Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie
Jordan Sonnenblick
Scholastic Paperbacks (September 1, 2006)
SPOILER ALERT: The following review contains plot points that you may not want to know about before reading the book.
In short: A funny and witty perspective of life from a middle school boy dealing with tragedy. The “why” of the tragedy is brought up, but not discussed, and needs to be.
Steven is an eighth grader who loves to play the drums and is a good student but he has an annoying younger brother, Jeffrey, who sometimes gets in the way.
“Sure, Mom. Chicks dig a dude who’s sporting the latest eggplant turtleneck styles…Do you think RENEE ALBERT will dance with you Steven? You think she’s HOT, right?”
All seems typical until partway through the school year Jeffrey is diagnosed with leukemia. Steven’s parents, understandably, become busy and focused on Jeffrey and his treatment, which is described in medically correct detail, from the chemotherapy port to the vomiting, and a lot in between. Steven, feeling somewhat neglected, throws himself into drumming and girls.
“I stood around for a while more, listening to my friends’ moronic commentary about how Annette wanted to jump on me and make me her band-geek love slave…”
This “family in crisis” novel, although tragic, is realistic and humorous. Steven overcomes his selfishness and matures while his family becomes closer to each other. There is some blasphemy (“Oh my g _ _”, “I swear to g _ _”), disrespect to parents, crude language (“c _ _ _” and “pee”) and objectification of girls (“Hey, chick”, “She was a babe”. Once again, don’t we have bigger things to write about? Don’t they get enough of this everyday?) My biggest objection, however, involves Steven’s complaint to God he writes in English class.
“If you could pick one word in the English language to describe the universe, what would it be? Why?...Unfair. Unfair. Unfair, unfair, unfair. What do you call a planet where bad guys stroll through life with success draped around their shoulders like a king’s cloak, while random horrors are visited upon the innocent hands of children? I call it Earth…Thanks, God.”
With no previous discussion of God, this comes across as gratuitous and awkward. It seems more from the author than the character. If there had been a wise adult coming back later to discuss Steven’s question appropriately I would have been very pleased with his observation. There isn’t an exploration, however, leaving us, and middle school readers, to sympathize emotionally with Steven but having no context to think clearly on the issue.
Jordan Sonnenblick
Scholastic Paperbacks (September 1, 2006)
SPOILER ALERT: The following review contains plot points that you may not want to know about before reading the book.
In short: A funny and witty perspective of life from a middle school boy dealing with tragedy. The “why” of the tragedy is brought up, but not discussed, and needs to be.
Steven is an eighth grader who loves to play the drums and is a good student but he has an annoying younger brother, Jeffrey, who sometimes gets in the way.
“Sure, Mom. Chicks dig a dude who’s sporting the latest eggplant turtleneck styles…Do you think RENEE ALBERT will dance with you Steven? You think she’s HOT, right?”
All seems typical until partway through the school year Jeffrey is diagnosed with leukemia. Steven’s parents, understandably, become busy and focused on Jeffrey and his treatment, which is described in medically correct detail, from the chemotherapy port to the vomiting, and a lot in between. Steven, feeling somewhat neglected, throws himself into drumming and girls.
“I stood around for a while more, listening to my friends’ moronic commentary about how Annette wanted to jump on me and make me her band-geek love slave…”
This “family in crisis” novel, although tragic, is realistic and humorous. Steven overcomes his selfishness and matures while his family becomes closer to each other. There is some blasphemy (“Oh my g _ _”, “I swear to g _ _”), disrespect to parents, crude language (“c _ _ _” and “pee”) and objectification of girls (“Hey, chick”, “She was a babe”. Once again, don’t we have bigger things to write about? Don’t they get enough of this everyday?) My biggest objection, however, involves Steven’s complaint to God he writes in English class.
“If you could pick one word in the English language to describe the universe, what would it be? Why?...Unfair. Unfair. Unfair, unfair, unfair. What do you call a planet where bad guys stroll through life with success draped around their shoulders like a king’s cloak, while random horrors are visited upon the innocent hands of children? I call it Earth…Thanks, God.”
With no previous discussion of God, this comes across as gratuitous and awkward. It seems more from the author than the character. If there had been a wise adult coming back later to discuss Steven’s question appropriately I would have been very pleased with his observation. There isn’t an exploration, however, leaving us, and middle school readers, to sympathize emotionally with Steven but having no context to think clearly on the issue.
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