Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes

Crutcher, Chris. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. New York City: Greenwillow Books, 1993.

Chubby Eric Calhoune has always felt like he was on the outside. He finds a kindred spirit in Sarah Byrnes (who prefers her whole name), who was scarred in a mysterious accident when she was very young. Feeling like outcasts, the two begin to write an underground newspaper Crispy Pork Rinds as a way to get their feelings out. Friends since middle school, Eric (often called Mobe) and Sarah find themselves at a crossroads during their senior year. After being recruited to the swim team, the formerly rotund Eric has started to slim down, begins building a relationship with a girl and finds tension growing between he and Sarah. Suddenly, during a class one day Sarah quits talking, going catatonic. Her doctors encourage Eric to talk to her, maybe to jog her out of her comatose state, which Eric does with loyalty. Eventually, Eric finds out that Sarah is faking her silence because she is terrified of her father, who was the one that scarred her. After an altercation with her psychotic father in which Eric is injured, Mr. Byrnes is captured and Sarah is finally safe with a new family.

Crutcher writes this work around a theme that is typical of this genre; Sarah Byrnes is having a crisis and her friend is trying to solve it. Most striking about the work is that though it sounds formulaic, the way Crutcher presents the characters and plots the story creates a world inside of a world. Using vivid imagery, the author brings us inside the school, swim practice and Sarah’s hospital room without missing a beat. Descriptive sentences like, “my frozen hair hugging my head like a bicycle helmet and my breath shooting from my mouth like exhaust from a truck,” bring the reader into the story and its atmosphere. The quick language and comical situations round out the oft-heavy story line, breaking up some of the truly grave and profound obstacles the characters face. Contributing to the fullness of the story is the addition of positive adults, like Eric’s swim coach and his mother’s boyfriend. These adults intervene when necessary, are encouraging, involved and are a stark contrast to the villainous Mr. Byrnes. Such a juxtaposition of characters and actions make the lesson within the novel less preachy and more substantial.

Eric and Sarah are categorized within their high school, but are revealed to be more than the characterization given to them by their peers. The same consideration of being more than what is seen is not given to every character in the story, however. In a controversial class which the main and secondary characters share, many of the Christians in the class are portrayed as ultra-conservative, duplicitous and humorless. Kirkus Reviews also point out this bias by saying Crutcher “doesn’t always play fair in developing his themes – all the conservative Christians are dupes or hypocrites.” Should Crutcher have developed some opposites to these one-sided Christians, like he has with the adults in the story, it would seem less like he was attempting to make a point in his writing. In a work where not everything is as it seems, having typical, flat antagonists does not match with the rest of the story.

Book cover found on: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/chris-crutcher/staying-fat-for-sarah-brynes.htm

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You

Carter, Ally. I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You. New York City: Hyperion, 2006.

Cammie Morgan is not a regular sophomore. In fact, she is far from it. Enrolled at what appears to be an elite all-girls boarding school, Cammie is studying to be a spy at the Gallagher Academy, an super secret school for girls with genius IQ’s. Mrs. Morgan (a former spy) works at the school as the headmaster, so Cammie is able to learn the ins-and-out of the school – which include a LOT of secret passageways. Cammie, along with the rest of her sophomore class, are finally entering the class they have been waiting for, Covert Operations, the class that teaches you how to really work out in the field as a spy. A new professor, handsome Joe Solomon, has taken over the class and takes the girls out for their first mission. Cammie and her friends Bex and Liz are teamed up to trail one of the most paranoid teachers at the school. Losing sight of her companions, Cammie happens to run into Josh, a townie who captures Cammie’s eye. When the excursion is over, Cammie, Liz and Bex decide to take their experience beyond the classroom and investigate Josh secretly. One problem though: Cammie ends up falling for their target. After a few weeks of leading a double life, Cammie finds herself wanting to tell the truth to Josh and begins feels the weight of such a secret on her back.

I’d Tell You does a fantastic job of giving life to the school, creating the setting of the spy school and the back story of the Gallagher girls in great detail. The school is so heartily described it nearly becomes another character; secret passages and chambers, the atmosphere inside the corridors and dorm rooms gives the reader an entrance into the world in which the girls live. Cammie describes her own room as having “cool dormers and oddly shaped windows where a girl can sit with her back against the wall and listen to the thundering feet and squeals of hello.” Still other developments in the story, like the background of the academy and its esteemed alumni, round out the setting with flair. Miranda Doyle agrees with this statement in School Library Journal saying that, “the invented history of the Gallagher Girls is entertaining.” Such descriptions about the surroundings of the girls allow the reader entry into the world in which they live. By using description this way, the novel (whose premise is nearly impossible) becomes a bit more realistic and tangible to the reader.

Adding to the tangibility of the story and resounding with sincerity is the main plot line that follows Cammie falling for her target, Josh. Young readers will find that they can, to a certain extent identify with the struggles that Cammie faces when thinking about and having a relationship with Josh. While readers may not be in school to become a secret agent, they may relate with the fact that Cammie can not truly be who she is around her beau, a theme that runs throughout the story. Readers may also find the reports done by the “operatives” amusing in their self-depreciation and a nice break from the regular text. What readers may not enjoy is the lack of action: in a book about spies action is slow and suspense is non-existent. Additionally, one may find that characters are not equally developed. Macey, a new student to whom Cammie takes an instant dislike, becomes her confidant in a twist unsupported by the text. Some may find the additional characters without depth and thin.

Book cover found on: http://readingkidsbooks.blogspot.com/2007/09/id-tell-you-i-love-you-but-then-id-have.html

Dairy Queen

Murdock, Catherine Gilbert. Dairy Queen. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006.

Working on a dairy farm alongside her nearly mute brother is not D.J. Schwenk’s idea of a great summer, but after her father hurt is hip, she does not have much choice in the matter. She dutifully takes care of the disintegrating farm, at the cost of failing her English class during her sophomore year, rendering her ineligible to play any sports. This is hard for D.J. to take, considering she comes from a family of jocks; her two older brothers were even town football heroes, although they never come home after a fight with their father. When the coach for the opposing team (who also happens to be a close family friend) sends over their quarterback, egotistical Brian, to work, D.J. is less than happy. After a brief confrontation and reconciliation, the two decide that D.J. should help train him for the upcoming season. Over the summer, the duo actually becomes friends and he enlightens D.J. to the fact that she is a bit of a doormat. After realizing that he may be right, she decides that going out for football is what she really wants to do. D.J. gains perspective, the ability to speak up for herself and the tenacity to go after what she wants.

The Schwenk family is not good about communicating with one another, causing several rifts between family members and making it hard for D.J. to say what she wants. Young readers may identify with this aspect of the flawed heroine, in that sometime it is hard for them to say what they are really thinking. Tense family interactions further show how the family’s communication skills (or lack thereof) have affected D.J. to her core. A quip from Brian to D.J. telling her that, “when you don’t talk, there’s a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said,” is indicative of D.J.’s reluctance to speak her mind. With a suggestion by Brian that she follows along blindly, much like the cows she tends to, D.J. begins to open her mind up to the possibility that she has the ability to do what she wants, not do what everyone else wants her to do. The reader is given a first-hand view into the journey that she takes in figuring out who she is and who she wants to become.

Most notable about the work is the fact that D.J.’s point of view and characterization is solid from beginning to end. D.J. never breaks character, saying things like "that was real nice" and never getting far from the character she actually is and was meant to be. Sometimes, when you have a novel about a character going through a change, the writer gets carried away with the metamorphosis and the character completely changes. D.J. does change and grow mentally and emotionally, but how she speaks and relates her thoughts to the reader remains the same, giving her characters' transformation more realism. In fact, her tomboy ways may appeal to a group of readers that find a lack of strong female characters like D.J. In School Library Journal, Amy Pickett is in accord with this idea saying the work may, “appeal to girls, like D.J., aren’t girly-girls but just girls, learning to be comfortable in their own skin.”

Book cover found on: http://blogs.skokielibrary.info/explorer/tag/awards/

The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things

Mackler, Carolyn. The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things. Cambridge: Candlewick Press, 2003.

Chubby, blond and unremarkable, 15-year-old Manhattanite Virginia feels completely separate from her family of dark-haired, beautiful successes. Making matter worse is the fact that her best friend has just moved clear across the country to Walla Walla, Washington, so she is alone to face her sophomore year at her very exclusive private school. Virginia has a burgeoning romance with fellow classmate Froggy, but the “Fat Girl Code of Conduct” she has written for herself prevents her from speaking with him in public. She adores and idolizes her older brother, Bryon, who is making a name for himself on his college campus. Everything is relatively normal (her mother, a prominent child psychologist, constantly brings up her weight, Virginia decides to go on a diet and her father attempts to remain blissfully ignorant), until Bryon is accused of date rape and has to move home. Virginia struggles to come to terms with the implications of what Bryon has done and the confusion that it has caused. Once bullied and overlooked by her parents, Virginia begins to make her own decisions and break out of the mold that she has developed over time, slowly becoming her own person.

Feeling as if you don’t belong, neither in school or at home, is a prominent theme in The Earth. Covered in a number of ways, you get the feeling that Virginia feels nearly invisible to her family and the other kids at school. Her brother, a former golden boy at Virginia’s school, was extremely popular and well-liked, while Virginia prefers to spend her time huddled in the restroom or helping a kind teacher in her classroom. At home she is left to her own devices, is reminded of her shortcomings by her parents and feels jealous when her best friend becomes friendly with other kids in her new town, because she is by herself. All of these elements bring together a characterization of someone who feels left out and alone, something that nearly every teen has felt at one time or another. Ilene Cooper agrees with this in Booklist , observing that readers “will immediately identify with Virginia’s longings as well as her fear and loathing.” The stylized writing, sections of the book appear in emails, instant messages and diary entries, and modern language will no doubt appeal to the young adult audience, as will the self-deprecating humor and straight-forward observations of the protagonist.

What feels a bit unlevel about is work are the number of issues that are covered and remain unaddressed in the text. Virginia engages in some self-harm, she burns her finger with a candle commenting that, “…at least the pain is concentrated in one spot rather than dominating [her] entire body” and also pinches herself so fiercely that she bruises. A kind doctor, whom her mother initially brought her to for diet advice, subtly and vaguely investigates, but no resolution is given. Additionally, Virginia’s issues with food and overeating are left mostly untouched, with the exception of her mother’s desire for her to lose weight. Bree, another seemingly perfect student, also deals with an eating disorder, but it is almost completely glossed over and is added in what appears to be an effort to give the extraneous character depth. Introducing characters and not providing them motivation, complexity or backstory causes some of them to become caricatures rather than full, rounded, active elements of Virginia’s life. Making marginal references to significant issues and neglecting to expound on their detrimental aspects will do no favors to the reader, especially to the reader who is suffering from any one of these problems.


Book jacket found on: http://www.candlewick.com/bookxtras.asp?isbn=0763619582&id=&browse=&view=jacket&jacket=./images/cwp_bookjackets/648/0763619582.jpg&bktitle=The+Earth%2C+My+Butt%2C+and+Other+Big+Round+Things

Before I Die

Downham, Jenny. Before I Die. Oxford: David Fickling Books, 2007.

Tessa Scott’s body is failing her. Diagnosed with leukemia at 12, she has fought unsuccessfully for six years to beat the disease and now the cancer is no longer responding to treatments. Before the cancer can completely ravage her already ruined body, Tessa decides that she is going to make a list of the things that she would like to do before she dies. Items like trying drugs, having sex, committing crimes and saying yes to everyone for a single day top the list that continues to grow throughout the novel. Tessa’s friend Zoey and neighbor Adam (who Tessa meets the afternoon after checking off her first item), help Tessa check off different things. Soon Tessa and Adam become mutually attracted to each other and begin a relationship. Tessa’s father, a single parent, tries to protect Tessa as much as he can, but Tessa refuses to sit still and just die. She continues to go through her list, occasionally stopped along the way by her ever-worsening disease. Eventually, after a valiant fight and lasting longer than even doctors expected, the cancer begins to take over Tessa’s body and renders her languid and lethargic. Captured in quick prose, the last chapter of the novel relates the last memories and thoughts of the teen as she leaves the world, surrounded by her friends and family.

Death is a topic not for the light of heart, but Jenny Downham does the best to create a portrayal of a teen facing the end of her life prematurely in a realistic and readable way. Tessa is given a wide range of emotions, from anger, confusion and lust to happiness, tenacity and discernment. As the reader sees Tessa through her last months, each facet of her life is shown, but the cause of her journey, the reason for her writing the list is never far from the forefront of the story. The effect of her sickness on the people in her life is also treated with a great deal of attention, giving depth and quality to the secondary characters in the novel. Occasionally, however, the characters are presented with emotions for which no motivation is given. Furthermore, Tessa’s mother is reintroduced into the picture, characterized as someone who left her family, but flits in and out of the story without much regard.

Downham has a tremendous gift in creating elegant prose that describes the scene. The Kirkus Review of the work remarks on this “lurid language [that] makes a painful journey bearable, beautiful and transcendent.” This talent is especially evident toward the end of the work; Tessa is nearing the end of her voyage and she observes she “can’t hold onto anything. Like a tree losing its leaves. I forget even the thing I was thinking.” At times though, the imagery can be too heavy handed and may lose a reader. Asides expounding on the feel of the dirt, the smell in the air and the colors of the leaves feels overly focused and often forced. Not so forced, however, is the theme of the book, which is difficult to do with such subject matter. Tessa soon realizes that is not about the things that she has done, but rather the manner in which she completed them and who stands beside her as she accomplishes these things.

Book jacket found on: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/jenny-downham/before-i-die.htm

Speak

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. New York City: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1999.

Melinda Sordino is dreading her first day of high school after a summer when an event occurred that forever changed her perspective. This trauma has caused Melinda into turn into herself and rendered her nearly speechless. Her former friends are falling into new groups, leaving her behind and Melinda is infamous around her school for calling the cops during a raucous house party. She struggles not only socially but also at home; with a distracted father and overworked mother, Melinda rarely gets the support she needs. During the first week of school, Melinda cautiously makes a friend in overachiever Heather, a new transfer, whom Melinda does not really like. Unable to cope with joining her classmate in mundane activities, Melinda finds a sanctuary in a forgotten janitorial closet and makes it into a space she can sit and think. As school continues, Melinda’s grades continue to plummet (although she seems to excel in and take interest in art) and it is finally revealed that the source of Melinda’s behavior change is that she was sexually assaulted by Andy, a popular senior at the party she imploded. Disclosing this information to her ex-best friend (who is the first person she reveals this to), who is now seeing Andy, Melinda is met with disbelief and she becomes further defeated. As she is cleaning out her closet toward the end of school, Andy, her attacker, confronts her about the things she is saying, intending to force himself upon her again. Luckily, Melinda is able to shove open the door of the closet, where she finds members of a girls’ sports team have arrived to defend her.

Speak takes the form of diary-like entries following Melinda through the four marking periods in her first year of high school. Anderson does a fantastic job giving Melinda a strong point of view, creating an often witty and sometimes sorrowful outlook on the world she is forced to participate in. Reviewers in both School Library Journal and Publisher’s Weekly note that Anderson writing style make the “pain” that Melinda is going through “palpable.” Teen readers will find the writing style easy to follow and the plot realistic through the character development that Melinda and other characters are given throughout the story. The reader is easily transported to the surroundings that Melinda is in everyday, with vivid, yet not overwrought, descriptions of classrooms, bedrooms and the outdoors. These descriptions lend themselves nicely to involve the reader further in the story, yet do not detract from the story itself.

What is most intriguing about the novel is the fact that not everything that Melinda is going through is revealed all at once; her story is peeled back like an onion, layer after layer, in a methodical way. Melinda is giving bits and pieces to the reader, slowly, as if she is attempting to forget the situation herself. Melinda is dealing with a weighty situation, one that she has not even come to terms with yet. She runs into her attacker saying, “IT found me again,” a sentence that is indicative of her state in confronting the issue. This writing strategy gives the work a realism that would be overlooked were all of the circumstances of her situation been given upfront. Taking on such a weighty topic could certainly cause a writer to too heavily focus on a sermon about rape and the perils of high school, but Anderson keeps a light hand in this regard. The end of the story, where Melinda is faced with her attacked yet again, feels a bit trite, but the transformation that she makes throughout the story gives a feeling tangibility.

Book cover found on :http://picsdigger.com/keyword/speak%20novel/