By Colorado Kids Advisory Board member Mindy Gidan

Title: Just Ask Iris
Author: Lucy Frank
Illustrator: none
Publisher: Simon & Schuster's Children's Publishing
Number of pages: 224

 

Girls! This is a book you won't have to worry about your brother taking. This book is about a Spanish girl and how she spent her summer; her name is Iris. Iris is going through puberty. Iris decides to use her remaining 4 weeks before school helping people; Iris is doing this to earn money to make a purchase that is very important to her. Iris has to deal with problems that all girls in her age group go through. There are many problems in the apartment building Iris and her family live in, and nobody will fix any of the problems until other tenants stop violating the laws. The book is about how Iris decides to deal with these problems.

Over all I thought the book was very interesting and flowed smoothly. Although there was some bad language and a few Spanish passages in it, it was one of the best books I've ever read. Considering the bad language I would recommend this for girls 10-15 years of age. I don't think the book would be enjoyed by girls over the age of 15. In conclusion, I think Just Ask Iris is a great book. (November, 2001)