Review: Wringer, by Jerry Spinelli

Wringer is aimed at around the same age group as Jerry Spinelli's Newbery Award winner, Maniac Magee, but it has a more cohesive narrative. The fact that this is, in essence, an animal story will make this more enjoyable for all age groups, even though that animal is a very unusual one. The novel has some dark themes, as suggested by the cover. While friendship is a major theme, abuse is another underlying theme - namely the abuse that we put up with because we believe it is for our own improvement. Wringer is about a boy who feels compelled to do something that terrifies him.

Wringer has two plots that merge together. Both revolve around the main character, nine-year old Palmer. Palmer's desire is to become initiated into a group of boys that include the obnoxious Beans, his sidekick Mutto, and the acquiescent Henry. Palmer's mother despises these boys and wishes Palmer would befriend the nice girl across the street, Dorothy. But moms just don't get it. Sure Beans treats Palmer like dirt and gives him a cruel nickname, Snots, but the important thing is to be a part of the group. The guys take Palmer to receive The Treatment from an older boy. This Treatment involves getting punched in the arm ten times, so that Palmer has a bruise that lasts a good week. Sure it's painful, but it's nothing compared to the satisfaction of being part of the "in" crowd. The bruise serves as a badge of honor. Now Beans, Mutto, and Henry are best friends of Palmer's.

The other storyline involves Pigeon Day at the annual Family Fest. Five thousand pigeons are captured for this event, for the purposes of being shot for sport. The person who shoots the most pigeons wins a golden pigeon trophy, one of which proudly sits on Palmer's fireplace mantel for the day his father won it. The shooting event raises lots of money for the park, and it serves as a great attraction, however, Palmer dreads this day every year. One part of the sport involves boys, aged ten, who run out to collect the bodies of the downed pigeons. If a pigeon is still alive, it's the job of these boys to wring its neck and kill it. One simple twist to put the bird out of its misery. Palmer has nightmares about the first day he witnessed this. Worse, it's expected that all ten-year-old boys will become wringers, and Palmer fears nothing more.

So things take an unexpected turn when a pigeon begins to visit Palmer's bedroom every day. This is when things begin to change for Palmer. He starts spending less time with his friends, because they are vicious pigeon-haters. In fact, Beans relishes the thought of becoming a wringer so much he tortures helpless animals in preparation. Palmer is afraid that if Beans knew about his new pet pigeon, Nipper, that would spell the end for the bird.

The story of friendship that Spinelli tells between the Palmer and Nipper is surprisingly effective. One usually doesn't attach sentimental feelings to a pigeon, which is usually referred to as a rat with wings, but Spinelli gives the bird personality. I have no doubts that there are kids who, after reading this novel, will want a pigeon for a pet. Spinelli inserts pigeon facts throughout the novel, facts that don't really enhance the story but help bring the bird to life. The way he describes Nipper's actions suggests Spinelli has a special fondness for pigeons. Such as the fact that they walk, where most small birds hop. Or the way they nod their heads as though they are the most agreeable creatures on the earth. Spinelli's description of Nipper reminded me of Herman Melville's discussion of whales in Moby-Dick, which are viewed with awe and affection. Spinelli paints the lowly pigeon as though it is just as grand as the magnificent whale.

The novel does begin to move in predictable fashion. Based on the plot elements I have shared, you can probably guess with a good degree of accuracy where the story heads. There are moments towards the end where the story moves very slow as it makes its trek towards its inevitable conclusion. Still, this is a very enjoyable book overall. It uses lots of humor and provides good insight into the thoughts and feelings of a nine-year-old boy. This book is a testament to how our love for an animal can cause us to grow as a person.

Review: Maniac Magee, by Jerry Spinelli

Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee won the Newberry Medal in 1990, and I can imagine that the age group the award is aimed at, late elementary to early middle school, would get more of a kick out of the absurdly goofy scenarios in the story than I did. Reading as an adult, the book seems random and ungrounded, though I will admit it has heart.

At the age of three, Jeffrey Lionel Magee lost his parents. He lived with his uncle and aunt for some time, but their strict Catholic ways left him feeling stifled. So he ran away. Only, unlike other runaway stories, Jeffrey was never caught. In fact, he makes a name for himself in the town of Two Mills, which has a East End where blacks live and a West End where whites live. The name he makes for himself is Maniac Magee. His feats become part of the town's legends, and Spinelli playfully suggests we shouldn't believe all the stories we read about Maniac. This isn't a story, though, where the reader is supposed to guess reality from myth. That would be fruitless. Maniac's feats are as much fantasy as the setting the story takes place in.

Stories are told about Maniac's untiring ability to run endlessly. He can untie even the most difficult of knots. He is allergic to pizza. He also frog bunted an inside the park home run against the best pitcher in Two Mills. Yes, ridiculous. As a kid I can imagine I would have hooted with laughter. These stories seem to exist simply for the amusement of younger readers, but as this story is made up of random bits of such tales, it fails to feel cohesive.

The story deals with themes of homelessness and race. Maniac is known for fearlessly crossing the border between the West End and East End, which are divided on racial lines. Most residents from one end won't mingle with residents on the other end because of the racial tensions. Maniac does more than cross the border, however. He lives in the house of Amanda Beale, a black girl, long enough to become an honorary part of the family. Spending much of his life without a home or a place to learn about social constructs, Maniac doesn't understand the concept of racial tension. This suggests that people are not innately born with racial prejudice, but learn it. Living on the East End, Maniac does learn about racial prejudice, and it chases him away for a time.

Maniac's outsider status allows him to see things others can't. He realizes that households on the West End aren't terribly different from those on the East End. The Beale household is a normal home and there is a feeling of warmth and love. Maniac also experiences the same thing with a large white family that welcomes anybody to join for dinner. And where the white families all believe black households are trashy, Maniac spends a few weeks in a white household trashier than any he's seen on the East End. But because nobody crosses the border as Maniac does, nobody else knows how similar to two sides really are.

Unfortunately the novel doesn't do much with its themes, except maybe the theme of friendship and family. There are some touching moments, particularly when Maniac befriends an older man named Grayson. The novel is most enjoyable when Maniac settles down somewhere, but he's on the move so often the novel feels just as homeless as its title hero. Perhaps that's the point, and maybe I'm missing something. It's not that this is a bad novel, but it's one more geared for the kids than the adults.

Review: Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli

Everybody could use a friend like Stargirl. She's fun. She's blissfully unaware of social rules. She wants everybody to be happy and doesn't seem too concerned about herself. On one hand she's powerfully charismatic, but on the other hand she's on the outskirts of society. Somebody like her, continuously cheerful and positive, blissfully unaware of social norms, tends to have less friends than not, but those friends she does have are very close. Popularity doesn't concern her. Acting bizarre in public doesn't embarrass her. She's always so full of energy it's as though her crazy behavior fuels her. Reading Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl, it's hard not to fall in love with the title character. And the reader does get to vicariously fall in love with Stargirl through the eyes of the main character, Leo. The results are a fun, fresh story about nonconformity.

As she's the new girl in town, the students at Mica High are unsure what to make of Stargirl. What is clear is that she's something of a sensation. At lunch, on her first day of school, Stargirl plays "Happy Birthday" to a student on her ukelele. She seems to have a supernatural sense about special things such as birthdays and random acts of kindness. A student who picks up a piece of trash from the floor and throws it away will turn around to see Stargiril cheering him on. The student body begins to feel good about itself and looks forward to Stargirl appreciating previously unnoticed gestures of kindness and goodwill. It's not long before she's the most popular girl in the whole school.

What I have described so far make it sound like the story's main character is Stargirl, but that would be wrong. In fact, the story is told in the first person perspective from a student named Leo. Leo directs a school show called Hot Seat, which his friend, Kevin, hosts. On the show, a jury comprised of students asks whoever is on the Hot Seat probing, personal questions, and as soon as Stargirl arrives, it is Kevin's goal to get her on the show. Leo is less certain, however. He feels it might be cruel. The early parts of the story are focused almost primarily on Stargirl, but as the story begins to settle Leo becomes much more important.

The story settles into a sweet romance between Stargirl and Leo. Though he's reluctant at first, Leo falls head over heels for her, and the two go on dates that aren't normal dinner/movie dates, but are a lot of fun nonetheless. The romance that Spinelli writes is among the sweetest romances I have had the pleasure to read. Of course, the romance occurs early enough that you know something is going to happen to threaten it. Not that I mean Stargirl is predictable. What does end up happening seems natural, but certainly not predictable.

For some reason, Stargirl falls in love with Leo. Maybe she can sense a certain kindness to him. Or maybe she liked it when he followed her after school one night to see where she lived. What develops, however, is a sweet, fun romance. None of that dark, murky, games-playing romance seen in Twilight and The Hunger Games. These are two teenagers who fall head-over-heels in love and enjoy each others' company. As with any romance story, this romance faces a conflict - in this case in the form of popularity. Stargirl's popularity in the school lasts only so long. She's a sensation as one of the cheerleaders, but the school soon despises the fact that Stargirl cheers every basket that is scored, including those on the other team. Thus the students begin to shun Stargirl.

Stargirl doesn't seem to notice, but Leo does. What scares Leo is that, as Stargirl's boyfriend, he also feels shunned. He pleads with her to act more normal because the pressure is too much for him. It's something that eats away at him. A question arises in the story as to whether it's more important to be true to your own unique self or to conform to societal norms in order to become accepted by others. A retired archaeologist in the story, and a mentor to many of Mica High's students, Archie provides Leo with one of the novel's key question: "Whose affection do you value more - hers or the others'?" I won't say how the story answers this question, but it is a compelling one, a question with the power to shape a young adult's values. At the core the question is addressing whether you need the affection of a small number of people in order to be happy, or the acceptance of the larger societal group. The older you are, the more obvious the answer to this question is.

I love stories about nonconformity. Nonconformists are important to society. They make life fun, and, besides, everyone of us has a little bit of the nonconformist in us. Stargirl is pure joy to read from beginning to end. Stargirl steals the show, becoming one of the most compelling character in literature. The novel's romance, as well, is lots of fun and serves as an example of how romance stories should be.. The ending, too, I think is perfect and keeps with the flow and design of the story. I was so engrossed I didn't want the story to end, but unfortunately all good stories must come to an end.