The Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt (Charlotte Zolotow Books (Paperback))

Minna Pratt lives in a very interesting world, where each day she lives it to the fullest. She is an improving cello player who has lessons every day and should be practicing every day - though she doesn't. She is in search of her vibrato, as she prays to God and Mozart and anyone else she thinks who might be able to help her get it. The book is filled with interesting characters, like her brother McGrew who has a very entertaining personality, and then there's Lucas, the handsome boy who seems her age, joining their lessons to practice his viola. Lucas and Minna soon become goods friends that looks to develop into something else, while a competition is coming up in which they will be performing with their other classmates in a quartet to prove their abilities, as well as $100 cash prize for each of them. Minna grows more nervous as the book progresses, over her feelings for Lucas, how everyone else views her, the upcoming competition, and whether she will ever find her vibrato.Patricia Maclachlan has created a lasting book with a full host of complex, believable characters, written in an almost stream of consciousness style - akin to Virginia Woolf's The Waves--where there is not a firm beginning, middle, and end, but a series of flitterings in and out of the mind of Minna Pratt on what she is thinking, how she is feeling, and whatever else is going on. The Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt is a very different children's book that all should read for its uniqueness.Originally written on March 3rd 2010 ©Alex C. Telander.For over 500 book reviews and exclusive author interviews, go to [...].

With writing like "They would make wise and witty conversation in complete sentences with big words, adverbial phrases, and commas. Maybe even semicolons. Not conversations like her parents had at dinner, full of dashes and hyphens," Patrician MacLachlan hooked me right in.My nine-year-old daughter read it first. She loved it. I was next. I couldn't help but drag it around and read little parts to my seven-year-old daughter and my twelve-year-old son.Even my son laughed out loud when Minna remembers catching her parents kissing under a tree in the yard.Minna is a highly relatable adolescent who begins to leave her self-centered focus and notice the world and people around her as indivuals. As she does this, she natually comes to know herself better as well.This book is a MUST OWN in every home library!

We are 4th graders from Otterbein Elementry. We think that the beginning of the story was very confusing.It didn't have enough details. The middle started to explain more about whats going on with more details. The ending was more enthusiastic then most books. The begining and middle got 2 stars and just the ending got 2 stars. This book is highly recomended to any type of musician. This book is also recomended to someone who likes romance, frogs, and experiments. It can be a little confusing to people who don't understand music.Again we give this book 4 stars.

I bought this book highly recommended for my grandchildren as good readers needing something besides Captain Underpants and that ilk. Yes, better than CU but not very good nevertheless. Characters are unnecessarily eccentric or weirdly precocious and don't do much. And how could Lucas carry a frog around all day in his pocket without killing it? Probably OK for boy-crazy young girls, but boys should have more adventure in their reading.

Patricia MacLachlan has such a wonderous way of writing and an economy with words. Despite the fact that I am not "musical" in any way I could understand and learn quite a bit about the world of concerts and stringed instruments. The author's flowing style of writing made it easier to synthesize. The characters are great. You can feel that teenage angst all over again, however painful it may be! I wanted to read this whole story. As a fifth grade teacher, we read a portion of this tale in the Scholastic series. The students really seem to respond to Minna's troubles, so it inspired me to go out and purchase the book to read the entire story. I could not put the book down once I sat down to read the whole story! It is a most enjoyable book for students of pre-teen age to read and relate to! As an adult, I enjoyed it as well.

I think this book was good because I could understand the text and it was something that I could definitly relate to. I cannot say that it was my favorite book, but after the first 40 pages it definitly begins to have a plot-line. Though I do not think I would be able to read it again, it was fine the first few times. Her friends and her family are funny to hear about and Lucas seems like a great friend. Minna finds out things about herself that she did not know she had.

This book was a definite departure from the wonderful writing of MacLachlan. Don't get me wrong; this book is filled with wonderful flowing language. It's true literature amung the twaddle that fills most bookshelves. It definitely isn't dumbed down, and it's engaging and witty.Unfortunately, it's also full of a worldview I hadn't noticed in her other books. Reincarnation ("if you died, what would you want to come back as?"), lack of absolute truth (fiction is a different kind of truth), and other ideas I'd rather not expose such young children to abound in this book. It also has an eleven year old child deciding that she's "in love," without any direction given by her parents.This is good book to read with your child, so you can discuss the ideas within and allow the child to decide what to believe.I gave it three stars because of the exceptional writing, but I can't bring myself to give all five because of the strong humanistic worldview.