This book is about eleven year old Bindi Winkler and how he deals with her parents divorce, and her mother starting a new restaurant called " The Dancing Pancakes", and moving across town. Throughout the story Bini grows into a more compassionate character and a more attentive listener and this can been witnessed by how she grows to befriend a Homeless Women see spots who lives in an alley and how she changes how she acts around her friends Sara and Albert. Despite being a spunky, sweet, and fun-loving young girl, she could care less what her friends are interested in or talking about when it has nothing to do with her. Especially now that all of these new changes and developments are happening in her life and becoming to overwhelming to handle on her own. At first, we as readers cannot tell that this is really hurting her relationships with her peers because we are reading from the perspective of Bindi and what she does not see we also may not pick up on. But as the story continues we get more and more glimpses into the nights of her friends and peers and we can start to catch those small moments or events where Albert's frowns more at her while she isn't listening to him talk about his favorite bugs or when Sara remembers to make Bindi a card when Bindi forgot make one for her.
Eventually, Albert brings Bindi down to Earth and explains to her that she needs to " just stop and listen", and afterwards we begin to see a change of heart in Bindi as she tries to make stronger and more meaningful efforts to understand her parents and her peers abit better. This can be seen when Bindi patiently waits for her mother to explain her feelings on the divorce without fighting with her or stating her own opinions, or when she tries to raise money for a small apartment for the Homeless Woman to stay so that she no longer has to be outside during the heavy rainstorms, or even in how she begins to listen to Albert and partake in his discussion's on his beloved bugs. Throughout this book Bindi grows a lot in such a short amount of time, and blossoms into a more compassionate young lady for the people around her that she loves, and learns that even though hardship, you can have to mindful of the people around you- because you can never be too sure of what they are going through behind closed door as well. ( )

Characters: Bindi, Meagan, Kyra, Albert, Mom, Dad, and Aunt Darnell

Setting: In the house, modern times.

Theme: Experiencing your parents getting a divorce can be difficult.

Genre: fiction, verse

Summary: This book tells the story about a girl who is experiencing her parents getting a divorce and has trouble accepting it. The story goes through many different characters who try to help her get over it but she still has difficulties accepting it. Some of the people who try to help her include, her aunt, teacher, and friends.

Audience: Middle school students experiencing their parents getting a divorce.

Curriculum ties: language, verse writing, and analysis.

Personal response: Personally, I have never experienced a divorce, but I have friends who have went through it.. What I find interesting is that they experienced similar ordeals that Bindi went through. Even though there were many people there for her to help her, she struggled with accepting the event. I don’t blame. Such a drastic change within a family can take a toll on anyone. Luckily in the end, she comes to terms with it and accepts things for what they are. IT is with the help around her that helps her get through what she experienced.
In terms of the writing style of this book, I found the writing to be very interesting and modern. It does a great job with heading each area that there is a change within the story. The story gives multiple experiences that Bindi went through to solve her problems. With the added pictures, it sets the tone of the text as a bit of a sketch of some sort. But overall, this book can help students cope with the difficulties with a divorce. With the interesting play with language, it sets a new way for kids to relate to subjects. ( )

More like 2 and a half stars. Okay, nothing special. ( )

I've read many books by Jerry Spinelli. This is the first book I've read by his wife. This was a wonderful book to read. Written in verse this is the story of Bindi and her family. When Bindi's mom opens "The Dancing Pancake" with her aunt, and moves them into an apartment above the restaurant, Bindi learns life lessons she might not have learned. She must learn to deal with her parent's separation. While learning how to deal with this and other changes, she learns that other people around her have problems too. This is a delightful book. I hope the author writes more for this age group. ( )