subtle yet provocative manner. She goes deeply into the psychology of her characters with a light flair. A great "book club" book.

I first stumbled across this novel in a review section of one magazine or the other. The review intrigued me enough to buy the book, and I was far from disappointed! I couldn't put Plum & Jaggers down. The characters fascinated me--especially Sam, whose mind we truly see into. I was a little put off at first by the predictable unpredictability (meaning the orphaned children, the oldest one of whom takes obsessive control), but the author answered back with twists and turns; my favorite was Sam's realization of the trite explosion at the close of the troupe's television show. Overall, a great read that stuck in my mind.

This is one of the best books about family I've read in a long time. The McWilliams siblings are wonderfully compelling characters, especially Sam, the oldest. Believing after losing his parents that only he can protect the family and keep it together, he becomes a playwright, pushing his brother and sisters to perform black comedy sketches about a family whose parents never show up for dinner. But the pressure he puts on them -- and the pressure of celebrity, once they start to become famous -- causes rifts between them, and forces Sam to reassess his own concept of family.

Despite its humor, this is at heart a serious allegory about the latchkey children of absent boomer parents, and about the power of the imagination to allow us to reshape our world. The writing is subtle but fast-paced, and the ending is powerfully moving. A great and memorable book.

Susan Richards Shreve's The Visiting Physician is an interesting, entertaining read. Her descriptions of the small town and it's small minded inhabitants are spot on, if not stereotypical. What makes this book enjoyable are the details, the gaily colored Victorian houses lining Main St., the river and its surrounding landscape, snippets from her character's lives, both past and present. Still we want to know more. Too many unanswered questions make the actual story less than satisfying.

Why can't Helen Fielding, the "Visiting Physician" of the title, connect on more than a surface level with any of her lovers? Why did Sophie, the voluptuous town "vixen", leave Meridian without taking her daughter with her? What secrets drive Prudential, the health clinic "nurse" to be so prickly and harsh at times? What are the circumstances of sherriff David Jasperson's past that caused him to divorce, get custody of his son, change occupations and move back to his hometown?

For light reading on a summer day, The Visiting Physician is perfect. Just don't look for a neatly wrapped up ending. It seems there may be more to this story than even the author is telling us.

After reading her Daughters of the New World, I had to get my hands on another of her works. Like Daughters, this book has strong female characters, and deals with the ever-popular "mother-daughter" delimma of finding oneself. The storyline develops around missing children in a small town which this visiting Physician is drawn to. Unlike her earlier work in Daughters, the supporting characters are underdeveloped,but Ms. Shreve keeps your interest with her unique twist on the main character's connection with the town.

I have a grandson with ADD, so I'm pretty familiar with the subject. I thought susan shreve did an excellent job in portraying the nuances of the character in an ADD child.Most of the story was very authentic and honest, especially the poignant portrayal of the effects of "being different' and being labeled as such. The author's best scenes are the ones that take place inside the head of the protagonist. We really feel Ben's pain and isolation.
My big concern with the book is that the parents lie to the principal about Ben's taking ritalin. When the principal urges them to put him on it because of the difficulties he's having, the parents, who are intelligent educated people (the mother is a pharmacist) inform the principal that Ben is using the drug, while in fact, they won't allow him to take it.
I know Ritalin isn't for everyone, but why set an example of parents who tell their son to lie about taking the medication to a person of authority who seems to want to help him?
This aspect of an otherwise very good book make me uncomfortable. Therefore, I have concerns about recommending this book to others.