The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher (Family Fletcher #1)

by Dana Alison Levy (Author)

Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade
Series: Family Fletcher

The start of the school year is not going as the Fletcher brothers hoped. Each boy finds his plans for success veering off in unexpected and sometimes diastrous directions. And at home, their miserable new neighbor complains about everything. As the year continues, the boys learn the hard and often hilarious lesson that sometimes what you least expect is what you come to care about the most.


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Kirkus

Starred Review
Their banter is realistic, and the disorder of their everyday lives, convincing. The Fletcher family rules! 

Hornbook

Readers will want to be part of (or at least friends with) this delightful family.

School Library Journal

Starred Review

Gr 3-6- With four brothers, a dog, a cat, school projects, soccer matches, and a grumpy neighbor, the Fletchers are your typical American family...with two dads, and siblings who are adopted kids from various ethnic backgrounds. While 12-year-old Sam ponders whether trying out for the school play will interfere with his identity as a soccer player, 10-year-old Jax negotiates changing friendships and a veteran project that involves talking to the unfriendly Vietnam vet next door. Meanwhile, Eli, also age 10, finds that his new, academically oriented school isn't everything he expected it would be, and six-year-old Frog attempts to convince his family that his kindergarten best friend is not imaginary. Turtles and kittens are requested, camping trips are taken, and holiday celebrations (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Chanukah, and Christmas) involve minor kitchen fires, missing turkeys, and other mishaps. Through it all, Dad and Papa complain about the mischief as often as they join in themselves. Although the tone is never preachy, the brothers nevertheless learn over the course of the year that identities can expand, friendships can evolve, and making mistakes is okay. With its semi-episodic structure, laugh-out-loud humor, and mix of zaniness and love, Levy's debut offers something truly significant: a middle-grade family story featuring gay parents and interracial families that is never about either issue. Fans of Beverly Cleary's Quimbys, Judy Blume's Hatchers, and, more recently, Jeanne Birdsall's Penderwicks will fervently hope that more Fletcher misadventures are yet to come.

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes



Dana Alison Levy
Dana Alison Levy writes novels and nonfiction for kids and teenagers. Her books for elementary age readers, such as the Family Fletcher novels and It Wasn't Me, received accolades from the American Library Association, Bank Street College of Education, The New York Times, NPR, and others. Her books for teens include Above All Else, which was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and a Bank Street Best Book, and the nonfiction anthology Allies: Real Talk About Showing Up, Screwing Up, and Trying Again, which she co-edited with Shakirah Bourne. Dana loves visiting schools and libraries, talking books and writing with audiences from twenty to two thousand. She was last seen romping with her family in New England. If you want more information, or need to report her for excessive romping, go to www.danaalisonlevy.com.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780385376556
Lexile Measure
750
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Yearling Books
Publication date
July 14, 2015
Series
Family Fletcher
BISAC categories
JUV019000 - Juvenile Fiction | Humorous Stories
JUV035000 - Juvenile Fiction | School & Education
JUV039000 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | General
JUV013070 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Siblings
JUV013010 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Adoption
JUV013090 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Alternative Family
Library of Congress categories
-

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