Afternoon of the Elves

by Janet Taylor Lisle

Book Overview

Hillary doesn't believe all the mean things she hears about Sara-Kate. Sure, she wears weird clothes and she lives in a dumpy house, but if Sara-Kate's as bad as everyone says, how could she take such... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0590439448
• ISBN13: 9780590439442
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Scholastic
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.3" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 9 to 13 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 8

Customer Reviews

*Warning* this book is heavily baced in reality

A very emotional book. Not what id normally read i thought it would be like Arthur and the Minimoys when i bought it its a good book and has definitely opened up eyes to how others may see the world. its a short read and well worth your time.

An enchanting story filled with magic and exciment

This book was a wonderful story that had me dreaming about it every night. Nine year-old Hillery Loxanne is invited over her next-door neighbor's house to play. Sounds like an ordinary day, right? Well it's not so normal when you live next to the weirdest girl,or family in town.Sara-Kate Colonne is the eleven year-old who lives with her mom who is "always sick".A tiny, delicate village is found in Sara-Kate's junky over grown yard.Who could have made it? Sara-Kate believs it's elves.There's nothing special about her,but maybe the elves saw something that maybe Hillery could see to in Sara-Kate.This book will have you dreaming about enchanting and thrilling things that will have you fall in love with this book just as I have.

The best book ever!!

When I say this book I thought it would be a fantasy book but when i started reading it I found out it wasn't fantasy it was a story about the friendship of two girls, Sara-Kate and Hillary, Sara-Kate an unpopular girl who is afraid and Hillary who is more popular. they become friends because sara-Kate says she has Elves in her backyard and even though many rumours about Sara-Kate are going around and many people keep telling hillary to stop being her friend there friendship still sticks together!!This book is one of the best book i ever read and i reccomend it to everyone!!

I thought it was about elves at first....

I checked this book out because I am very much into kids' fantasy, and I wanted to read about elves. Unfortunately, I was wrong. FORTUNATELY, I found a wonderful book.This book is about Hillary, who is jolted from her comfortable, easy upper-class surroundings by the class oddity, a girl called Sara-Kate who says that there are elves living in her overgrown backyard. Even though her snobby parents are clearly uneasy with this new friendship, Hillary comes to see Sara-Kate--and soon discovers a sad, and all too realistic, secret that her friend has been keeping.This is not a fantasy book. Rather, it is the journey of two young girls, one who is secure, and one who is frightened and alone, but hides it under the guise of her own little world. It's a sad, sweet story, one that every kid should check out.

Enchanting, everything draws me in...

This book has many things that kids today have to go through. Hate, rejection, and friendship. I know many people out there can relate to these three feelings. Sara-Kate is underfed, nasty, and extremely 'unpopular.' Everybody tells nasty rumors about her, all rounding up to that she's no good. Nobody's ever been in her house, or seen her mother. The only thing Sara-Kate will say about her dad is, "He's on a Trip." But Sara-Kate's magical garden, soon draws Hillary, a well-liked 4th grader into the magic of the elves. The elves have their own little village, houses, a ferris wheel, and a pool. Whenever Hillary comes, no elves are seen. Everybody tells Hillary to stop going. She doesn't listen. Some unspeakable magic is pulling her back to that overgrown garden. But Hillary soon finds out that Sara-Kate needs help much more than magic.

A tragic judgment on our comfortable social assumptions

This is a difficult book to read and accept. It beautifully delivers a message that I think most readers will dodge, particularly young readers, but perhaps most well-trained adults as well. It points out that our society's politically correct response to some social situations may be morally completely wrong.Hillary is a happy kid from a good home, with plenty of happy friends. But she is fascinated by her next-door neighbor Sara-Kate in spite of her junk-filled yard, her ratty clothes, and her strange ways. Sara-Kate, you see, has elves in her back yard. And an inordinate amount of knowledge of the strong and independent ways of elves. Slowly, Sara-Kate's elvish charm draws Hillary closer, until finally Hillary enters into Sara-Kate's fantasy along with her. As this happens, Hillary also begins to absorb the ugly reality that the fantasy makes bearable: Sara-Kate's father has left, and sends odd bits of money sometimes. Sara-Kate's beloved mother is sick, mentally ill, and Sara-Kate cares for her like a child, hiding the reality from the world so that authorities won't take her mother away from her as before. There are two levels to the story. On the surface, there is the story of an odd, graceless outcast slowly charming another child away from her old friends with the intensity of her fantasies. Below, however, is the story of an abandoned child and mother, and more, the story of an unusually loyal, strong and resourceful child forced by her mother's mental illness to take on incredible responsibility.It is a terrible story. By that, I mean that it draws a picture of a horrible mental and physical ordeal. The beautiful fantasy that sustains this unusual kid has the power of its creator's determination. And the sadness of the story is offset by the amazing nobility and optimism of an unusual character.