Assignment: #9 of ten narratives
Author: Terry Trueman
Publisher: New York: Harper Collins, 2000
Date: 03/24/07
Format/Genre: Realistic Fiction
Recommended Grade Level: 5-10th grade
Summary: Fourteen-year old Shawn McDaniels suffers from cerebral palsy. Shawn is wheel chair bound and unable to verbally or physically communicate with anyone. His family has been torn apart by his illness. His father has even left the home because he can no longer handle Shawn's condition. Throughout the story Shawn recollects what life was like before his father left them and now what his fathers ultimate plan is for his son.
Comments: This story was one that kept you reading from start to finish. You quickly find out that Shawn's father has so much love for his son that the disease has driven him away. The story helped me to realize what it must feel like being able to hear and see but not being able to communicate . I cannot even imagine how difficult it must be. The other compelling aspect is how the author leaves the reader suspended after each paragraph. He does this up till the end when Shawn and his father are alone. In the end it seems as if Shawn's father has decided to put his son out of his misery but one will never know because the author ends the book with a seizure. I was upset that the author left it open at the end but I believe that he did this for a purpose. Throughout the story Shawn continually goes back to how he believes his father will kill him but then at the end it is as if when Shawn's eyes meets his fathers that his father realizes that Shawn can really communicate. This book is depressing but at the same time enlightening.
VOYA: 3Q 3P
