  | Mister Orange Author: Matti, Truus | |
| Price: $22.36 | ||
Summary:
A 1940s New York City boy talks with Piet Mondrian, whom he knows only as Mr. Orange, about the war, the future, creativity, and color.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: MG Reading Level: 4.60 Points: 5.0 Quiz: 165597 |
Common Core Standards
Grade 4 → Reading → RL Literature → 4.RL Key Ideas & Details
Grade 4 → Reading → RL Literature → 4.RL Range of Reading & Level of Text Complexity
Grade 4 → Reading → RL Literature → 4.RL Craft & Structure
Grade 4 → Reading → RL Literature → 4.RL Integration & Knowledge of Ideas
Grade 4 → Reading → RL Literature → Texts Illustrating the Complexity, Quality, & Rang
Grade 5 → Reading → RL Literature → Texts Illustrating the Complexity, Quality, & Rang
Grade 5 → Reading → RL Literature → 5.RL Key Ideas & Details
Grade 5 → Reading → RL Literature → 5.RL Craft & Structure
Grade 6 → Reading → RL Literature → 6.RL Key Ideas & Details
Grade 6 → Reading → RL Literature → 6.RL Craft & Structure
Grade 6 → Reading → RL Literature → 6.RL Range of Reading & Level of Text Complexity
Grade 7 → Reading → RL Literature → 7.RL Key Ideas & Details
Grade 7 → Reading → RL Literature → 7.RL Craft & Structure
Grade 7 → Reading → RL Literature → 7.RL Integration of Knowledge & Ideas
Grade 6 → Reading → RL Literature → 6.RL Integration of Knowledge & Ideas
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (12/01/12)
School Library Journal (01/01/13)
Booklist (+) (01/01/13)
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (05/13)
The Hornbook (00/03/13)
Full Text Reviews:
School Library Journal - 01/01/2013 Gr 6–10—Linus Muller not only inherits his brother's shoes when Albie goes off to fight the Nazis, but he also inherits his job as a delivery boy in the family produce business. The new responsibilities to live up to his father's expectations for customer service and punctual deliveries using a home-built fruit cart in their 1943 New York City neighborhood weigh heavily on him. An eccentric customer with a funny-sounding name suggests Linus calls him Mister Orange, and Linus looks forward to the deliveries and seeing the man's modern-art creations. The bold use of primary colors against a bright white background is an eye-pleasing curiosity he is certain his parents would deem frivolous. At home, he eases worries about Albie and the war by becoming the custodian of Albie's cartoon sketchbooks, and he begins to hold imaginary conversations with one character, Mr. Superspeed, who has promised with all his superhero powers to keep Albie safe. When Mr. Superspeed fails in his duties and Albie gets sick overseas, Mister Orange commiserates with Linus. This is Linus's coming-of-age story for the most part, but it also brings to light the life of Dutch painter Piet Mondrian (1872–1944), who evolved the Neo-Plasticism style and was working on a painting known as Victory Boogie-Woogie during Linus's visits. An afterword offers factual information about the artist. The story is enough of an interest catcher for readers to explore further.—Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY - Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
Booklist - 01/01/2013 *Starred Review* When his oldest brother, Albie, joins the army in 1943, Linus takes over neighborhood deliveries for his parents’ New York City grocery store. Soon he befriends an unusual new customer, an artist who always orders a crate of oranges. Unable to catch his name, Linus calls him Mr. Orange. Daily life goes on, with occasional letters from Albie in training camp and, later, in France. While Linus initially sees only the glory of war, his attitude shifts as he gradually comes to understand it more fully. Meanwhile, Mr. Orange, a character based on the painter Mondrian, shares his love of order, color, music, and dance with his young friend. Several appended pages supply information on the artist, his work, and his years in New York. Children’s novels translated from other languages are rare in the U.S., but even more uncommon are those with an American setting. A Dutch writer whose Departure Time (2010) was a Batchelder Honor Book, Matti offers a compact middle-grade novel that is involving and informative. Written with clarity and simplicity, this accessible book features deftly drawn characters and a nuanced view of family life on the American home front, as well as insights into Mondrian’s personality and paintings. An original. - Copyright 2013 Booklist.
Bulletin for the Center... - 05/01/2013 This Dutch import is set in New York City in 1943, where a young boy named Linus finds his life changing when his older brother, Albie, goes to war. In their family, responsibilities move up the line while shoes and clothes move down, so Linus goes from babysitting the little ones to taking over his other brother Simon’s shoes and delivery route for the family grocery store. Simon is sullen and grumpy, however, so Albie skips a brother and entrusts his comic-book collection and his sketchbook for Linus to look after while he’s gone. Linus finds a superhero that Albie has created and begins an ongoing conversation with the character as his anxieties grow about the war. He also meets an eccentric artist who orders oranges by the crate and shares his vision of the future with Linus when he delivers them. This gently paced coming-of-age story effectively captures the period details of Linus’ neighborhood during the war, especially the strong pull of a close, hard-working family and the fear they share for Albie’s safety mingled with pride over his service. Linus’ artist friend, who turns out to be Piet Mondrian, rounds out the emotional landscape with his unbridled optimism about a glorious future after the war, a future of light and color and progress that he knows he will never see, but that he hopes his work will help bring about. His talks with Linus elicit the pull of hope that Linus needs to help him sort through his feelings about the war and growing up; both the vagueness and the tenor of his emotions are spot on for Linus’s age and situation. While this isn’t action-packed, it will appeal to artistic, imaginative souls who nurture their own superhero fantasies and believe in the power of art to see them through uncertain times. Each section opens with a loose-limbed monochromatic charcoal and watercolor illustration; end matter includes more information about Mondrian and a bibliography of Mondrian-related resources. KC - Copyright 2013 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.
