Jasper Jones [Hardcover]

Craig Silvey (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 5, 2011

A 2012 Michael L. Printz Honor Book

Charlie Bucktin, a bookish thirteen year old, is startled one summer night by an urgent knock on his bedroom window. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in their small mining town, and he has come to ask for Charlie's help. Terribly afraid but desperate to impress, Charlie follows him into the night.

Jasper takes him to his secret glade, where Charlie witnesses Jasper's horrible discovery. With his secret like a brick in his belly, Charlie is pushed and pulled by a town closing in on itself in fear and suspicion. He locks horns with his tempestuous mother, falls nervously in love, and battles to keep a lid on his zealous best friend. In the simmering summer where everything changes, Charlie learns why the truth of things is so hard to know, and even harder to hold in his heart.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2011:
"The author’s keen ear for dialogue is evident in the humorous verbal sparring between Charlie and Jeffrey, typical of smart 13-year-old boys...A richly rewarding exploration of truth and lies by a masterful storyteller."

Starred Review, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, April 2011:
"Silvey’s sure-footed, evocative prose, intelligent humor, and careful plot structuring may well ensure this Aussie import lasting status."

Starred Review, The Horn Book Magazine, May/June 2011:
"The mood and atmosphere of the 1960s small-town Australian setting is perfectly realized—suspenseful, menacing, and claustrophobic—with issues of race and class boiling just below the surface."

Starred Review, School Library Journal, June 2011:
"Silvey is a master of wit and words, spinning a coming-of-age tale told through the mind of a young Holden Caulfield."

About the Author

CRAIG SILVEY wrote his first novel, Rhubarb, at the age of 19. It became a bestseller and was chosen as the "One Book" for the Perth International Writers Festival. Craig is the singer/songwriter for the band The Nancy Sikes! and lives in Fremantle, Australia.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers; First Edition edition (April 5, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375866663
• ISBN-13: 978-0375866661
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.1 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #502,973 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding coming of age novel February 17, 2010

By Julia Flyte TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition

This is a great book - one of those ones that you feel a sense of loss when you finish. It's moving and funny and tense in turns, but always utterly compelling.

Charlie Bucktin is a bright 13 year old boy living in a small town in Western Australia in the early 1960s. He has a fraught relationship with his mother, a crush on Eliza Wishart and his best friend Jeffrey Wu is a hilariously funny Vietnamese refugee. Late one night, Jasper Jones, the half-aboriginal town "bad boy" knocks on his window and asks for his help. Jasper is trying to avoid getting accused of a crime that he says he didn't commit. Charlie helps him, but now he's saddled with a dark secret, which is gnawing away at him.

It's hard to summarize this book because it's so many things. It includes a mystery, romance, peer pressure, racism, hypocrisy, abuse, marital problems and a searing sense of place. It's been described as an Australian version of "To Kill A Mockingbird" and indeed it often (somewhat heavy handedly) references that novel, as well as Mark Twain. The mystery is the central plot which gradually unfolds, but along the way Charlie learns that there are many other secrets hiding in this town and that life is more complicated than he formerly realized. An outstanding book.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Books I've Read this Year... July 10, 2010

By Vampires and Tofu

Format:Kindle Edition

There have been many books I have thought of as 5 star books for various reasons...they were fun to read, they were entertaining, the descriptions were vivid and they played like a movie in my head. And then there are those magical books that come along only ever once in awhile that make you realize you need a 6 star rating system because they just shine above and beyond.

That's Jasper Jones.

The story is told by Charlie, who gets a surprise visit from Jasper Jones one night and becomes involved in a terrible mystery that affects the whole town they live in. It's also Charlie's coming of age story, his journey from the relative safety of childhood to realizing the world isn't always a pretty place. Cruelty isn't just confined to the schoolyard, it happens out there in the real world too.

Silvey is a master of dialogue, the voices of Charlie and Jasper and Jeffrey Lu (Charlie's best friend and all around AWESOME, I ADORED him) are SO incredibly vivid. Each has a distinct personality and sense of humor (and oh my, there were some real laugh out loud moments in this book.) I felt like I KNEW these guys and I genuinely cared for each one. But this was so much more than a telling of what was said or what was done. We get to hear that voice in Charlie's head...the one that wonders why and asks the big questions and then lets us know what he thinks. And we get to nod our heads and say, "Yes, yes Charlie, that's EXACTLY how it is." His observations on the world we live in are spot on.

Not to mention his opinion on Batman, which is nothing short of brilliant.

Jasper Jones is, quite simply, beautifully written. It is the kind of book you feel grateful for after closing its pages. And a little sad when it's over because you hate to say goodbye.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Complex characters, Unimaginative Plot March 30, 2012

By Bob Bahr

Format:Hardcover

When 13 year-old Charlie awakes to rapping on his window in the middle of the night, he is dumbfounded to find the locally notorious miscreant, Jasper Jones, imploring his assistance. For what, Charlie wonders, would the alleged town rogue possibly beseech such an unlikely individual? Aside from hardly knowing Jasper, Charlie also acknowledges that his bookish nature and diminutive stature make him an unlikely companion. A stark contrast indeed to the athletic and rebellious reputation of Jasper Jones. But when Jasper Jones reveals his secret to Charlie, he realizes that he is the only person who can help Jasper, and that additionally, Jasper Jones may not be the shameless character the town portrays him to be.

As touched upon by earlier reviews, Jasper Jones is a tale of many themes. Racism, friendship, familial relations, misconstrued reputations, guilt, and self-forgiveness are all prevalent in this coming-of-age mystery/romance. The author is extremely effective in relaying these through the layers and interactions of his characters, who are all very well developed and interesting. The unlikely friendship between Jasper and Charlie is especially charming, and at times heart-warming. The dialogue between Charlie and his best friend Jeffrey is also original and quite funny, at times. I felt their sarcastic bantering was especially effective in establishing them as realistic characters, although at times it became quite redundant. The author also succeeds greatly in contrasting these characters with the backdrop of a small, condemnatory Australian town during the Vietnam War, which seems to further conflict Charlie in his struggling campaign standing up for "what is right" when witnessing the unremitting maltreatment of his friends and their families. The author captures these sentiments wholly with beautiful prose and genuine dialogue throughout the novel's duration.

While the characters are great, I feel like the plot was a severe let-down. It is hard to explain this in-depth without any spoilers, so I cannot say much more than it is a very compelling premise initially that quickly becomes dull and tedious. After the first forty pages, much of the book is repetitive and uneventful. Charlie's interactions with Jeffrey, while genuine, are overabundant and too drawn out. In fact, I'd say they make up the majority of the book, even though they do not drive the plot any further. It felt like the ball got rolling in the first chapter, only to come to a prolonged halt, where it doesn't start up again until the last 80 pages or so. It is in this finale that I experienced acute disappointment in regard to the plot. The mystery is unraveled abruptly when one character literally says, "This is what happened:", and proceeds to explain why and how these secrets unfolded. In my opinion, this was devoid of any wit or creativity. Instead of crafting pieces together from an intricate puzzle of clues, the author just has a character explain away the mystery. I would be lying if I said I was not frustrated by this.

One of the older reviews here is titled "Page Turner". Personally, I could not disagree more. I found this novel quite tedious most of the time. So much so that I had to muster all of my resolve in order to complete it, to be frank. I hardly, if ever, felt compelled to read on. I think it just goes to show that people appreciate different characteristics in novels. If you are in to character driven novels, then chances are you would like Jasper Jones. If you are more plot-driven, then I think you'd find this a bit cumbersome. Overall, Jasper Jones is not a bad book by any means. Certaintly, the characters and background are interesting and authentic, but in my opinion not enough to compensate for the uninventive plot to warrant a recommendation or second read.