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Whirligig
- By Paul Fleischman
- Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Common Sense Media says
A car crash ends one life and begins another.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that even without much action, this beautifully thoughtful book is enthralling to many young adults. It's a powerful, complex tale of guilt and redemption that may inspires in kids a desire to create their own whirligigs, and to explore the country. Parents need to revolve around the main character's attempt to kill himself while driving drunk, which results in the death of another person.
What's the story?
Brent begins his second life the night he kills a girl.
Desperately chasing junior-class popularity, Brent gets drunk at a party and is humiliated in front of all his classmates. Driving home in a fog he decides to commit suicide by driving into oncoming traffic. But the ensuing accident kills a girl in the other car instead.
As a form of restitution, the girl's mother asks that Brent travel to the four corners of the United States--Maine, Washington, California, and Florida--to build and set up whirligigs that display her daughter's face. So Brent sets off to travel the country with a bus pass and a bag of tools.
In alternating chapters, Fleischman tells of Brent's odyssey of guilt and self-discovery, and of the surprising effects his creations have on others, often years later.
Is it any good?
Paul Fleischman has long been a solid children's author, but WHIRLIGIG is a tour-de-force. Breathtakingly powerful and vividly memorable, it is also multilayered. As Brent travels alone and struggles to come to terms with what he has done, his personality, priorities, direction, and indeed nearly everything about him is irrevocably changed, mostly for the better. The appalling consequences of his self-centeredness, and the rippling impact of his actions causes readers to look at their own lives in a new way.
The format can be confusing; the chapters showing the effects of the whirligigs don't follow the same order as Brent's creation of them, so the reader is often unsure which whirligig is involved. But eventually it doesn't seem to matter; the point is the unexpected consequences of our actions. This is the kind of book that latches onto readers and doesn't let go. More than a few readers have been driven to seek out books on the making of whirligigs, which the author makes fascinating and lovely.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about consequences. When Brent is first sentenced, does his punishment seem serious or does he seem to get off easy?
Can you think of something you've done impulsively that had unintended
consequences affecting someone else?Families can also talk about teen
depression. Have you or anyone you know ever felt like Brent at the
beginning of the story?How could his humiliation at the party been
avoided?What do you think would have happened if he hadn't gone on to
cause the accident?
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AGE
this book was the worst book ive ever read it was stupid not intresting. the chapters were a bit confusing jumping from a differnt person then back to the main chater. the book didnt talk about the person who died that mush to feel like that brent did somthing bad. the charters in the book werent insting atall they didnt want you to know more about them and when you start reading it you wonder about other things that they talked only for a second then jump to something else that they never talked about and then jump to something else.
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AGE
Whirligig
Sorry, no offense to the author, but I'm a 9th grader and we just had to read this book and...well....no one liked it. It's annoying because at the beginning this guy is completely overly dramatic and sensitive. Everyone knows high school isn't going to be perfect, especially for new kids. But because a girl embarrassed him he decides to kill himself? Sorry but that's beyond stupid.Then some wooden toys are supposed to influence people and their life choices? Really? If I saw a toy in the park, I'd think, "cool," and then forget about it forever. The book doesn't have much going for it anyway. You can tell that the author is probably good because of his writing style, but the book is awful! If I hadn't been forced to read it I would have returned it before the 2nd day, if I checked it out in the 1st place. Do yourself a favor, and don't read it unless you have to. If you are in high school, middle school, etc, then u have enough drama in your life and shouldn't have to put yourself through a story of a random guy's self-destructive course and his guilt from murder and etc.
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AGE
I wonder....
My classroom plan's on reading this book but am hearing some bad things and some good things about it am going to come back and see if this is a good book.
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AGE
not interesting
There no interesting plot line. my English class was force to read it, and no one liked it. it was too boring. dont waste your time looking for the book.
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AGE
itas okay for a 10 year old
this boook was stupid it was waste of my time, minutes of my life i will never get back life is to short to waste on this book the author should be ashamed of what they put me through
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AGE
During his journey Brent learns and begins to build an entire new life. Although this book is not very exciting, it's great for readers who like slow and thoughtful stories :)
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AGE
A Stupid Waste of My Precious Summer
This book was stupid. I had to read it for school... I read this kind of stuff when I was like, 8. This is not on my reading level at all, it was confusing because the chapters jumped around too much and it was just stupid! I spent part of my precious summer on this! I will never get that time back! I hated this book so much that when I opened the stupid thing, I cried because of how much I hated it, I'm totally serious! Seriously, don't waste your time on this book unless you want to torture yourself!
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AGE
better for older kids. Stronger themes may not be appropriate for younger children
Whirligig is a beautiful story of redemption. A boy searching for himself and forgiveness travels across the country to build whirligigs for a young woman he accidentally killed. We see the affects the whirligigs have on him, but also the affect it has on four the lives of others in the four states.
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AGE
ehh.....
Ok this book is ok we read it in class and it was boring everyone fell asleep, except in like the third chapter when these two teenage girls are talking and the one is trying to encourge the other by telling her her future in which she has a fulller figure and find a man who is sick from hypothermia (sorry if thats spelled wrong) and to save him she presses her body to his....that was an akward moment in my class funny since my teaacher said "there not doing anything....yet" lol :) I'd say teaches kids not to drink or you may kill somone and have to travel the counrty buliding things.
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AGE
Great book for reluctant readers
It is a warm, coming of age tale of taking responsibility, forgiveness, grace, and redemption.
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| Author: | Paul Fleischman |
| Book type: | Fiction |
| Genre: | Contemporary Fiction |
| Publisher: | Henry Holt & Company, Inc. |
| Publication date: | January 1, 1998 |
| Number of pages: | 133 |
| Hardcover price: | $16.95 |
| Publisher's recommended age(s): | 12 - 17 |
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