Imagine having your family full of chaos and your mom repeating "Aye yie yie! My life is slave and errand girl!", although it would be hilarious it would also be totally stressing. Overall I have fell in love with this book from the heart to heart conversations to the hilarious comments.In the story Leo a.k.a Sardine/Fog boy is in a play called "Rumpopo's Porch" and during the time of his rehearsals Leo tries to learn about his father how he was when HE was young, but then Leo learns that there is a mystery Aunt Rosaria and he tries to discover who she is and what happened to her. Later wait till you see what happens at the final play... This story took place at Leo's school and mainly at his home, moreover the conflict in this story is person vs self because in the book like I said Leo tries to find his inner child of his dad and is struggling to rehearse for his play at the same time. Leo is a very curious boy, kind hearted, and very independent from the way I see it and his friend Ruby (<3) is a creative yet outgoing. Now onto his family: Leo's dad is the opposite of outgoing and although he is very happy on the inside he does not like to show it, but the Pietro and Conntento (siblings/kids) seem very rude at times towards Leo because they always call him Sardine or Fog boy which is very mean. Nunzio on the other hand (youngest sibling) is so cute and talented especially because he loves to sing and has a lisp. Last but not least is Leo's mother, she seems to be the kind of person that is always stressed and never gets a break.The point of view in this particular story is 3rd person and in my opinion I disagreed with the fact that the author said Leo too much while writing the book. My favorite part of the story was when Leo's dad finally gave him the tap shoes and pocketbook "Autobiography, Age of Thirteen", also I was moved by the part when Ruby told about how her brother Johnny died and then Leo seeing the picture of them on the armwour in the hallway. I noticed how the author had put really short chapters showing how many topics there were in the book. I can connect to this story because I understand how Leo feels especially with the crowded family thing. Even though I don't have as much people, it still seems like I'm invisible but like they say in the story at least I take advantage of it. I can also compare this book to Mockingbird because they both have a heart to heart feel and is humorous at the same time. Another relation of this story to my life is when I once tried to figure out if my dad was always sometimes depressed and how happy he was when he was a child.In conclusion I really love this book and personally is a story I can make a lot of life connections to. There are dislikes and there are likes for example the many chapters are not that necessary but the emotional detail is great enough to say "awwwwww" every time you read it. I would rate this book a 10 out of 10 because honestly I was not able to put it down and because it has amazing reading qualities. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good laugh every now and then but yet has an emotional side. So readers please try this book out to get into the life of Leo a.k.a Sardine/Fog boy.
this is an easy read. very good. it has movie potential. i have always loved books with children as the main characters, and this one is really awesome. it was written well and the author separated his reality from his daydreams by another paragraph with a divider which is an image of a fish. it's so understandable and very young. i have to make this review short because the book is really okay. i did cry though haha. that part where Leo is already in his play. every member of his family was there and they were really proud of him. at first i thought something terrible would happen but yes, it turned out it was something good and happy.i also love stories about relationships with dads.. i dont know dude, but i really do. and this one was about that too. maybe that's why i cried towards the ending part.rated 4/5 because it was hannnnggginnnggg... huhui didn't find out what happened after Grandma Navy left a message on Rosaria's answering machine.i would love to find out though.. because i want a closure. i want a happy ending, but the story ended with a copy of Rumpopo's Porch play instead. in case readers would like to use the play for their own school plays. nice.
Sharon Creech has to be one of my all-time favorite authors. I have loved everything I've ever read that she wrote. This book was no exception. I've had it on my shelf to read forever...but I think I was put off by the cover. I mean, a FISH? I didn't want to read a book about fishing.Well, guess what? The fish on the cover is a sardine because Leo's large, loud, demanding Italian family calls him "Sardine" and "Fog Boy." Sardine because once "...when relatives were over, shouting and laughing and shaking their fists, Leo got squashed in a corner and cried, and when they asked him why he was crying, he said, 'I'm just a little sardine, squashed in a tin.' " The name stuck.I connected with this quick, easy read in so many ways. I, too, grew up in a large, noisy family where I sometimes felt lost in the thundering herd. I, too, used to hide away in secret places and rewrite my life in daydreams. I, too, sometimes felt invisible and over-run by my larger-than-life (to me!) siblings. I, too, used to listen to the grown-ups talk and come away with more questions than answers.This book is such a tender, coming of age story (I hesitate to use that hackneyed phrase)...but Leo DOES learn so much about his family and himself in this wonderful little gem of a book. There was a little ache behind my heart for Leo all the way through.I HIGHLY recommend it...along with anything else by Sharon Creech. Awwww...I better change my rating to five stars, because there's a good chance I WILL read it again...maybe to my students.
—Lolene
*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*All in all, this book was ok, but it didn't really get me interested. I thought I might read this book because in the summary, it explains that he was a big, unrealistic dreamer like me. So, I was expecting something about his dreams coming true. I'm not exactly disappointed though because it was still a good book. I suppose I just didn't enjoy it to its full extent because it was aimed towards younger kids at a lower reading level and was not made to have an intricate plot line which is what I typically look for in books. It was also a little annoying to have the narrator repeat the same things over and over again. However, I did enjoy the format of the book. I have always liked that about Sharon Creech's books. I suggest this to younger readers everywhere, but adults should stay away from this book.
—Allison
Any opportunity is yours, you just have to recognizes that. Leonardo (or Leo for short) is a daydreaming boy who's wish is to be noticed by the world he lives in. However, that won't come easy as, no matter how hard he tries, the only things he does that goes noticed is his mistakes. But how is he supposed to go from no one to big time superstar? Easy, the school play. But it's not as easy as one would thing, since Leo has to compete with an already made superstar for the lead role. So how is he supposed to make his father proud playing a small part? This book was pretty good. It definitely had it strengths, but it felt a little too... cliche. (view spoiler)[ I definitely could predict that something bad had happened to Rosalia. (hide spoiler)]
—Jessica Mcmahon
