Making My Escape [Paperback]

David Lee Finkle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2002

Boy daydreams of a better life in outer space and implements his dream with his youthful neighbors. Learning what to do, how, when, where to film an epic movie were exciting experiences, until the boy's mind became tangled with fantasy and with reality. Real drama for young and adult readers.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Lee Finkle has taught middle and high schools in Florida since 1990. His comic strip Mr. Fitz, about teaching this MTV generation, appears in the Daytona Beach News-Journal five times weekly. He lives with his wife and two children in DeLand, Florida.

Product Details

• Paperback: 284 pages
• Publisher: May Davenport Publishers (June 2002)
• ISBN-10: 0943864461
• ISBN-13: 978-0943864464
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #741,234 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Lee Finkle began his writing and cartooning career in Kindergarten during fire safety week, when he was asked to draw a picture of what students should do if the school catches fire and in response drew a picture of children roasting marshmallows over the smouldering embers of the school. Amazingly, he went on to become a teacher, and is currently a middle school Language Arts teacher in Florida. His comic strip about teaching middle schoolers, "Mr. Fitz", has been running in the Daytona Beach News-Journal since 2000 (he has now drawn nearly 2,500 strips). His first book, "Making My Escape", about an overly imaginative middle schooler, was published in 2002. His Scholastic Professional book for teachers, "Writing Extraordinary Essays" contains 84 of his cartoons (he counted them) and was released in 2008. He recently self published (through lulu.com) a fantasy book with his 13 year old son, Christopher, entitled "Portents." They hope to have it available on Amazon.com in the near future. He is currently working on a second book for Scholastic, "Teaching Students to Make Writing Visual and Vivid." His website is www.mrfitz.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, joyful, and hopeful, March 2, 2006

By 

Cindy Lovell (Hannibal, Missouri) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Making My Escape (Paperback)

The action never stops as Daniel Finn "travels" between two worlds - the real one where life should be perfect, and almost is, except for an alcoholic and abusive father - and the fantasy one where similar conflicts and challenges involve robots and other Star Wars-like characters. Good versus evil is an old theme, and David Finkle handles it masterfully in this hopeful tale of a young teen in a dysfunctional family. Kids of all ages will love it, and adults will "remember when."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Parelells, December 9, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Making My Escape (Paperback)

In this book, there are two worlds.One that Daniel lives in, and one that Daniel wishes he lives in. Zack is the parelell of Daniel, Omega the parelell of Meg, Nerthron the parelell of Daniel's father, and so on. Daniel escapes into his dream world, inspired by real events that happen to him. As a student in David Lee Finkle's class, he often tells us the parelells between the two worlds. When I looked over the book, I realized just how much work it must take to make everything parelell. Finkle's book will get you re-thiking about how lucky you really are if your parents have a good relationship and don't drink. The picture on the cover also shows parelells, the most important ones at least. There is a gray garage with a gray planet hanging over it. That is a parelell. The white garage and the white planet over it is also a parelell. And then there is the blue truck with the big spaceship(MayflowerII) over the blue truck. Yet another parelell. Although the book has a lot of action, drama and sci-fi, the book lacks the romance it needs to be a great one. I hope you enjoyed the book as much as I did, considering that you don't have to do an entire lesson for each chapter of the book. I sincerely salute David Lee Finkle on his book. And with that, I'm off. Be sure to read it!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, February 26, 2004

By 

carolann kitzmiller (Deland,Fl and Harriman, Tn) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making My Escape (Paperback)

Making my escape is a great book as one of david students in florida middle school i got a chance to read it in his class and give my opinion on it. I thought it was a great book and i really enjoyed it and plan on buying copies of it for me and a few of my friends because i loved it and i think mr. finkle is a great teacher.