Watch Out for Jamie Joel [Paperback]

Mike Dumbleton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2004

Offering a courageous, honest, and compassionate look at what really goes on inside a tough high school, this novel for young adults is told alternately from the points of view of the most troublesome student in school and the assistant principal. The story explores dangerous boundaries and reveals uncomfortable truths about parents, students, and teachers. Jamie Joel has a bad temper and a mouth full of nasty words, but she is also intelligent and perceptive. She is faced with the decision of whether she should live with her hostile aunt or on the streets. The sympathetic assistant principal of Jamie's school finds himself in the middle, and the two are thrown together in ways that test them both.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up–Craig Eliot is the new deputy principal at Southside High School in a rundown urban Australian community. His main role is student behavior management, which keeps him fielding disciplinary complaints and contacting verbally abusive parents. He also teaches an English class and tries to help bright, disaffected students like Jamie Joel stay in school. As an understanding, humane adult, Craig sees the vulnerability and potential in his many charges. His harried moments and humorous self-reflections are portrayed in a first-person narrative that alternates sharply with Jamie's detached third-person portrayal as a troubled girl with a mouth, a temper, and a lousy home life. When she is suspended from school, Craig phones her home several times, resulting in another teacher's baseless claim that Craig has an inappropriate interest in the teen. Jamie's aunt, who serves as her guardian, is so caustic that Jamie runs away and drifts from one temporary lodging to another. She even begs unsuccessfully to stay at Craig's house. Then Jamie turns to Dominic, her almost-boyfriend. The large number of minor characters becomes rather hard to differentiate, but nevertheless augments the growing sense of dysfunctionality in the school and in the community. The accidental death of a truant youth wanted by neither of his parents is a turning point for Jamie, who finally determines to return to school and see it through. This debut novel ends on a realistic, yet hopeful note.–Susan W. Hunter, Riverside Middle School, Springfield, VT
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Review

"An excellent novel . . . a realistic picture of life in today’s high schools." -- Kliatt

"Painfully honest and unvarnished." -- Baltimore's Child

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Allen & Unwin (May 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1865085324
• ISBN-13: 978-1865085326
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,405,302 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A realistic look on Australian secondary school life, July 2, 2004

By 

Angeline Koh (Singapore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Watch Out for Jamie Joel (Paperback)

Craig Eliot is the new deputy principal in a lower rung secondary school. Jamie Joel is a girl with "a real temper and a mouth like a sewer." The short novel (139 pages) alternates between Eliot's diary and Jamie's voice. There is no consistent plot of any kind, but Dumbleton does allow the growing relationship between student and teacher to become the main thesis of the book.

It is an amazingly accurate depiction of Australian school life. Jamie's character is generic enough to represent any bad girl in school who longs to turn obedient to authority. Eliot is the overworked teacher who is concerned about his rebellious students but knows clearly where his boundaries lie. He struggles between a hectic work schedule and family responsibilities. He could be any male teacher with a family.

I highly recommend this book to would-be teachers.