Suite Scarlett

by Maureen Johnson

Overview

From top-selling author Maureen Johnson comes a fresh, funny novel about a girl, her hotel, and an unforgettable summer - now in paperback!Her new summer job comes with baggageScarlett Martin has grown up in a most unusual way. Her family owns the Hopewell, a small hotel in the heart of New York City, and Scarlett lives there with her four siblings - Spencer, Lola, and Marlene.When each of the Martins turns fifteen, they are expected to take over the care of a suite in the once elegant, now shabby Art Deco hotel. For Scarlett's fifteenth birthday, she gets both a room called the Empire Suite, and a permanent guest called Mrs. Amberson.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545232005
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	01/01/2010
Sold by:	Scholastic, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
Lexile:	690L (what's this?)
File size:	403 KB
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Maureen Johnson is the author of SUITE SCARLETT, SCARLETT FEVER, THE KEY TO THE GOLDEN FIREBIRD, 13 LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPES, THE BERMUDEZ TRIANGLE, DEVILISH, and GIRL AT SEA. She lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

Johnson (13 Little Blue Envelopes) packs her latest with all the elements of a winning novel-a dramatic setting, offbeat characters, witty dialogue-but she leaves out the tension. Scarlett's family operates and lives in a rundown art deco hotel in Manhattan. It is nearly empty when strange, rich Amy checks in for the summer. Claiming to want to write a book about her life, she hires an ambivalent Scarlett as her assistant. But Scarlett's job changes when Amy decides instead to sponsor a production of Hamlet in which Scarlett's brother is acting. Soon Scarlett is clearing a rehearsal space, kissing her brother's co-star-and even helping Amy pull off an elaborate revenge scheme on a actress she thinks once wronged her. Between the play, the revenge, Scarlett's romance, the hotel and family messiness (Scarlett's sister's cancer treatments have drained the family's finances), the book lacks focus. Readers will also find some scenes hard to believe, such as the final face-off between Amy and her foe in which all is neatly resolved. Ages 12-up. (May)

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Publishers Weekly

Gr 8 Up

The Martin clan is an unusually eccentric family, even by New York City standards. Scarlett's parents own and run the Hopewell, a small, rundown, historic hotel in the heart of the city in this novel by Maureen Johnson (Scholastic, pap. 2009). According to family "rules," upon turning 15, each sibling is given a hotel suite to care for, along with any guests booked into that particular room. By the luck of the draw, Scarlett's first "client" is Mrs. Amberson-a former actress and world traveler with a penchant for running other peoples' lives and an amazingly egocentric view of the universe. By the time the woman is finished with the Martins, every member of the family will have experienced a life changing and positive event. Jennie Stith's little girl voice seems a tad young for Scarlett, and her breathy delivery becomes wearing after a while. This, coupled with the book's implausible plot and minimally developed characters makes it a marginal purchase.-Cindy Lombardo, Cleveland Public Library, OH

School Library Journal

On her 15th birthday, Scarlett Martin receives the key to one of the shabby-but-elegant suites in her eccentric family's aging Manhattan hotel. This rite of passage carries the responsibility of taking care of both the room and guest who occupies it-a dubious honor already bestowed on her older sister Lola and on her brother Spencer, an aspiring actor. What initially seems like a symbolic gesture quickly becomes a full-time project when wealthy, flamboyant Mrs. Amberson moves into the hotel for the summer and firmly clamps Scarlett under her wing. Along the way, there is a show that must go on, the inevitable messy love interest for Scarlett and a younger sister who is a bratty, spoiled cancer survivor. There are a lot of pieces packed into Johnson's caper comedy, and at times the fantastical plot feels a bit unwieldy. However, the authentic charm of the characters and the endearing sweetness of their odd familial relationships do, finally, make this light read worthwhile. (Fiction. YA)

Kirkus Reviews