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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Runaway adventure, October 7, 2009
This review is from: William S. and the Great Escape (Hardcover)
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William S. Baggett is planning to run away . . . when he's older. Since their mother died, life has been miserable with an abusive father, uncaring stepmother and mean older brothers. But when his sister Jancy's guinea pig is flushed down the toilet, the two decide they can't stay to be tormented by their older siblings any longer. They escape along with a younger sister and brother and head to their aunt's house. They are forced to take a brief detour with a rich girl who admired William's rendition of Ariel in Shakespeare's The Tempest and talks them into hiding out at her house for several days. They eventually make it to their aunt's house but trouble follows them . . .
The author is a three time Newbery winner so obviously she knows how to write. The main characters are endearing and the story arc satisfying -- however, I did have a few problems with this book.
- This is supposedly set in the late 1930's -- but the only way the reader knows that is because it says on the first page that it is 1938 -- and the depression is mentioned once. Other than that, the language and lifestyles, activities and food are exactly the same as today. They ride on a Greyhound bus . . . does it look like the buses we have now. There are cars driving all over . . . do they look different. Expressions like "lame brain" are used. Did they really say that back then? If this is supposed to be 1930, we should know that and feel that and learn about that time period . . . the author telling us should not be the only clue.
- There was way too much backstory and "telling". The first 3 chapters were all telling us about stuff that already happened -- and the same thing happened at the end. It made for rather boring reading -- I want to be in the story and experiencing it along with the characters.
- In the middle of the book, we were in the present story which was great but there are so many scenes of William acting out Shakespeare's play and while I appreciate the effort to introduce children to Shakespeare, again it made for dull reading.
- The book seems to be written for young children but toward the end, there is some really violent stuff with William getting beaten senseless and the younger sisters being forced to watch. This seemed really disturbing and didn't match the lighter tone of the rest of the book.
Overall, this book seemed to have a lot of promise but the book read more like a first draft too me -- with some of the dull parts omitted, the backstory turned into present, more details about the time period and more action, this would have been a 5 star book.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
hope in the midst of heartache, December 30, 2009
This review is from: William S. and the Great Escape (Hardcover)
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11-year-old William S. Baggett (emphasis on the "S") is ready to make his escape. For too long, he's suffered under his abusive father and apathetic stepmother, but he's waiting until he's a little older to leave. When circumstances force him to take action and run away sooner than he hoped, he takes three of his siblings with him on a journey to their Aunt Fiona's house, hoping to permanently leave behind the Baggett house and find a home.
It's a bittersweet story, and William is an admirable character. He doesn't lose hope, and through his love of Shakespeare and dreams of acting, he helps impart some hope to the other children. Some reviewers are saying they can't stomach the violence, but unfortunately, it happens to kids and Zilpha Keatley Snyder doesn't shy away from the hard issues.
One thing that did seem odd about the book, though, was how the Depression was more of a backdrop than any part of the story. I thought there could have been more historical color, but the only thing the Depression setting seemed to do was give Big Ed a reason to reclaim his children (the New Deal welfare plan). But it wasn't strong enough, and the story could probably have been set in any time period and not really have been affected plot-wise.
Overall, a good read and recommended for mature middle school/junior high readers, or for young children with parental/teacher discussion.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Formula writing 101, December 17, 2009
This review is from: William S. and the Great Escape (Hardcover)
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I was looking forward to this book based on the premise-kid needs to excape homelife and has dramatic experiences. I found that as I read it I felt like I'd read it before-in fact, over and over before!! The storyline, writing style, and plot are so typical of kids books 30 years ago. The story felt contrived, the plot was boringly predictable and there was ZERO drama. Pass on this one and read some classic adventure stories instead.
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