School Library Journal Starred Review

Gr 6-8--Jack, 13, keeps a diary of his family's year in Barbados, the next stop after Florida--chronicled in Heads or Tails (Farrar, 1994). These entries are his adventures, observations, sketches, and perceptions of this mid-1960s Caribbean environment where pubescence, family disputes, and a fire all combine for a compelling read. Each episode stands on its own, but taken together they create a tropical world that is at once different and universal. Gantos covers pretty much all the bases: death, love, disease, and cock-fighting. Readers may not always like his quasi-autobiographical characters, but they're not likely to forget them anytime soon. In particular, Jack's dad can be a hero when he saves a drowning couple, but more often he's a mean-spirited bully who won't tolerate failure in his son. There's an edge here noted by events as mild as chicken beheadings or as graphic as the discovery of the decomposing body of a missing kid. Throw in humiliation (his true love disdains his ``immaturity''), macabre hilarity (Jack's mom is convinced that her errant night shot has nailed a bystander), and surrealism (the drive-in movie screen catches fire while Paul Newman's Luke vandalizes parking meters), and you've got a rich paradise tempered by the wonderings of a confused adolescent.--John Sigwald, Unger Memorial Library, Plainview, TX

ALA Booklist

In this follow-up to Heads or Tails (1994), Jack finds plenty of new material for his journal when his family moves to the Caribbean. Populated with some eccentric island folk as well as the powerful personalities that make up Jack's family, the eight stories here convey with sharp humor Jack's uncomfortable yet exhilarating early adolescence. Jack's father creates much of the summer's difficulties, in one story, deciding that each family member must conquer a fear and in another, battling with Jack for masculine power. Laugh-out-loud moments punctuate the book, but serious thoughts also force their way in, as when Jack realizes that the money he is lending to his father's sleazy friend is sponsoring cruel cockfighting. Although the book ends on a somber note, readers will still anxiously await the next installment in Jack's life. (Reviewed December 1, 1995)

Horn Book

Jack's back, but now he and his family are living on the island of Barbados, facing new adventures every day. As in the first collection of stories by Jack, 'Heads or Tails' (Farrar), the tales are told in the first person and sound exactly right. Quirky and funny, the language and observations are authentic twelve-year-old vernacular, with some good advice inserted subtly.

Kirkus Reviews

Following Heads or Tails (1994), more stories about the life of the Henry family on Barbados. Jack, the 13-year-old with the experience of an 8-year-old and the wisdom of an 80-year-old, describes his family with an indissoluble blend of mockery and admiration. His voice is completely original as he relates the adventures of his family in a colorful, entertaining style, but the themes are far from comic. In one, the father forces the other Henrys to face their worst fears; in another, Jack cuts off a wart, and gets blood poisoning; in a third, Jack falls in loveand is ridiculed by everyone, including himself. The comedy rises from the tone in which all this is told: The narrative is literally dripping with sarcasm, full of the sharp detail and observation that only dark humor produces. (`` Come quick,' Pete said and pranced up and down on his toes as if he had to pee.Dad's drowning.' ''). This unacknowledged split between Jack's funny narration and the dismaying events he details gives the book a peculiar depth. There's nothing black-and-white about the characters, not because they are described as internally complex, but because they are constantly viewed from different anglesfunny in one light, unpleasant in another. Readers will laugh out loud while reading this book, but the aftershocks are not heartwarming. Indeed, by his insistent cheer, Jack conveys the tragic aspects of life much more forcefully than any sentimental treatment could. (Fiction. 11+)"

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

These companion stories to the Jack Henry books are """"extravagantly imaginative adventures,"""" said PW; they recount the year the seventh-grader's family moves to Barbados. Ages 10-up. (Sept.)