The New Class: Shadow Stalker

A Book Trailer of: REPOSSESSED, A Novel by A.M. Jenkins

Jenkins, A.M. 2007. Repossessed. New York: HarperTeen. ISBN 9780060835682.

A Book Review of: SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anderson, Laurie Halse. 1999. Speak. New York: Penguin Group. ISBN 0142407321

SUMMARY

Melinda Sordino was a popular and outgoing girl until the summer after her eight grade year where she was raped by a popular high school athlete at a party. Melinda, in a panic, calls the police, who break up the party and arrest several of the partygoers for underage intoxication. When faced with the police and given the opportunity to tell what has happened to her, Melinda finds she has no voice. She leaves the party known as the girl who called the police. She enters high school an outcast, her friends will not acknowledge her and the rest of the school treats her as a leper. She no longer cares about her appearance or trying to blend into high school society. Her grades slip and her relationship with her parents becomes strained, because she will not tell them what is wrong. She moves through her classes trying to go unnoticed and creates a sanctuary for herself in an abandoned janitor’s closet. She is given an art project by her unorthodox art teacher; she must draw the image of a tree by the end of the semester and she struggles with the concept. What is a tree to her? Over the course of the novel, Miranda begins to branch out; she makes a new friend in a boy who defends her in class. She begins to reach out to her old friends, especially when her former best friend starts seeing the boy who raped her. She reveals to Rachel what happened and Rachel rejects Melinda’s claim, at first. Finally, at the end of the novel, Melinda finds her voice. She speaks out against people using her to their advantage, and she is forced to confront the boy who raped her. Melinda does not reclaim her former persona of popular girl and merge into an acceptable social group, but becomes a new person who can express her feelings and explore new relationships with friends and prospective boyfriends.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

In Anderson’s emotionally charged novel Speak, Melinda Sordino enters high school as the girl who called the police at a party. She has gone from popular to a social pariah. The student body of Melinda’s high school is divided into various social cliques, such as the jocks, the exchange students, the Marthas, the cheerleades, etc.; even the losers have their own section of the cafeteria in which to congregate. Melinda is separate even from them. She watches her old friends merge into separate groups, all of them ignoring her along with the rest of the school. Melinda’s ability to voice feelings and opinions vanished with her virginity over the summer, and without a voice Melinda feels powerless and without presence.

Anderson uses strong descriptions and diction choices to convey Melinda’s pain, depression, and frustration at her inability to speak. When she tries to talk about what happened to her at the party, explain her actions to a student who is angry that her older brother was arrested that night, her “throat squeezes shut, as if two hands of black fingernails are clamped on [her] windpipe.” Readers can physically feel what is happening to Melinda through Anderson’s words. Scenes and settings are described vividly, touching upon all five senses, but most importantly, Anderson makes us feel Melinda’s inner turmoil as something physical. When Melinda sits at a lunch table beside her temporary friend of convenience, Heather, a new girl from Ohio, and the boy who raped her—often referred to as IT or Andy Beast—presses up against her while he talks to another girl. She leans forward into the lunch table to avoid his touch and the “table saws [her] in half.”

Anderson tells the story in first person, making the story more immediate and personal. Melinda’s voice is clever, her dark humor and sarcasm when describing events and actions are as amusing as they are heart-breaking at times, for her humor and sarcasm are often used as defense mechanisms when she cannot cope with her situation. Melinda’s character is relatable to young audiences and even older audiences who remember being in high school and what an awkward period of time it was. Everyone wants to fit in; needs to fit in. There is a strong emphasis put on conformity, but Melinda can no longer conform.

Miranda’s bedroom symbolizes her moratorium. It has remained the same since she was in fifth grade when she and her best friend Rachel had their rooms decorated in the same way. To redecorate would be a statement of Melinda’s moving forward, a symbol of the emergence of a new Melinda. Keeping the room the same conveys Melinda’s stagnation. She cannot move forward until she has a catharsis, until she can reveal the truth aloud to another person.

Prolonged dialogue in the work is written in stage play format with a character’s name followed by colons and then speech. Everyone has a role to play with predetermined dialogue, but Melinda’s lines are blank. She cannot read what is on her script, nor can she voice it. Melinda does claim to be an actor, because she can give false smiles, but she cannot successfully play a role in her high school society if she cannot voice her opinions and emotions.

Anderson divides Speak into short titled segments and scenes that are snapshots of Melinda’s daily life. Not every snapshot involves exciting, moving action, but readers are allowed insight into Melinda’s world and can easily relate to her frustrations and annoyances in the classroom. Her teachers all have distinct personalities, from the bigoted Mr. Neck who hosts debates where no opinion is right but his own to the free-spirited Mr. Freeman, an art teacher who encourages Melinda to express herself through art. It is in his class that Melinda begins to reconnect with one of her old friends, Ivy.

Over the course of the novel, readers will experience Melinda’s internal and external struggle to deal with her own emotions and feelings of rejection and come to terms with what has happened to her. A change, a new inner strength starts to grow in Melinda near the end of the novel as she plants seeds and seriously contemplates her art project for Mr. Freeman’s class. When her temporary friend of convenience Heather comes over after brutally breaking off their friendship in favor of hanging out with more popular girls, Melinda is able to dismiss her. She will not let herself be used anymore. Though, she still cannot talk about what IT has done to her, when she sees that IT is dating her friend Rachel, Melinda is able to express her feelings about IT through writing on the bathroom wall. She is later empowered when she returns to the bathroom to see that other girls have responded in agreement with her message. She is able to write a note to Rachel and tell her what happened between her and IT.

The most powerful scene in the novel is when IT invades that sanctuary Melinda has set up in an abandoned janitor’s closet within the school. IT confronts her for telling Rachel about the rape, and Melinda is able to scream the word “No.” She is able to physically fight him off, holding a piece of glass to his neck, and calmly say, “I said no.” Her voice and her strength returns, and this time it is the boy who cannot speak.

Anderson takes readers on an emotional journey. Readers will care and ache for Melinda and cheer for her when she finally finds her inner strength and voice to speak out. She even decides to redecorate her room, moving forward to express who she had become. Young readers will enjoy reading, relating and discussing this wonderful piece by Laurie Halse Anderson.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Since the beginning of the school year, high school freshman Melinda has found that it's been getting harder and harder for her to speak out loud: "My throat is always sore, my lips raw.... Every time I try to talk to my parents or a teacher, I sputter or freeze.... It's like I have some kind of spastic laryngitis." What could have caused Melinda to suddenly fall mute? Could it be due to the fact that no one at school is speaking to her because she called the cops and got everyone busted at the seniors' big end-of-summer party? Or maybe it's because her parents' only form of communication is Post-It notes written on their way out the door to their nine-to-whenever jobs. While Melinda is bothered by these things, deep down she knows the real reason why she's been struck mute...

Laurie Halse Anderson's first novel is a stunning and sympathetic tribute to the teenage outcast. The triumphant ending, in which Melinda finds her voice, is cause for cheering (while many readers might also shed a tear or two). After reading Speak, it will be hard for any teen to look at the class scapegoat again without a measure of compassion and understanding for that person--who may be screaming beneath the silence. (Ages 13 and older) --Jennifer Hubert, Amazon.com Review

In a stunning first novel, Anderson uses keen observations and vivid imagery to pull readers into the head of an isolated teenager. Divided into the four marking periods of an academic year, the novel, narrated by Melinda Sordino, begins on her first day as a high school freshman. No one will sit with Melinda on the bus. At school, students call her names and harass her; her best friends from junior high scatter to different cliques and abandon her. Yet Anderson infuses the narrative with a wit that sustains the heroine through her pain and holds readers' empathy. A girl at a school pep rally offers an explanation of the heroine's pariah status when she confronts Melinda about calling the police at a summer party, resulting in several arrests. But readers do not learn why Melinda made the call until much later: a popular senior raped her that night and, because of her trauma, she barely speaks at all. Only through her work in art class, and with the support of a compassionate teacher there, does she begin to reach out to others and eventually find her voice. Through the first-person narration, the author makes Melinda's pain palpable: "I stand in the center aisle of the auditorium, a wounded zebra in a National Geographic special." Though the symbolism is sometimes heavy-handed, it is effective. The ending, in which her attacker comes after her once more, is the only part of the plot that feels forced. But the book's overall gritty realism and Melinda's hard-won metamorphosis will leave readers touched and inspired. Ages 12-up.--Publishers Weekly.

Grade 8 Up-This powerful novel deals with a difficult yet important topic-rape. Melinda is just starting high school. It should be one of the greatest times in her life, but instead of enjoying herself, she is an outcast. She has been marked as the girl who called the police to break up the big end-of-the-summer party, and all the kids are angry at her. Even her closest friends have pulled away. No one knows why she made the call, and even Melinda can't really articulate what happened. As the school year goes on, her grades plummet and she withdraws into herself to the point that she's barely speaking. Her only refuge is her art class, where she learns to find ways to express some of her feelings. As her freshman year comes to an end, Melinda finally comes to terms with what happened to her-she was raped at that party by an upperclassman who is still taunting her at school. When he tries again, she finds her voice, and her classmates realize the truth. The healing process will take time, but Melinda no longer has to deal with it alone. Anderson expresses the emotions and the struggles of teenagers perfectly. Melinda's pain is palpable, and readers will totally empathize with her. This is a compelling book, with sharp, crisp writing that draws readers in, engulfing them in the story.--Dina Sherman, Brooklyn Children's Museum, NY, SLJ

Grade 8 Up-A ninth grader becomes a social pariah when she calls the police to bust a summer bash and spends the year coming to terms with the secret fact that she was raped during the party. A story told with acute insight, acid wit, and affecting prose.--Library Journal.

Having broken up an end-of-summer party by calling the police, high-school freshman Melinda Sordino begins the school year as a social outcast. She's the only person who knows the real reason behind her call: she was raped at the party by Andy Evans, a popular senior at her school. Slowly, with the help of an eccentric and understanding art teacher, she begins to recover from the trauma, only to find Andy threatening her again. Melinda's voice is distinct, unusual, and very real as she recounts her past and present experiences in bitterly ironic, occasionally even amusing vignettes. In her YA fiction debut, Anderson perfectly captures the harsh conformity of high-school cliques and one teen's struggle to find acceptance from her peers. Melinda's sarcastic wit, honesty, and courage make her a memorable character whose ultimate triumph will inspire and empower readers. --Debbie Carton, Booklist

A frightening and sobering look at the cruelty and viciousness that pervade much of contemporary high school life, as real as today's headlines. At the end of the summer before she enters high school, Melinda attends a party at which two bad things happen to her. She gets drunk, and she is raped. Shocked and scared, she calls the police, who break up the party and send everyone home. She tells no one of her rape, and the other students, even her best friends, turn against her for ruining their good time. By the time school starts, she is completely alone, and utterly desolate. She withdraws more and more into herself, rarely talking, cutting classes, ignoring assignments, and becoming more estranged daily from the world around her. Few people penetrate her shell; one of them is Mr. Freeman, her art teacher, who works with her to help her express what she has so deeply repressed. When the unthinkable happensthe same upperclassman who raped her at the party attacks her againsomething within the new Melinda says no, and in repelling her attacker, she becomes whole again. The plot is gripping and the characters are powerfully drawn, but it is its raw and unvarnished look at the dynamics of the high school experience that makes this a novel that will be hard for readers to forget. (Fiction. 12+) -- Kirkus Reviews

An uncannily funny book even as it plumbs the darkness, Speak will hold readers from first word to last. -- The Horn Book, starred review

Melinda's sarcastic wit, honesty, and courage make her a memorable character whose ultimate triumph will inspire and empower readers. -- Booklist, starred review

The plot is gripping and the characters are powerfully drawn...its raw and unvarnished look...will be hard for readers to forget. -- Kirkus Reviews, pointer review

--A 2000 Printz Honor Book
--A 1999 National Book Award Finalist
--An Edgar Allan Poe Award Finalist
--A 1999 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist
--Winner of the SCBWI Golden Kite Award
--An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
--An ALA Quick Pick
--A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
--A Booklist Top Ten First Novel of 1999
--A BCCB Blue Ribbon Book
--A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
--A Horn Book Fanfare Title --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title

--1999 National Book Award Finalist
--School Library Journal Best Books of the Year
--Booklist Editors' Choice

CONNECTIONS

Young readers who enjoy reading stories about young outcasts coping with life at school and/or who have had traumatic experiences they must learn to cope with may be interested in the following titles:

Jones, Patrick. 2006. Nailed. New York: Walker Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9780802780775

Zarr, Sarah. 2008. The Story of a Girl. New York: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. ISBN 978-0316014540

Potter, Ellen. 2009. Slob. New York: Philomel. ISBN 978-0399247057

A Book Review of: WHEN YOU REACH ME by Rebecca Stead

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Stead, Rebecca. 2009. When You Reach Me. New York: Wendy Lamb Books. ISBN 9780385906647

SUMMARY

Miranda is a latch-key child who lives in New York City with her single mother in a small apartment. The story is told in the form of a letter which seems like semi-chronological journal entries in response to a note she has received from an unknown time traveler. Miranda has grown up attached to the hip to her childhood best friend, Sal. Sal becomes distant from Miranda after being punched in the stomach by a mysterious older boy. Miranda ponders why Sal has pulled away from her as she deals with acquainting herself with potential friends, her mother’s acceptance onto a television game show, the prospect of her mother remarrying, the crazy man who lives on the corner of her apartment complex, the time traveler’s messages and the mysterious boy, Marcus, who punched Sal. Miranda covets the book, A Wrinkle in Time, often likening herself to Meg Murray, and discusses theories of time travel with Marcus, who seems to think it is possible. When Marcus approaches Sal one day as the other boy walks home, Sal flees, running into the street without looking. He is about to be struck and killed by a truck, when the crazy man rushes out into the street and kicks Sal out of the way, taking the boy’s place and getting killed instead. The cryptic message from the time traveler and the conversations about time travel with Marcus suddenly make sense. Marcus is the crazy man come back into the past to rescue Sal who his younger past-self inadvertently scared into the street. In order for him to accomplish this feat, Miranda must follow the instructions given to her in his note. Miranda chooses to write this story into a notebook and deliver it to Marcus without telling him what it is. Her mother goes on to win the game show and enough money to pay the tuition for law school. Miranda learns that Sal distanced himself from her because he sensed before she did how isolated the two of them were from the rest of their peers, and she agrees that they should “see other people”. Over the course of the story, Miranda has grown from a girl with a limited worldview to a young woman ready for new people and experiences.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Rebecca’s Stead’s novel When You Reach Me is told in an intriguing mixture of narrative which follows a short span of the main character Miranda’s life as she deals with new and old social relationships, and a journal of sorts Miranda addresses to an unnamed time traveler. The story actually begins at the end, for Miranda is already following the instructions given to her in mysterious note that is left inside of the apartment she lives in with her mother one afternoon. Readers enter Miranda’s world being told that Miranda’s mother is to be a contestant on a game show, but this comes as no surprise to Miranda for she had already been told of this event in advance by a stranger who she addresses as “you.”

Immediately, a mystery is born to the reader who wants to know who the “you” is, and since the book does not seem to be taking place in a fantastic setting, a reader may not expect the “you” being addressed to be a time traveler. Perhaps, Miranda’s family knows someone who works in the studio where the game show is filmed. Perhaps, they are cheaters. Stead intrigues the readers to turn the pages by slowly revealing information. As Miranda is writing this journal to the time traveler’s past self who has not lived his future and ventured to the past, she must begin the story at the beginning.

Readers feel as if they are traveling through time, back to when the important events that lead up to the starting point of the story begin. Miranda introduces herself as a latch-key child. Her mother works for a law firm, and her biological father is not in the picture. Her mother has a long-term boyfriend, named Richard, of whom her mother has reservations about marrying having been let down by a man before. The pivotal moment of Miranda’s sixth grade year is when her friend Sal is punched in the stomach by a then unnamed older boy. To Miranda, Sal seemed to detach himself from her that day, and she has to learn to be her own person because until then, she had thought of her and Sal as two halves of a whole.

Miranda’s witty narration will make readers smile if not laugh out loud as she helps her mom train for the questions that might be asked on the game show. Her life revolves around making flashcards for her mother, making new friends, and solving a mystery. Miranda breaks down the social environment of her sixth grade classes, explaining the different hierarchies and how friendships she’d observed work. In one instance, a girl would be best friends with one girl for a while, they would have a minor falling out, ignore each other for a week, and then come together again like nothing has happened. Miranda watches the groups like a hunter stalking prey, waiting for a fall-out and a chance to move in and score a new friend. Miranda approaches a girl named Annemarie after she and her best friend Julia, who Miranda does not like, have a falling out, and invites her to become her new friend. After befriending Annemarie, Miranda also starts to notice a boy named Colin. As she, Annemarie and Colin get a lunchtime job together at a sandwich shop near the school Miranda begins to feel jealous of how close Annemarie and Colin are. She admits to never noticing Colin until then, though he had always been around; she had been too wrapped up in Sal.

When Miranda finds that the boy who punched Sal goes to their school, she wants to interrogate him, blaming him for what has happened to her and Sal’s relationship. However, when she speaks to him, she not only learns that his name is Marcus, but that he is exceptionally bright and is familiar with the theories of time travel used in her favorite book, A Wrinkle in Time. Miranda likens herself to the protagonist Meg and has read the book numerous times, but does not truly understand the concepts of time mentioned in the novel until her various conversations with Marcus, and surprisingly with Julia, who Miranda finds shares similar interests. The reality of racism is worked into the piece as Julia is Black and the man Miranda works for at the sandwich shop refuses to let Julia work for him and accuses her of stealing money from him because of her color.

Small clues begin to work themselves into the narrative that almost seem like random acts of weirdness, such as: the naked man who runs around town square causing the children to have to stay indoors for lunch, the stolen money from the sandwich shop Miranda and her friends work at, the stolen shoe, and the crazy man who rants nonsense at the street corner and kicks his legs out like he’s practicing for football. The largest clues are the notes themselves which inform Miranda that the traveler is here to save her friend’s life, but he needs favors from her to be able to do so. He informs Miranda that he will not be in his right mind, for the trip is difficult and that he can carry nothing but the paper he stuffs into his mouth.

A reader of the story will find themselves so involved in Miranda’s life and growing social relationships that one could forget they are reading a work of science fiction, until Miranda pens another entry addressed to the mysterious “you” or she receives or reviews another strange letter.

As Miranda begins to invite Annemarie over for sleepovers and visit Annemarie’s home, a reader wonders where Miranda’s other friends are. She has gone to school with most of the people she encounters all of her life, and only now she is getting to know them. Miranda begins to fret about her low socioeconomic status compared to Annemarie’s and begins to express embarrassment over the shoddiness of her apartment as compared to the pristine apartment of Annemarie. She realizes that she has hurt her mother’s feelings, and for the first time sees that her mother is also ashamed. She begins to become less selfish. If her mother wins the game show, one of her goals is to get wall-to-wall carpeting in Miranda’s room. Miranda instead plots with Richard, wanting to see her mother go to law school, which she had originally planned to attend before having Miranda, and doing better for herself.

There is a moment of sweetness when Colin comes to visit Sal, claiming he was only vaguely aware that Miranda lived in the same apartment complex as Sal. He invites Miranda to play with them, but Sal is obviously against the idea. A short while later, Colin appears on Miranda’s doorstep; he gives her a quick kiss and runs away: her first kiss.

When Miranda finally asks Marcus why he punched Sal, Marcus says he did it just to see what would happen. He feels guilty about it later. He tries to approach Sal, wanting to apologize, but when Sal sees him he runs without watching where he is going. Marcus is too late to realize that Sal is running away from him and continues to pursue him until Sal runs into the street. A large truck is coming, and things begin to move in slow motion. The crazy man is suddenly in the street, wearing the stolen shoe. He gives Sal a swift kick, knocking him out of the path of the truck and is hit instead.

The pieces of the puzzle fall into place for Miranda then. She remembers a conversation with Marcus about time travel and how no one would recognize your future self come back to the past because you will have aged. She remembers the crazy man saying words like, “Pocket…shoe…” She remembers the naked man in town square. She remembers Julia’s explanation of time being a ribbon and how all events in time happen simultaneously. She recalls the notes saying things like: I have come back to save your friend. The trip is a difficult one; I will not be in my right mind. I can carry nothing. She remembers the crazy man kicking his legs at random.

Stead cleverly has Miranda compose a list to help the reader draw the connections if the reader has not already drawn them. When the first note is left in Miranda’s apartment, one of Richard’s shoes is stolen. One of Richard’s legs is shorter than the other, so he wears a special orthopedic shoe to correct the height difference. The shoe the crazy man wears when he kicks Sal out of the way is Richard’s. The crazy man liked to kick his legs out at random---he was practicing kicking Sal. The traveler could carry nothing—meaning not even clothes, connecting him to the naked man who randomly appeared in town square. I will not be in my right mind. The time traveler is the crazy man, but why would he come back to save Sal? Then, it becomes clear. Marcus punched Sal, creating Sal’s fear of him. Had Marcus not punched Sal or realized that Sal would be afraid of him if he approached, Sal would not have run out into the street, making Marcus partially responsible for the incident. Marcus’s keen interest in time travel becomes the key; the crazy man is Marcus from the future, and Marcus is the one Miranda must deliver her story to.

Stead never overwhelms the reader with clues or theory and creates a science fiction novel that readers new to the genre can easily follow and enjoy. It is not simply the tale of a time traveler and a parallel to theories from A Wrinkle in Time, but the story of a girl growing up and moving past childhood. When Miranda visits Sal in the hospital, she learns that the day he was punched was not the day Sal had started moving away from her. Sal had noticed before Miranda how entangled they were with each other. He realized that they did not have any other friends besides each other, and in essence, they were hindering each other from growing up, maturing and expanding their horizons. Hearing it said out loud makes Miranda finally accept this fact. Being apart from Sal was not terrible; she has changed. She and Sal remain friends, but not as close, and she continues to develop relationships outside of Sal. A nice parallel to Miranda’s decision to move on is Miranda’s mother decision to move on. After winning the game show, her mother is presented with applications for law school courtesy of Richard and Miranda. Miranda is silently urging her mother to move forward: go to school, marry Richard, do not worry about me so much, because I am no longer a child.

Miranda refers to Marcus as “the magic thread”. He saved Sal, but maybe he has helped her as well. Readers will enjoy Stead’s quick-moving work with its easy dialogue, humorous situations and phrases as they are easily nudged into the genre of science fiction. Perhaps, they may even venture to read A Wrinkle in Time to further understand the concepts of time travel used in the book. When You Reach Me can also be viewed as historical fiction, since Stead casually places us in a very accurate depiction of New York City in the 1970’s. Stead ends her work on a positive note with readers knowing that prospects for Miranda’s future are bright and unlimited.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Starred Review. Grade 5-8–Sixth-grader Miranda lives in 1978 New York City with her mother, and her life compass is Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. When she receives a series of enigmatic notes that claim to want to save her life, she comes to believe that they are from someone who knows the future. Miranda spends considerable time observing a raving vagrant who her mother calls the laughing man and trying to find the connection between the notes and her everyday life. Discerning readers will realize the ties between Miranda's mystery and L'Engle's plot, but will enjoy hints of fantasy and descriptions of middle school dynamics. Stead's novel is as much about character as story. Miranda's voice rings true with its faltering attempts at maturity and observation. The story builds slowly, emerging naturally from a sturdy premise. As Miranda reminisces, the time sequencing is somewhat challenging, but in an intriguing way. The setting is consistently strong. The stores and even the streets–in Miranda's neighborhood act as physical entities and impact the plot in tangible ways. This unusual, thought-provoking mystery will appeal to several types of readers.–Caitlin Augusta, The Darien Library, CT, SLJ

"[W]hen all the sidewalk characters from Miranda's Manhattan world converge amid mind-blowing revelations and cunning details, teen readers will circle back to the beginning and say,'Wow ... cool.'"--Kirkus Reviews

"[T]he mental gymnastics required of readers are invigorating; and the characters, children, and adults are honest bits of humanity no matter in what place or time their souls rest."--Booklist.

"Closing revelations are startling and satisfying but quietly made, their reverberations giving plenty of impetus for the reader to go back to the beginning and catch what was missed."--Hornbook.

"It's easy to imagine readers studying Miranda's story as many times as she's read L'Engle's, and spending hours pondering the provocative questions it raises."--Publishers Weekly.

"Absorbing."--People Magazine.

"Readers ... are likely to find themselves chewing over the details of this superb and intricate tale long afterward."--Wall Street Journal.

“Incandescent.”--The Washington Post.

"Smart and mesmerizing."--The New York Times.

CONNECTIONS

If young readers are interested in the science and references made by the author to Madeleine L’Engle’s work A Wrinkle in Time, they may want to read the book for themselves to understand the comparisons made.

L’Engle, Madeleine. 1962. A Wrinkle in Time. New York: Laurel-Leaf. ISBN: 978-0312367541

If young readers enjoyed reading about normal characters, like themselves, coming of age while finding his or herslf tangled in fantastic science fiction situations, they may like other works by Madeleine L’Engle that continue to follow the adventures of the Murray children.

L’Engle, Madaleine. 1973. A Wind in the Door. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux. ISBN 978-0374384432

L’Engle, Madaleine. 1986. Many Waters. New York: Yearling Books. ISBN 978-0440405481

A Book Review of STITCHES by David Small

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Small, David. 2009. Stitches: A Memoir… New York: W.W. Norton Et Company, Inc. ISBN 9780393068573

SUMMARY

David Small led a dark childhood filled with nightmares, real and imagined. He comes from an unhappy nuclear family. His father was a radiologist, who believed that his work would revolutionize the medical field. His mother was a housewife and closet lesbian, and his older brother was a drummer. David was a sickly child, born too early with birth defects. His father ran many x-rays on him and administered many treatments. The multiple x-rays given to him without lead protection resulted in David growing a malignant tumor in his neck during his teenage years. The tumor was surgically removed along with one of his vocal cords, stealing David’s physical voice from him. David was angry and bitter and resentful of his parents, his brother; his entire life situation. He withdrew from his friends, skipped school, and became insubordinate to his parents. His mother took him to a counselor, and through counseling, David began to untangle his emotions and learn a new way to speak. He escaped through his artwork and chose to pursue it professionally. He moved out of his parents’ house at 16, and lived in a small apartment where he continued practicing art. His mother passed away, his father remarried, happily, and David became a successful artist who could put his past behind him, unless he wanted to tell a good graphic story as he has done with Stitches.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Stitches is an autobiographical graphic novel that follows the youth and young adulthood of the author David Small. The artwork is dark and sketchy, and most of the human characters seem to wear perpetual scowls or sneers to convey the cold, unloving nature of David’s childhood. Every panel displays darkly shaded backgrounds which enhance the gloomy and sometimes frightening emotions the author must have felt when experiencing these events and passes them on to the reader.

Small breaks the graphic tale into sections based on his age when a memorable event occurred or the place in which the event happened. The story begins when the author is six; he sets the tone by showing himself alone in a shadowed room, doodling on the floor. Readers can feel the small boy’s solitude; more panels reveal the rest of the shadowy house and David’s mother is introduced. Her face is skeletal though her body sags and she wears glasses that are often opaque, hiding her eyes. She slams cupboards, her hands curved as if she is slapping a person with a hard expression on her face. At once, readers know that David’s mother is unfriendly, an attitude which probably extends to her children. David’s brother is introduced as a musician, banging on a drum, his expression angry. He has one arm bent back over his head, holding a drum stick as if about to smash something, not play an instrument. This image shows the reader that David’s older brother is not a source of comfort to David, and instead of being frightened of their living situation, perhaps he is angry about it. The next scenes portray a sickly David, lying in bed, perspiring. His mother enters and places the back of her hand to his forehead, a seemingly motherly gesture, but her following actions are rough. She seems to shovel medicine into David’s mouth while he is barely conscious, picks up the child’s teddy bear, letting it dangle by one arm as if it is disgusting and drops it on top of the child. She seems to being going through the motions of being what an audience would expect from a mother, but without feeling.

David’s father wears opaque glasses, like David’s mother, and regards David as a specimen, smoking cigarettes while lounging in the shadowed panels with his arm crossed. He provides treatments for David’s various illnesses, but the illustrations shown often look like torture scenes, with David being held down and given shots and enemas and x-rays. Readers learn that David’s father believes that the field of radiology is going to revolutionize medicine in the following scenes. His father stands amongst a group of men in white lab coats with a fist over his heart and an insignia for “With Radiology” is in the background. The men look like Nazis, and are described as being “soldiers of science.” Any readers familiar with the Holocaust and/or the unethical medical experiments performed in Germany may feel a chill.

While visiting his father at work, David roams the halls of the hospital and finds a jar with a human fetus inside. His imagination runs wild, and he imagines the fetus as a shriveled old man escaping his jar. David has dreams of the fetus for the duration of the work. David has a vivid imagination. At six, he plays dress up, pretending that he is Alice from “Alice in Wonderland”. He wanders the neighborhood and is often picked on for this behavior and called names like “queer” and “sissy”. The author chooses not to soften any language used against him, which further sets the tone of his dark childhood. David escapes the world through his art work, and the story told often ventures in magical realism as David’s fantasies invade the real world in which he lives. In one scene, David literally falls into the pages of his art.

David is taken to visit his maternal grandparents, whose back story is given in a brief flashback. His mother was an accidental child, conceived before her parents were married. His grandmother is a bitter, scowling old woman, where David’s grandfather seems kind and often smiles in David’s presence. The grandfather is the first positive figure, aside from David, seen in this work. In one scene, the grandfather hoists David onto his shoulders and a light seems to surround them, protecting them from the shadows that span the rest of the panel. David’s grandmother lurks in the background, watching the positive interactions between David and his grandfather. She later has David assist her around the house while his mother is gone. She is cruel to him, withholding food and washing his hands in scalding water. When David’s mother returns, instead of offering David comfort and reassurance, she shakes him roughly and tells him to keep his mouth shut. However, there is a brief hint of anxiety in her features that tells the readers that the mother does indeed believe her son; perhaps this treatment was dealt to her when she was a child as well.

In David’s later years, panels reveal his mother throwing parties, where her eyes can be seen through her glasses and she smiles, looking like an entirely different character. She lights up in the presence of a beautiful woman on whom David has a crush. The woman’s husband is a doctor, and when she gazes at David’s neck, she immediately notices the growth. When she points it out to David’s mother, his mother’s face changes from happiness to the cold, hard expression she usually wears when alone with David. David’s tumor grows over the years as his parents ignore it, in favor of other things, like buying a new car and house and throwing extravagant parties.

David imagines the bulge in his neck growing, containing the shriveled fetus. When he is fourteen he finally undergoes surgery to have the tumor, then thought benign, removed. As it turns out, the tumor is malignant and it is removed along with one of David’s vocal chords; he physically loses his voice, though readers may question if he had ever really had one to begin with. No one seemed to ever listen or care for David. David always envisions himself falling into dark holes, much like Alice falling through the rabbit hole. Many allusions to “Alice in Wonderland” are made.

As David struggles to accept his new situation and acts out, angry and sullen, the readers can see David’s expressions, once innocent, now mimicking the angry, hard expressions of his parents and brother. He ostracizes himself from others, at home and at school. He views himself as invisible because he is without a voice. In one panel, his drawn image begins to face until he is merely an outline mixed into a scene of other people. He dreams of finding large keys and crawling through tunnels that shrink and grow larger as he moves, much like Alice when she first tumbles into Wonderland.

When David is taken to counseling, he sees his therapist as the white rabbit Alice followed into Wonderland, and through the therapist, David finds salvation as he deals with his inner turmoil and feelings of neglect. Revelations about his family are brought into the light: his father might have given him cancer from the x-rays given to David when he was younger, his mother is a lesbian, and his grandmother tried to burn his grandfather alive and is taken to a mental institution. David moves out of his parents’ house and into his own apartment in the city. He paints and sketches out his emotions and slowly regains his physical voice, which reflects David’s new personal strength. When he learns his mother is ill and dying, he is able to visit her in the hospital and hold her hand. He imagines seeing the fetus again, and it is no longer resembles a shriveled old man, but a healthy, sleeping baby. He drives home, and though the backdrops of the panels are dark, they no longer seem foreboding. David realizes that in getting away from his family, he had saved himself from eventually turning out to be just like them, bitter, unhappy, mentally unstable and cruel. The longer he remained in his parents’ house, the more his drawn character began to reflect their shadowed, hard expressions, but when he left his face changed, his eyes open and clear, the angles of his face less shaded.

In his work, Small brilliantly depicts a cold, and often unforgiving childhood with a light of redemption and hope at the end. He parallels his tale to the story of “Alice in Wonderland.” Where Alice went on a magical journey that helped her mature and grow into a nicely turned out young lady, David went on a real journey made magical by his imagination where he battled his own personal Jabberwocky, his family. He followed his own white rabbit, his therapist, and found his way, maturing into a nicely turned out young man. David’s tumor in the story seemed to be a physical manifestation of his inner turmoil, the loss of his voice a manifestation of his powerlessness. David’s struggle to find and save himself from becoming his worse fear, his family, is wonderfully depicted in this sometimes gruesome but well-told work of graphic literature.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Reading Stitches may feel unexpectedly familiar. Not in the details of its story--which is David Small's harrowing account of growing up under the watchless eyes of parents who gave him cancer (his radiologist father subjected him to unscrupulous x-rays for minor ailments) and let it develop untreated for years--but in delicate glimpses of the author's child's-eye view, sketched most often with no words at all. Early memories (and difficult ones, too) often seem less like words than pictures we play back to ourselves. That is what's recognizable and, somehow, ultimately delightful in the midst of this deeply sad story: it reminds us of our memories, not just what they are, but what they look like. In every drawing, David Small shows us moments both real and imagined—some that are guileless and funny and wonderfully sweet, many others that are dark and fearful—that unveil a very talented artist, stitches and all. --Anne Bartholomew, Amazon Best of the Month

“The boy sits on the floor, on a sheet of drawing paper almost as large as he is. Crayons lie scattered nearby. He leans forward, resting the top of his head on the paper. Then he begins to literally sink through the floor, to disappear into the paper. A last kick of his legs reveals that he wasn't sinking so much as joyously diving head-first into the world he created, leaving behind the world he was born into. Now that I have read David Small's brilliant and heartbreaking graphic novel "Stitches," I look back on this magical paper frontispiece as one of the more moving self-portraits I have ever seen.”—Michael Sims, The Washington Post

“Anyone yet to be convinced by the grand claims made for graphic novels by people like me should look at David Small's Stitches, a memoir which, when it came out in the US last year, was shortlisted for a National Book Award. Now out from the same publisher in the UK, it is a wonderful thing. A moving story about the way man hands on misery to man, it also captures, seemingly effortlessly, the repression and double standards of the 1950s. It is subtle; its characters are beautifully worked; it makes deft use of metaphor and simile. And yet it can be read in just a little over an hour. If this isn't the definition of a satisfying literary experience, I don't know what is.”—Rachel Cooke, The Observer

In this profound and moving memoir, Small, an award-winning children's book illustrator, uses his drawings to depict the consciousness of a young boy. The story starts when the narrator is six years old and follows him into adulthood, with most of the story spent during his early adolescence. The youngest member of a silent and unhappy family, David is subjected to repeated x-rays to monitor sinus problems. When he develops cancer as a result of this procedure, he is operated on without being told what is wrong with him. The operation results in the loss of his voice, cutting him off even further from the world around him. Small's black and white pen and ink drawings are endlessly perceptive as they portray the layering of dream and imagination onto the real-life experiences of the young boy. Small's intuitive morphing of images, as with the terrible postsurgery scar on the main character's throat that becomes a dark staircase climbed by his mother, provide deep emotional echoes. Some understanding is gained as family secrets are unearthed, but for the most part David fends for himself in a family that is uncommunicative to a truly ghastly degree. Small tells his story with haunting subtlety and power.—Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Grade 10 Up–Small is best known for his picture-book illustration. Here he tells the decidedly grim but far from unique story of his own childhood. Many teens will identify with the rigors of growing up in a household of angry silences, selfish parents, feelings of personal weakness, and secret lives. Small shows himself to be an excellent storyteller here, developing the cast of characters as they appeared to him during this period of his life, while ending with the reminder that his parents and brother probably had very different takes on these same events. The title derives from throat surgery Small underwent at 14, which left him, for several years, literally voiceless. Both the visual and rhetorical metaphors throughout will have high appeal to teen sensibilities. The shaded artwork, composed mostly of ink washes, is both evocative and beautifully detailed. A fine example of the growing genre of graphic-novel memoirs.–Francisca Goldsmith, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia, SLJ

The graphic novel has been absorbed into the mainstream of literature and pop culture, and now Small's memoir finds good company among Daniel Clowes's Ghost World, Art Spiegelman's Maus, and Craig Thompson's Blankets, to name a few. Drawing on what can only be described as a chaotic and, in hindsight, horribly abusive childhood, the artist uses that great pain and occasional Alice in Wonderland whimsy to transcend memory. By turns appalling, intense, moving, and inventive, Stitches speaks volumes through pictures and words. The only complaint? The portrayal of Small's mother as "an unmitigated rhymes-with-witch" (Cleveland Plain Dealer). But overall, Stitches is a must-read for anyone who loves a gripping story well told.—Bookmarks Magazine

A breathtaking, horrific, and ultimately redemptive work.—Miami Herald

--#1 New York Times bestseller
--National Book Award finalist
--Winner of the ALA's Alex Award
--Washington Post Top Ten Books of the Year
--Los Angeles Times Favorite Book
--ALA Great Graphic Novels
--Booklist Editors Choice Award
--Huffington Post Great Books of 2009
--Kirkus Reviews Best of 2009
--Village Voice Best Graphic Novel
--Finalist for two 2010 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards (Best Writer/Artist: Nonfiction; Best Reality-Based Work). Illustrated throughout

CONNECTIONS

Young audiences interested in reading other autobiographical graphic novels, or graphic novels that feature darker themes and dysfunctional families, they may want to look into the following titles:

Thompson, Craig. 2003. Blankets. Marietta, Georgia: Top Shelf Productions. IBSN 978-1891830433

Bechdel, Alison. 2007. Fun Home: A Family Tragic Comic. New York: Mariner Books. ISBN 978-0618871711

B., David. 2006. Epileptic. New York: Pantheon. ISBN 978-0375714689

A Book Review of: CHAINS by Laurie Halse Anderson

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anderson, Laurie Halse. 2008. Chains. New York: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers. ISBN 9781416905851

SUMMARY

Isabel Finch is an African American slave whose mother and previous owner have both passed on. According to the will of her previous owner, Isabel and her younger sister, Ruth, are to be freed; however, this will is in the possession of lawyer who has left town. Isabel and Ruth are sold to Mr. and Mrs. Lockton and shipped to New York City to be their house servants. Mrs. Lockton is cruel and malevolent, often physically punishing Isabel for disobedience and has Ruth sold to another location without Isabel’s knowledge. Mr. Lockton is a Loyalist who supports England in the face of the American Revolution. Isabel befriends a slave boy, Curzon, and becomes a spy, relaying information about Lockton’s plans to the American army in hopes of freeing herself and her sister. The American army takes her information but does nothing to assist Isabel. She becomes a double agent, delivering information to whichever side, British or American, seems most likely to help her. When she learns that neither military can be trusted to keep their word, she takes matters into her own hands and stages an escape. After procuring provisions, Isabel runs from the Locktons’ estate and frees Curzon from a prison for captured American troops. Together, they steal a boat and leave the shore of New York City behind.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Laurie Halse Anderson begins her work on a superstitious note. The story is told in first person from the vantage point of Isabel Finch, a young teenage slave girl from Rhode Island. Isabel is mature for her age, having to grow up too soon in order to adapt to the life of a slave, which is apparent in her character voice. The vocabulary used reflects Isabel’s rural heritage; however, the excellent usage of grammar in her thoughts and speech reflect her level of education. Isabel was taught to read. Anderson’s narrative flows smoothly, description of territories and people are given, but not overwhelming. A reader can get a sense of setting without being burdened with too many facts.

To introduce readers to the plight of slaves, Anderson chooses to begin the story with a tone of frustration and anxiety. Isabel, being African American and a slave, is ignored when she insists that a will written by Mrs. Finch, her newly deceased owner, frees her and her sister, Ruth. Instead of going to the trouble of tracking down the lawyer who penned the will for verification, the reverend shoos Isabel and her sister away to Mrs. Finch’s son who insists that he is their new owner. Isabel and Ruth are treated like possessions, items to be sold. Mr. Robert has the girls gather their shoes and blankets for they will be more easily sold if they come with their own accessories. Isabel and Ruth comply as if these demands and procedures are not unusual. Isabel lapses into memory, recalling how their father was killed during an auction when slave owners sold Isabel, Ruth and their mother to one buyer and him to another. Readers get a sense of the powerlessness of slaves, and also a feel for the various cultures the slaves were stolen away from. Superstitions from the Islands and Africa pepper Isabel’s thoughts.

Isabel and Ruth are brought to a tavern owned by a woman who once knew Isabel’s mother and remembers Isabel from when she was a small child. This woman used to be an indentured servant. Some readers may be unfamiliar with this term. In lower level grade schools, students are introduced to the concept of slavery, but not indentured service. Throughout the novel, more indentured servants, immigrants from European countries, are introduced. Anderson cleverly provides details to this new, yet old historical world. She also foreshadows important events to come. The woman who knew Isabel’s mother recalls that Isabel has an incredible memory, which becomes imperative later when Isabel is to remember conversations and details stolen from her new master to give to an enemy army.

Readers will learn much about the beginnings of the American Revolution through Isabel’s mundane tasks. Most slave owners speak freely in front of their slaves, not considering them people, so Isabel learns much about what is going on England and what plans are being staged. She learns about what is going on in the American army from gossip at the water pump, in the kitchen, and from the wives of soldiers. She learns about slaves gaining freedom from British Loyalist soldiers simply for being slaves in the households of those who support the American Revolution. Many slaves turn soldier in hopes to gain their freedom through service in the American military. She hears stories of war brutalities from her friend Curzon and visits imprisoned American soldiers to see how inhumanely they are treated.

Readers are exposed first-hand to what happens to slaves who disobey. We feel Isabel’s pain as she is branded and her sister is stolen from her in the night. Anderson assigns dates to the beginnings of her chapters as if Isabel is keeping a diary, though the narrative is not epistolarian. The dates can help readers keep a timeline of events. Anderson uses historical staple battles to move the plot along according to the results of the battles’ outcomes. The mundane tasks that Isabel performs for her mistress inform readers of the typical social norms of rich well-to-do ladies in the Revolutionary time period, as well as the norms of those in lower social classes. Anderson uses dialects which also clearly depict social standings and origin. The wives of the soldiers who live with the Locktons near the end of the novel use slang that clearly separate them from the more proper terms used by snooty Mrs. Lockton.

Anderson successfully recreates the Colonial era as the Revolutionary War begins through the eyes and ears of an interesting and sympathetic character that can be respected for her intelligence and loyalty to her sister and friend. Readers will feel Isabel’s frustration, her depression, her desperation and her hope as she moves forward in this time period to gain her freedom and reunite with her sister. The war is but a backdrop to Isabel’s concerns as she attempts to use it to further her own plans. In this world, no one is to be trusted, and Isabel learns to rely on herself.

Young readers will be inspired by Isabel’s story. Anderson’s accurate depiction of the time period and brilliant way of staging the story as the Revolutionary War erupts will intrigue readers into finding other literature and historical sources to learn more about this crucial time in American history. Anderson provides author’s notes where she answers questions and provides her sources for all of those interested in her inspiration and her research.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Grade 6–10—Set in New York City at the beginning of the American Revolution, Chains addresses the price of freedom both for a nation and for individuals. Isabel tells the story of her life as a slave. She was sold with her five-year-old sister to a cruel Loyalist family even though the girls were to be free upon the death of their former owner. She has hopes of finding a way to freedom and becomes a spy for the rebels, but soon realizes that it is difficult to trust anyone. She chooses to find someone to help her no matter which side he or she is on. With short chapters, each beginning with a historical quote, this fast-paced novel reveals the heartache and struggles of a country and slave fighting for freedom. The characters are well developed, and the situations are realistic. An author's note gives insight into issues surrounding the Revolutionary War and the fight for the nation's freedom even though 20 percent of its people were in chains. Well researched and affecting in its presentation, the story offers readers a fresh look at the conflict and struggle of a developing nation.—Denise Moore, O'Gorman Junior High School, Sioux Falls, SD, SLJ

*Starred Review* In the spring of 1776, Isabel, a teenage slave, and her sister, Ruth, are sold to ruthless, wealthy loyalists in Manhattan. While running errands, Isabel is approached by rebels, who promise her freedom (and help finding Ruth, who has been sent away) if she agrees to spy. Using the invisibility her slave status brings, Isabel lurks and listens as Master Lockton and his fellow Tories plot to crush the rebel uprisings, but the incendiary proof that she carries to the rebel camp doesn’t bring the desired rewards. Like the central character in M. T. Anderson’s Octavian Nothing duet, Isabel finds that both patriots and loyalists support slavery. The specifics of Isabel’s daily drudgery may slow some readers, but the catalogue of chores communicates the brutal rhythms of unrelenting toil, helping readers to imagine vividly the realities of Isabel’s life. The story’s perspective creates effective contrasts. Overwhelmed with domestic concerns, Isabel and indeed all the women in the household learn about the war from their marginalized position: they listen at doors to rooms where they are excluded, and they collect gossip from the streets. Anderson explores elemental themes of power (“She can do anything. I can do nothing,” Isabel realizes about her sadistic owner), freedom, and the sources of human strength in this searing, fascinating story. The extensive back matter includes a documented section that addresses many questions about history that readers will want to discuss. Grades 7-10. --Gillian Engberg, Booklist.

CONNECTIONS

If young readers enjoyed reading the story of Isabel and want to continue the story where it left off, they may be interested in reading the sequel to Chains:

Halse, Laurie Anderson. 2010. Forge. New York: Athenum. ISBN 978-1416961444

If young readers have developed an interest for stories set during the American Revolutionary War, they may be interested in the following titles which are told from the vantage points of various young adults living in the time period.

Paulsen, Gary. 2010. Woods Runner. New York: Wendy Lamb Books. ISBN 978-0385738842

Rinaldi, Ann. 2004. The Fifth of March: A Story of the Boston Massacre. Boston: Graphia. ISBN 978-0152050788

A Book Review of: THE WEDNESDAY WARS by Gary D. Schmidt

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Schmidt, Gary D. 2007. The Wednesday Wars. New York: Clarion Books. ISBN 9780618724833

SUMMARY

Seventh grader Holling Hoodhood is convinced his teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates him. On Wednesdays all of the children in his class either go to Hebrew school or Catechism class, but Holling, being the only Presbyterian in his class, has no such obligation. He and Mrs. Baker spend Wednesday afternoons together reading Shakespeare and completing odd chores. Through reading Shakespeare, Holling gains a unique understanding of the philosophy of the world, the Vietnam War and everyone affected by it. He gains several new friends, one of them being Mrs. Baker, that help him gain new perspectives on world events and his family life. Over the course of the novel, Holling begins to ponder his own place in life. He is to be his father’s successor and he does things to please his father. His sister rebels and at first, Holling cannot understand why she fights against the mold their father has set for the family. By the end of the novel, Holling decides that his father’s mold is not for him either. He does not know if he wants to be his father’s successor yet, but he does know that fulfilling that role is optional not obligation. What he does with his life, what he believes in, and what he stands for are his choices to make. He will let no one tell him what or how to think. The Wednesday Wars is a book about growing older and attempting to find one’s true self.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Gary D. Schmidt begins The Wednesday Wars with a declaration of war: Mrs. Baker hates Holling Hoodhood. Readers cannot be sure if Holling is exaggerating or not, but Schmidt, cleverly choosing to tell the story in first person, puts the reader inside the head of Holling and we experience Mrs. Baker’s behavior through his eyes and follow his thought processes. Mrs. Baker rolls her eyes at Holling and uses a different tone with him than she does with other students. Her eyes seem to rest on him as if she is keeping her eye on an enemy. His family thinks he is being ridiculous, but from all Holling and we the reader can tell, Holling is perfectly rational. Mrs. Baker has declared him the enemy, and Holling’s personal Vietnam War happens parallel to the actual Vietnam War.

Schmidt uses a clever tone which easily mimics the thought and speech patterns of a pre-teenage boy in sometimes amusing and conflicting situations. The humorous situations, such as the release and escape of Mrs. Baker’s pet rats into the ventilation shafts and Holling being forced to wear tights in a community theater production, are tempered with sensitive issues indicative of the time period, such as Mai Thi, a Vietnamese exchange student encountering prejudice from adults as well as her classmates, the assassination of Robert Kennedy, and a rebellious sister who is accused of being a “hippie”. At times, readers will not be able to help but laugh out loud, and at other times they may feel somber as Mrs. Baker’s husband, who is a soldier, is declared Missing In Action, and as Mrs. Bigio, who works in the cafeteria, is told her husband was killed in action.

When Mrs. Baker decides to use her individual time with Holling having him read works by Shakespeare and then later quizzing him on them and discussing them with him, Holling thinks of it as a punishment. However, Holling begins equating his life and what is going on around him to Shakespeare. People he knows become characters in the plays as he reads them. His budding relationship to Meryl Lee, a girl whose father owns an architecture firm that rivals his fathers, is likened to the tumultuous and tragic relationship of Romeo and Juliet. However, Holling learns from the shortcomings and even the cleverness of characters and he gains new outlooks on situations. Such as, at first he believes that had Romeo and Juliet never tried to move beyond the rivalry between their families and stayed apart, and safe, they both would have lived; however, what would they have lived for? At the beginning of the story, Holling wants nothing more than to please his father; after all, he is to inherit the family business. Making friends and dating Meryl Lee is not something his father truly approves of, especially when one of his father’s ideas for a blueprint is leaked through Holling’s association with Meryl Lee. Holling is quick to assume that he would be safer by ending things with Meryl Lee, but he truly cares for her, and after reevaluating his situation and that of Romeo’s, he realizes not taking a chance and seeing where a relationship with Meryl Lee could go would not further, enhance, nor enrich his life experiences. Even if it were to all explode in his face, it is better to try and learn from it.

Holling’s home life, which is thought to be perfect, his home being described as “The Perfect House”, is not so perfect. Holling is frequently ignored by the members of his family. His father will not listen to Holling’s concerns, always associating Holling’s social problems with what could be good or bad for future business ventures, his mother is passive and his sister treats him as an annoyance. Episodes at home always have the same familiar pattern. Holling comes home with an issue; his father asks after the last name of the person in question, attaches it to a well-known family business in town and insists Holling put his own opinions and feelings aside and accommodate the person who is wronging him. The pattern begins to unravel as Holling’s sister speaks out against her father’s political and social beliefs. Holling, at first, does not understand why she chooses to anger their father instead of complying with him. His sister wants to go away to college and ends up running away from home. Holling does not realize how much he cares for his sister until she is no longer there. When she calls wanting to come home but has no money to do so, it is Holling who comes to her rescue. Throughout the novel, Holling’s sister is referred to as simply that: sister. When Holling comes to understand her opposition and how important it is to be your own person instead of just what people expect of you, he begins to refer to her by name: Heather.

Holling and Mrs. Baker form a friendship with Mrs. Baker often acting in place of his parents. It is Mrs. Baker that brings Holling to the hospital when he is injured, it is Mrs. Baker who takes him to a baseball game when Holling’s father, once again, forgets a promise, and it is Mrs. Baker who teaches him how to run. Through his relationship, directly and indirectly, with Mrs. Baker-- the former enemy-- Holling comes into his own. He learns that he loves running and that he is good at it. He forms new friendships and alliances with other classmates he may never have spoken a friendly word to, such as Doug Swieteck, a boy might have grown up to be a bully like his older brother. Holling also learns that it is all right to be different and to express himself.
In this story, Holling Hoodhood leaves his people-pleasing childhood behind and ventures into the realm of young adulthood, which is clearly indicated at the end of the novel when he witnesses his friend’s Bar mitzvah, a Jewish passage into manhood, and wishes he could have one himself. Readers are an active part of his experience as his childhood heroes die, such as Mickey Mantle who turns out to be bigoted, and new ones are born: Mrs. Sidhood, rat catcher, Mrs. Bigio who overcomes prejudice and accepts Mai Thi into her home, and Mrs. Baker who made seventh grade monumental.

Young readers unfamiliar with the time period and historical happenings of 1967 will be instantly transported into the life of a boy they can easily relate to, and learn interesting and amusing cultural and historical facts. Music icons, architectural trends, turns-of-phrase, sports facts as well as information about the Vietnam War are presented in an accurate and attractive manner that will keep audiences enthused and entertained.

Schmidt does not provide an author’s note at the end of the work, so that readers can view his sources, but readers will be left on such a high note with the story, they may feel inspired to perform their own original research of the time period. Schmidt certainly provides references to works, materials and happenings that can easily be researched online.

Bravo to Schmidt and this excellent, moving work. The only low note of the novel is that it spanned Holling’s entire seventh grade year, meaning next year he will no longer be in Mrs. Baker’s class. Readers will be left hoping that the platonic bond that formed between teacher and student will remain even after Holling and Mrs. Baker must part ways at the end of the year.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

On Wednesday afternoons, while his Catholic and Jewish schoolmates attend religious instruction, Holling Hoodhood, the only Presbyterian in his seventh grade, is alone in the classroom with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, who Holling is convinced hates his guts. He feels more certain after Mrs. Baker assigns Shakespeare's plays for Holling to discuss during their shared afternoons. Each month in Holling's tumultuous seventh-grade year is a chapter in this quietly powerful coming-of-age novel set in suburban Long Island during the late '60s. The slow start may deter some readers, and Mrs. Baker is too good to be true: she arranges a meeting between Holling and the New York Yankees, brokers a deal to save a student's father's architectural firm, and, after revealing her past as an Olympic runner, coaches Holling to the varsity cross-country team. However, Schmidt, whose Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy (2005) was named both a Printz and a Newbery Honor Book, makes the implausible believable and the everyday momentous. Seamlessly, he knits together the story's themes: the cultural uproar of the '60s, the internal uproar of early adolescence, and the timeless wisdom of Shakespeare's words. Holling's unwavering, distinctive voice offers a gentle, hopeful, moving story of a boy who, with the right help, learns to stretch beyond the limitations of his family, his violent times, and his fear, as he leaps into his future with his eyes and his heart wide open. Engberg, Gillian--Booklist.

"Schmidt, whose "Lizie Bright" and "The Buckminster Boy" won both Printz and Newbery Honors, delivers another winner...deeply satisfying."--Publishers Weekly.

"Schmidt rises above the novel's conventions to create memorable and believable characters."--Horn Book.

CONNECTIONS

Students who are interested in works set during the Vietnam War about teenagers or pre-teenagers dealing with social and political issues surrounding the war or who are directly involved in the war may be interested in the following titles:

Woodworth, Chris. 2006. Georgie’s Moon. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0374333065

Myers, Walter Dean. 2008. Fallen Angels. New York: Scholastic Paperbacks. ISBN 978-0545055765

Bryant, Jen. 2010. Kaleidoscope Eyes. New York: Yearling. ISBN 978-0440421900