Whirly+-+2

__**Whirligig:**__

Kyle G. = Wordle Danielle M. = director David C. = questioner Amy P. = glogger Shelby O. = THE TALKER

Whirligig book talk Author: Paul Fleischman 113 Pages Shelby O’Meara

Brent is new to the town and all he wants is to fit in. When he gets the opportunity to go to a party, he jumps on it. Even though he wasn’t actually invited, his friend Jonathan is friends with the host and said he can tag along. Jonathan only really invited Brent because he needed a ride there. So when they get there, they realize there was a dress code that Jonathan forgot to mention. It was a chess themed party so everyone was suppose to wear black and white. Brent gets mad at this because now he stands out which he didn’t want to happen. Brent takes some scotch and soda and starts sipping. He sees the girl he likes walking off in the dark and he follows her. Unfortunately, as he tries to be nice and says hi, she rudely yells at him and tells him to stop talking to her and calls him and loser and stalker. She says it all so loud that everyone at the party listens and then laughs at Brent.

Brent kept sipping the scotch as he ran towards the front door to leave. He doesn’t care that he is suppose to be Jonathans ride home because he just wants to leave. He gets in his car and starts driving. He was so humiliated and wants to kill him self. He was planning on getting into a car accident. The next thing you know, he wakes up and he is still alive… but someone else is dead. As he tries to remember last night, he realizes he almost did kill himself. He hit the divider on the highway, spun around and hit the driver behind him. That driver was a girl, Lea Zamora, 18 years old. He had killed her.

Lea’s mother soon met Brent. She asked him to do one thing for her, set up 4 whirligigs at the four corners of the United States, Washington, California, Florida, and Maine. She wants this because Lea’s grandfather used to paint whirligigs and had Lea’s face on them. Brent has empathy for Mrs. Zamora so he says he will do it. She gives him a bus pass and lets him go. That’s just where the adventure begins.

I would recommend this book to teens between 14 and 18. People should read this book because it can teach a really good lesson about drinking and driving and it shows that your own actions can affect people you don’t even know. It also can teach that suicide is a serious thought and you should really think about it and talk to people to get help instead just jumping on it when you have the opportunity. media type="file" key="20120117 124424.wav" width="300" height="50"

media type="custom" key="12088217" David Clarke Whirligig Paul Fleischman The Questioner

1. What was unique about the setting of the book and ow did it effect the story? 2. What specific themes did the author present through out the story? 3. What message do you think the author is trying to get across to you? 4. Do the characters seem realistic to you, if so can you relate to them? 5. Do any of the characters remind you of you or someone you know? 6. How does Brent change throughout the story, what events show these changes? 7. How do the events in the book represent how the author looks at the world? 8. Did you think you can relate to your life from the book, if not why? 9. What main event in the book really stood out to you? 10. Can you relate or think of a person that had to move to a new town and you helped them feel more comfortable in your environment? 11. How would you react if you were in Brent Bishops position? 12. Since reading this book does it make you feel that you yourself has to be more responsible in what you do so you can avoid what happened to Brent? 13. Would you highly recommend this book to someone you know? 14. Do you feel that what happened to Brent happens to frequently to other teens? Why?

Amy Pisacreta "Glogger"

media type="custom" key="12157958" Kyle Grabowski Whirligig Paul Flieschman Wordle or Tagexdo

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