Dump Days. by Jerry Spinelli. 1988. Little, Brown and Company. 159 pages. ISBN: 9780316807067 Best friends JD and Duke spend their summer days digging in the dump for possible treasures, terrorizing rats and dodging bullies, interacting with various quirky neighbors, and wishing for enough money for a zeppoli, an Italian ice, or a comic book. One lazy afternoon, the boys map out a perfect day, filled with all the things they love. They’ll save every penny, look for ways to make extra cash, and by the end of the summer that perfect day will be theirs. With parents, bullies, siblings, and neighbors to contend with, however, their best laid plans go swiftly awry, making them question not just their plans but even their faith in each other.
Jerry Spinelli’s books are about very different subjects and use very different tones of voice, but they all have one thing in common: heart. Spinelli understands his characters and their relationships in such a fundamental way that these fictional kids seem very real, and they stick with the reader long after the story ends. In the case of JD and Duke, it is their friendship that comes so vividly to life. The two boys are different - one is Protestant, one is Catholic, one has a big family, one has a small one, one has more permissive parents, one’s parents have stricter rules - and yet what brings them together is a desire for simple things that are just out of a kid’s grasp - snacks, comics, and video games. Though the journey toward the perfect day is the focus of the plot, the real story is in the interactions between the two boys, and in how they relate to one another with regards to their goal.
Another strength of Spinelli’s writing is how he portrays setting. Not only could I imagine the dump and the neighborhood where JD and Duke spend their time, I could also picture and hear their neighbors and family members. In this book, as in
Jake and Lily and
Loser, Spinelli evokes a whole world of childhood that feels very real and believable. The boys’ issues with bullies and interactions with their own siblings are some of the most memorable portions of the book. I especially like the way Spinelli gives characters little quirks, like the toddler who likes to go outside without clothes and the bully who has to wear a special shoe because one leg is shorter than the other. These are the kinds of things notice about each other, and the tiny details that resonate with readers.
Dump Days is the rare book on the shelf at my library that looks old and outdated, but is checked out almost all the time, especially in the summer. Though it is out of print right now, I don’t see any reason why a contemporary reader couldn’t pick it up and enjoy it. Readers who loved
Maniac Magee will want to read this one, too, because it is set in the same town, and the legend of Maniac Magee is mentioned in passing by JD as he narrates the story. Like most Spinelli stories, this is also a great one for dealing with bullying and discriminations, as both issues become important to the story.
I borrowed Dump Days from my local public library.
For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.
Why We Broke Up. by Daniel Handler, illustrated by Maira Kalman. December 27, 2011. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. 368 pages. ISBN: 9780316127257 Daniel Handler’s 2012 Printz Honor Book,
Why We Broke Up is a long letter, illustrated by Maira Kalman, in which sixteen-year-old Min Green catalogs the contents of the box she is returning to her ex-boyfriend Ed, and explains, in vivid detail, how and why they broke up. Bottle caps, matches, a coin, a toy truck, and a ribbon are just some of the seemingly random objects that have been significant in Min and Ed’s short history - and each one gets its own chapter explaining its meaning and why it should have been a warning sign to Min that things would end badly. All these small tokens ultimately lead the reader to the big reveal of the devastating last straw that finally ends their relationship - the true reason they broke up.
This book is so different, in style, subject matter, and reading level from Daniel Handler’s books written as Lemony Snicket that I found it difficult at times to remember they are by the same author. Where Lemony Snicket’s tone in the Series of Unfortunate Events books is playful, ironic, and detached, Handler’s narration from Min’s point of view in
Why We Broke Up is very sincere, honest, and personal. I was completely immersed in Min’s voice from the first page, and it amazed me how well Handler understands the minds of teenage girls. His characterization of Min, and of her feelings toward Ed during the good parts of their relationship were so true to my experiences, and so true to what I think high school relationships are like for a lot of kids. Ed, too, is carefully characterized as both villain and hero. The reader can understand why Min falls in love with him, and why they ultimately fall out. Handler expertly walks the fine line between portraying Ed as a prince and turning him into a complete jerk.
Handler also surprised me with the long, beautiful descriptions he writes in this novel. Min has many moments where she becomes emotional in some way, and expresses her feelings in elaborate prose bordering on stream-of-consciousness. This wordiness and tendency toward run-on sentences could be annoying in the hands of a less skilled author, but Handler really makes it work for the story, and these passages are what, for me, distinguish the book and make it Printz-worthy.
Another surprise was the artwork by Maira Kalman. I have always been turned off by her picture books about Pete, because I don’t think her style works well for the picture book format. But
Why We Broke Up just wouldn’t be the same without her uniquely drawn and colorful illustrations of the box and all it contains. The endpapers of the book, too, provide subtle suggestions about setting that really enrich the reading experience. I read one review (at
Someday My Printz Will Come), which suggested that the decision to use paintings rather than photographs distances the reader from the story, but I disagree. Kalman’s art sets the scene for the entire book, and really matches Handler’s tone perfectly.
I have just a few criticisms of the book. The biggest one is Min’s constant use of film references. This is important on some level, since she and Ed spend much of their relationship planning a birthday party for Min’s favorite film star, but there were way too many references, and it turns out that most of them
