The Leaving and Other Stories (Point) [Paperback]

Budge Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1993 | Series: Point

In this collection of nine haunting stories, characters including Sylvie--who is leaving with her mother and wants to know why--approach adulthood. Reprint. SLJ. H. K.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Recipient of the Canadian Young Adult Book Award, nine remarkable stories about girls in Nova Scotia, often told by a narrator looking back years later on a pivotal period, after its significance has become clear. Like the author, some of these wonderfully individual characters are gifted writers; in ``Lysandra's Poem,'' one such fiercely independent soul is described by a narrator whose conventional effort receives a local prize, thus winning the enmity of her far more talented friend. Miss Hancock, a seventh- grade teacher with a vividly flamboyant manner, inspires Charlotte with the power of language in ``The Metaphor''; when Miss Hancock reappears in high school, unable to get her rowdy students' attention, Charlotte tragically fails to tell her how much she still values the earlier lessons. Several stories turn on realignments of power in the family: oblivious to her true image, Juliette describes bullying her meek twin, Henrietta, until the day the young men suddenly see Henrietta's beauty. In the title story, an uneducated mother who has labored through The Feminine Mystique (found among clothes given her family by the Salvation Army) takes her 12-year-old daughter on a three-day timeout from their rudely demanding menfolk; the changes that ensue on their return are pathetically small--yet real. So beautifully written that they seem to have been lived rather than observed, rich in insight and splendidly grounded in time and place: a memorable collection. (Fiction. 11+) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Point (July 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590469339
• ISBN-13: 978-0590469333
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #718,310 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Leaving is a perfect book for sixth through eighth grade, June 20, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Pasadena, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Leaving and Other Stories (Point) (Paperback)

If you are looking for a book of short stories that will keep your sixth to eighth grade students and readers debating about what the characters' true motives are all about, this is a perfect book of short stories with fiesty female protagonists. I have taught The Leaving for six years and I am still haunted by the characters, especially Lysandra and Elaine. Because Wilson uses first person "unreliable" narrators, she forces the readers to wonder about what the other characters are thinking. We never know why the brilliant Miss Hancock left seventh grade to teach tenth grade, consequently losing control of her class. The title story is a perfect excuse to tell students about Betty Friedan and life for women before The Feminine Mystique. What happened between the mother and Manuel Jenkins that caused her to cry alone at her dresser after he left and changed her family forever? I first read The Leaving with a faculty book discussion group and have been giving friends copies ever since.Each story is a gem.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Leaving and Other Stories, February 13, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Leaving and Other Stories (Point) (Paperback)

The Leaving and Other Stories by Budge Wilson is a collection of nine stories set in Nova Scotia about girls who are being pushed into the adult world. They face challenges like peer pressure and problems with friends and family.

One of my favorite stories is "The Metaphor." It is about a seventh-grader named Charlotte and her literature and creative writing teacher, Miss Hancock. Miss Hancock is very enthusiastic about her job, and wears lots of makeup and flashy clothes. While her students love her, most adults consider her "brassy" and think she's too overenthusiastic. One day in class, Miss Hancock introduces her students to the metaphor. She gives the class an assignment to write metaphors about people and things they know, and Charlotte writes a long, intricate metaphor about how her mother is a flawless concrete building filled with machines. On the bottom few floors, Charlotte writes, people track mud all over the building and "mar its perfection." Miss Hancock is thrilled by the long metaphor (although a little disturbed by its meaning) and encourages Charlotte to write more. Charlotte starts writing metaphors in the bathtub at night.

Then the story flashes forward a few years and Charlotte is starting her first day of high school. She's thrilled to find that her literature teacher is-Miss Hancock1 However, the other students think Miss Hancock's a joke and ridicule her every day, until she comes to school every day as a beaten-up wreck. Charlotte thinks she could stop this, but peer pressure convinces her not to. Then one day, Miss Hancock is killed by a bus. Charlotte is horrified and thinks that it's all her fault. At the end of the story, Charlottte is sadly writing a metaphor about Miss Hancock.

Many of the stories are like that. All of them have preteen and teenage girls as the protagonists, and many of them have the girls facing some kind of loss, be it of a teacher, parent, or friend. I would recommend this book to any girl who has ever faced problems with friends or family.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Leaving, June 5, 2000

By 

Xiao Feng Huang (Charles) (United States Of Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Leaving and Other Stories (Turtleback)

The stories in the leaving will really help you in life, most of them will make you laught. It is a great book and worth the money.