Topic 3: The Maze by Will Hobbs

Hobbs, Will. 1998. The Maze. New York: Avon Books, Inc. ISBN: 038072913x.

Will Hobbs’ novel THE MAZE takes a young man into an isolated area of the desert to discover “who he is.” When fourteen year old Rick Walker escapes from Blue Canyon Youth Detention Center, he hides in the back of a pick up truck that takes him deep into the Utah desert. In a remote area of canyon known as “THE MAZE,” Rick finds Lon Peregrino, a mysterious scientist studying California Condors. In the bird biologist, Rick finds a kindred spirit, but trouble soon finds both. When two strangers wander through Lon’s camp, it becomes evident that both the birds and the scientist are in danger. Between studying the condors and learning to fly Lon’s hang glider, Rick has to find a way to stay hidden from anyone looking for him and to keep the endangered condors safe.

Will Hobbs uses impressive settings, detailed research and fast paced sentence structure to heighten the emotion and drama of his novel, THE MAZE. The “labyrinthine series of canyons and spores in Utah’s Canyonlands U.S. National Park calls to mind the maze that imprisoned the mythical Daedalus and his son Icarus—characters that Rick has read about while at Blue Canyon.” (Taxel, 82.) In the book, Lon offers the idea that Daedalus actually built “two devices, very much like modern hang gliders.” (Hobbs, 139.) Lon’s theory is that Icarus actually fell out of the sky after flying into and up a thermal. The reason that this detail sticks with the reader is that the condors use the thermals to carry them far from their canyon home. “Hobbs also effectively develops parallels between Rick’s Efforts to master the intricacies of hang-gliding and the struggles of the young condors to fly.” (Taxel, 82.) The chapters are relatively short and easy to read, which helps keep the pace of the story quick and invigorating.

Hobbs also uses names to advance the characterization of the main characters. For example, condors are usually called by numbers, but one of the condors seems to stick out more than just a little. M4 is a male condor who from the time he hatched was just a little of a “maverick.” Deemed unpredictable, Rick suggested that he be called “Maverick” (Hobbs, 64.) Lon stays that to give birds human names is to assign human traits to a wild animal. It is interesting that Rick is a bit of a maverick as well. Lon Peregrino is another example of a name that holds a clue to the characterization of an important person in the story. When Rick finds a picture of Lon as a young man, but the young man’s name is not what he was given. Lon, it turns out, chose his own name after becoming a bird biologist. He chose to name himself after a peregrine falcon. Peregrine means “traveler.”(Hobbs, 146.) Lon is a hang glider who travels over the land using the same thermals that his feathered subjects do, which can carry him for miles over the landscape.

Reference List:

Hobbs, Will. 1998. The Maze. New York: Avon Books, Inc.

Taxel, Joel. 2002. Review of The Maze. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. Vol. 46, issue 1 (Sept): 82.

Topic 3: The Seance By Joan Lowery Nixon

Nixon, Joan Lowery. 1980. The Séance. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2004. Original edition, Harcourt, Inc. ISBN: 0152050299.

When a teenage girl disappears from a séance held in another student’s home and later turns up dead, a small East Texas town is stunned. When the student who conducted the séance later turns up murdered it becomes obvious that someone is targeting the entire group of girls who attended. In Joan Lowery Nixon’s THE SÉANCE, one teenage girl must ferret out the murderer before she becomes the next victim. As an orphan Lauren lived with her Aunt Mel in a quiet town on the edge of the Big Thicket. When juvenile delinquent Sara comes to live with them, Lauren takes an instant dislike to her. Sara was pretty and “wore her sweaters and blouses a size too small” (Lowery, 3.). She also snuck out of the house in the middle of the night to meet with boys. Lauren wants to refuse when Sara invites her to attend the séance being held by Roberta, a new girl in school, but when the other girls get together, they convince Lauren to come. From the beginning of the séance, the spooky feelings scare the girls, but it isn’t when the lights go out that the scary part begins. Though the doors and windows are locked from the inside, Sara disappears in the darkness.

Nixon’s writing uses a quick pace that pulls the reader along in a current of images, sounds and emotions. The first person narration by Lauren allows the reader to connect with her. THE SÉANCE is “carefully plotted with fair clues for the readers, but hints that don’t really prepare one for the smash finish.” (Publisher’s Weekly, 78.) Over and over the sheriff questions the girls at the séance and they each deny locking the door behind Sara, so at the end of the book, it is somewhat annoying that the person that connected with you was lying about her role. The hints and clues that are sprinkled throughout the story can cast blame on a lot of people in town, much to amateur detective Lauren’s frustration. Nixon’s expert writing ratchets up the suspense as Lauren becomes more and more paranoid about the members of the small town she lives in.

THE SÉANCE also looks at the relationship between family members, friends and community members. Living with her “forthright, caring, but undemonstrative Aunt Mel,” Lauren was “content with her lot.”(Publisher’s Weekly, 78.) “I didn’t even know that I wanted to be held and loved and caressed until Sara came and drew those feelings from the air and them out in front of me…” thinks Lauren. (Nixon, 47.) Having wished Sara would just disappear, Lauren feels guilty when she turns up murdered. Nixon expertly hits on the confusing mix of emotions that teenage girls often feel as they are growing up and interacting with other girls and the boys they sometimes fight over.

Reference List:

Nixon, Joan Lowery. 1980. The Séance. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2004. Original edition, Harcourt, Inc.

______. 1980. Review of The Séance by Joan Lowery Nixon. Publisher’s Weekly (April 11):78.

Topic 3: Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes

Crutcher, Chris. Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes. New York: Greenwillow Books, 1993. ISBN: 0688115527.

Chris Crutcher’s STAYING FAT FOR SARAH BYRNES is a story about friendship, secrets, revenge and ultimate betrayals. Eric “Moby” Calhoune is worried about his friend Sarah Byrnes who has slipped into a catatonic-like state, refusing to respond to anyone. He sets out to pull her through this, whatever might have caused her to cut herself off from her friends. With the help of a teammate and a former enemy, Moby begins to piece together the enigma of Sarah Byrnes, “terminal ugly” and all out tough girl. Moby also faces a more personal challenge in the form of Jody Mueller, a girl he has liked for years, but also the girlfriend of his swim teammate and rival, Mark Bishop. Secrets and lies unfurl in this story to end with betrayals and hard lessons of personal accountability.

Though Crutcher’s story is told through the eyes of a teenage boy, the adults in the story are in no way bystanders. The actions that are taken by the teens are influenced in major ways by the adults they come into contact with. It is because of her father that Sarah Byrnes is in the psychiatric ward. “I started having dreams about the stove. He my face against it, Eric…I got the same feeling I had that day he burned me, and I decided if I had the feeling it was probably right.” (Crutcher, 145.) Moby’s Contemporary American Thought teacher, Mrs. Lemry, lays her life and career on the line to take Sarah Byrnes in after the girl runs from the hospital and helps her track down her mother. Moby’s stepfather steps up in an unexpected way at the conclusion of the book to keep the teenagers safe from Mr. Byrnes.

Crutcher’s story, told straight forward, pulls the reader farther in until there is no putting the book down until the puzzle is complete. Moments of hilarity are mixed with sadness and sometimes horror at the actions of characters. Crutcher’s “strong themes of friendship and tolerance are intertwined in a skillfully developed plot replete with realistic, complex characters.” (Makowski, 39). The wit of the main characters and the sheer toughness of Sarah Byrnes encourage the reader to root for the underdog. “The self-deprecating humor of Moby's narrative and the high drama of the classroom scenes (some of the best of the book) keep the reader involved in the compelling issues that drive the plot to its conclusion.” (Makowski, 39). The end of the story is touching, optimistic and, yes, a touch predictable. But as Moby says, “Part of me wishes life were more predictable and part of me is excited that it’s not.” (Crutcher, 295.)

Reference List:
Makowski, Marilyn. Review of Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. Book Report Vol. 12 Issue 1 (May/Jun 1993), 39.
Crutcher, Chris. Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes. New York: Greenwillow Books, 1993. 145.
Crutcher, 295.

Topic 2 Whistle Me Home by Barbara Wersba

Wersba, Barbara. 1997. Whistle Me Home. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN: 0805048502.

In Barbara Wersba’s WHISTLE ME HOME, sexual identity plays an important role in the relationship between Noli, a 17-year-old tomboy, and TJ, a handsome new student in her English class. Told in a long flashback, Wersba’s story chronicles a complicated relationship and how it comes to a traumatic end. The insecure Noli is flattered when the much sought after TJ asks her out. TJ encourages Noli to dress rather boyishly even when she would rather wear a dress. As the pair spend more and more time together, Noli realizes that she is falling in love with TJ, and though she thinks that he is falling in love with her, she is not quite sure how he feels. Over the course of the school year, Noli’s drinking problem becomes more and more evident, as does her suspicion that something is not quite what it seems with TJ. When finally, TJ admits that he is gay, Noli lashes out at him with a fury she has not exhibited before.

Full of complicated relationships and a thin haze of alcohol, the novel is honest and sincere. Both Noli and TJ are cut off from their parents. Noli drinks to cover her separateness and is actually half-drunk through the novel. It is obvious that TJ is using Noli to beard his homosexuality from his parents. Noli’s relationship with her girlfriends falls away as she entangles in TJ. Without any overt symbolism, Wersba shows how a person’s real emotions are hidden behind the way they portray themselves to others. TJ tells Noli that he loves her, and in his way, he does, but he never actually shows Noli who he really is and leading to that explosive scene. Noli hides insecurity by wearing what TJ wants her to wear. Wersba says this about Noli’s relationship with her parents, “But she and her parents are estranged. This estrangement comes from many things, but mostly it comes from the fact that the three of them never communicate.” (Wersba, 24.)

The novel is written in the present tense which adds a strange urgency to the story. The novel is written in such a way that the reader can see the train wreck as it is coming. According to Ilene Cooper of Booklist, the book only has a few problems. One of these is the “perfectly perfect” TJ, though Cooper softens her complaint with the rationalization that his perfect-ness is simply as a picture of “how he’s reflected in Noli’s eyes.”(Cooper, 1331.) The other glaring problem is one that I noticed as well. Noli has a recurring dream where she is lost in the city. This dream is brought up several times, but Noli never really addresses or considers it for long. Cooper called it “more irritating than illuminating.” (Cooper, 1331.) The final time that the dream is mentioned Noli says, “I need to go home” and the dream changes so that she can finally go home. (Wersba, 107.) Tying it up so neatly without allowing Noli to explain what she thinks about it makes one wonder why she didn’t say that the first time.

Reference List:
Cooper, Ilene. 1997. Review of Whistle Me Home by Barabra Wersba. Booklist (April 1):1331.
Wersba, Barbara. 1997. Whistle Me Home. New York: Henry Holt and Company.