Amber Brown Is Feeling Blue

August 30, 1999
Now in fourth grade, the unsinkable Amber Brown copes with the fallout from her parents' divorce in this characteristically energetic series installment. Ages 7-10.

November 1, 1998
Gr 2-4-Amber Brown has two problems. When a new girl named Kelly Green enters her class, the spirited fourth grader must accept that she is no longer the only student with a colorful name. Her second dilemma is much more serious: she has been invited to spend Thanksgiving with her mother and her mother's fiance in Washington state. Her father, however, is moving back to the U.S. after living abroad and would like her to spend the holiday with him in New York. Knowing that whatever she decides will hurt someone she loves, Amber struggles with her predicament and finally settles on a thoughtful solution. A likable nine year old with much common sense, she is willing to talk about her feelings openly and honestly and her first-person narration allows readers to be privy to these thoughts and emotions. Another winner in an appealing contemporary series.-Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI

December 1, 1998
Gr. 3^-5. Amber Brown is very happy that her dad is moving back from Paris, but it complicates her life. She doesn't know quite what to think of her mother's having and kissing a new boyfriend: she's not sure with whom she should spend Thanksgiving; and to top it off, a new girl in her classroom has a color name, Kelly Green, meaning Amber's name is no longer unique. This is Danziger's sixth book about Amber, but new readers can follow the funny, straight-shooting, first-person narration just fine. Children already familiar with the series know that though Amber's problems can be tricky and uncomfortable (as real-life problems often are), she can be counted on to sort things out in the end with resilience and basic good sense. ((Reviewed December 1, 1998))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1998, American Library Association.)