Amy,
I have just finished the first five chapters of Escaping the Giant Wave. I can tell already that this book would appeal to my fifth graders.
I think my students would connect with the protaganist of the story, Kyle. Kyle has real kid problems: he needs a raise in his allowance, he has to babysit for his younger sister (without compensation), and he is being bullied by Daren. My students would also find the younger sister's obsession with money markets and stocks hilarious. The parents of these two characters are similar to most parents. I'm sure any kid can relate to child-parent conversations about why you will not get paid as a babysitter for watching your own little sister. Most kids will be able to connect with these characters. They will be able to make connections between themselves and the protaganist, and the problems or scenarios in their lives that are similar to those in Kyle's life. These characters are believable. Their actions and dialouge would make sense to young readers who have similar situations in their lives.
I also liked the author's use of foreshadowing throughout the first few chapters. This vacation seems like a dream vacation for Kyle and his family, but it quickly takes a turn for the worst. After discovering the Daren's family is attending the same convention, Kyle's family arrives at the luxury hotel and finds that it is under construction and they will be staying at a rundown hotel. Then there is the elevator that breaks down several times a day, trapping children inside. Kyle and his family find a sign warning about the threat of tsunamis for this section of Oregon coast. The author also foreshadows disaster with thoughts such as, "As it turns out, we should have taken Be-be's suggestion [about staying in a Motel 6]. Of course it's always easy to know the right choice after it's too late to go back and change your mind." Even before disaster strikes, the reader is intriged by what could happen next. The frequent twists and turns would be appealing to any young reader.
Meaghan
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Meaghan,
I completely agree with you on the realistic connections students would be able to make with the character of Kyle in this book. One thing that stood out for me was his level of maturity. Although he is dealing with real kid issues that most of our kids either have or can make a connection to dealing with; he seems to have a lot of patience and just seems like a balanced kid. He has had a history of being bullied by Daren and he has tolerated this behavior for years. I am sure most of the tolerance is out of fear but there is also seems to be a bit of “it’s just not worth it,” going on if that makes any sense. I feel that would be a great point to bring up to students to try and get a little character education in when you can!
I like the fact that this family is going to a place they have never been to before. Based on the authors (Peg Kehret), description of the Oregon Cost, I definitely felt like I was there. I was able to make a movie in my mind about the setting and what it entailed. I felt very disappointed when they arrived at the soon to be luxury hotel. Here they were looking forward to swimming, brand new beds, best of everything and they get stuck in the run down hotel! I truly felt as if I was part of this family and it was happening to me! I also really liked the scene where Kyle and BeeBee were trying to protect themselves from the earthquake. I was grossed out picturing them on the floor with their faces in a nasty old carpet!
I agree with you on the foreshadowing technique. I feel like the foreshadowing happens right from the beginning of the book. Here it is last day of school, its summer time, Kyle is working on 3 goals for himself, his family won a dream vacation etc…as I am reading it, I am wondering ok when is this whole its too good to be true scene going to end?
I feel that this would be an excellent book to use to practice some of the more complex reading strategies i.e. inferring, synthesizing. My background knowledge of Tsunamis was very basic and although I learned a lot about them after the giant Tsunami a few years ago, I became immediately interested in this book when I read the back cover and saw that the story took place in Oregon. I guess a Tsunami can happen anywhere in the seas but I feel that Oregon is an uncommon place for one to happen. To me, its like saying CT just got slammed with one as well. Alright, off the read the next 5 chapters and see if they are able to get out of the hotel!
Amy
Meaghan,
What a page turner! I cannot put this book down! I think the author did a fantastic job writing this very intense part of the book. From escaping the fire to running towards higher ground, I felt I couldn’t read the pages fast enough. What seamed to be a days worth of events for Kyle and BeeBee probably only happened within a few moments of each other. I like how this part of the book did not have the “and then,” pattern going on. Each new event naturally flowed into one another.
There is definitely the whole hero vs. villain plot going on in this section as well. I can’t believe Daren reacted the way he did after Kyle and BeeBee risked their own lives to save him.
I found it interesting how the author represented the differentiating opinions of the smaller characters in the book. I found it interesting that some people actually went to the beach to watch! I guess after dozens of drills and false alarms, the expectation of a disaster does not seem so realistic. However, I feel that was an excellent element of suspense and made the whole scene more nerve-wracking. I feel that would be an excellent discussion question to have with the students. What would you do and why?
Thank God the kids met Norm and Josie. They were the guardian angles the kids needed to get by. Animals are always right on when danger strikes as well. The dog was like their own little warning system just like the cow mooing was the warning system for the town. I wonder how many other towns have unique alarm systems like that.
Alright, can’t wait to finish the book! Happy Reading!
Amy
Hi Amy,
Good choice with this book!
I agree this book is a page turner! There are no slow points, it is like one action scene after the next. First a dream vacation gone bad, then an earthquake, followed by a hotel fire, then a tsumami warning and escape up a mountain. It just doesn't stop!
I agree with what you said about Kyle, and how he handles his "kid problems" with a great deal of maturity. I think this really stood out during the fire scene. The author helped us to get inside Kyle's head, as he battled within himself whether he should help Daren or leave him in the burning hotel. The fact that he chose to risk his life helping the boy who had made his life miserable says a great deal about his character. I also like how the author continued to build on the character of Daren. Daren was ready to risk his life wading in the ocean during a tsumami just to earn bragging rights. I agree that this would be a great book to use when hitting on character education. It would also help students to understand why some kids act differently than others and that risky behavior doesn't necessarily mean you are brave.
I have to bring up one thing that bothered me about the earthquake scene. I didn't quite understand the reaction of BeBe. She was more worried about the spilled milkshakes than about the fact that they had just experienced an earthquake. Maybe the author wanted us to see this character as the "matter of fact" younger sister. But I guess this reaction wasn't what I would call predictable behavior. Any child I know would have been either fascinated or terrified by the ordeal.
I am actually going to get back to the book now. I need to see what is going to happen. Will they make it up the hill in time? Will there even be a tsumami at all, or is it a drill? What a great book for predictions. I think it would work well for even the most reluctant readers.
Hi Amy,
This book was action packed from the beginning to the end. I thought the author did an excellent job in helping the reader feel the same fear and sense of urgency as Kyle and Bebe raced up the mountain. I also loved the way the author brought in the two older characters, Norm and Josie. They acted as the older and wiser point of view. As the younger "dare devils" were swept away by the tsumami during their beach bonfire, Kyle, Bebe, Norm and Josie fled for high land, even before knowing that the danger was emminent. I think the author may have used Norm and Josie to help show that Kyle is wise beyond his years. He acted with maturity and smarts as he made life saving decisions on that day.
I also have to say that I was horrified when the author described where the wave had crashed and you knew that Norm and Josie were in the wave's path. There is a semi happy ending when the kids find that Norm is alive but that Josie didn't make it. This might be hard for some kids to read, but it is also realistic. If I had not seen the results of the devastating tsunami in 2005, I would have never thought that the power and size of this wave was possible. This book can spark the interests of students in studying tsunamis and natural disasters. It would be a great resource to use as a read aloud or students' guided reading book that they could read as they studied the effects of natural disasters.
I also liked how this one day changed the relationship between Kyle and Daren. It was like the protaganist won the battle of good versus evil. But you can also see how Daren, although most readers still wouldn't like his character, grew as a person throughout this ordeal.
I think this book would appeal to many young readers. I especially think boys would enjoy this book because it is so action packed and because they can relate to the main character, Kyle.
Meaghan,
I also love the fact that there are no slow points. Even when you are done reading the climax of the story, it doesn’t stop. When Kyle and BeeBee woke up the following morning, even though the Tsunami was over, I still had tons of questions! Were their parents alive and would they find them? What happened to Daren? I predicted that Norm and Josie had died in the disaster and was relieved to see that Norm had made it (although this was a bittersweet relief since Josie did not). At this point, I really sympathized with Norm because his life partner, best friend was gone. I was happy that the author chose to not leave him totally alone. I felt his comment about having children and grandchildren to look after was foreshadowing a different yet exciting new adventure in his life. I also loved the ending of the story. I got that feeling that Daren and Kyle will never be friends but they now respected each other enough to get along. This is a concept I am continuously trying to work on with my kids (to the people I know they will never get along with).
The one character relationship pattern I noticed while reading this book was the parent vs. child connection. Throughout all of the main character’s interchanges and experiences in the book, you always had one character(s) taking the role of the parent and the other(s) the role of the child. For example, at the beginning of the book, you had Mom and Dad (parents obviously), and Kyle and BeeBee as the children. As the story continues, Kyle slowly falls into the parental role as he is forced to be in charge of his sister and then eventually take care of someone he isn’t too fond of. There are times when a child is not their parent’s favorite person but the magical word unconditional love keeps their bond together. I am not saying that Kyle had unconditional love for Daren but I think his morals and values were unconditional and would not change in a time of crisis. Towards the end, you have Norm and Josie taking the parental role and the kids back into their rightful place as kids. I truly feel the author’s purpose for this was to show how much Kyle grew as a person. At the beginning of the summer, most of his goals were very materialistic (i.e. more money, batting average). The one goal he did not think he would be able to achieve (Daren) he did and in my eyes went beyond achieving it.
To wrap our first book discussion up, I agree that it was a believable book. Both the characters and story line were realistic. The point you made about BeeBee’s reaction was interesting. I am really not sure why she reacted the way she did. I can only inference that maybe she was afraid when she was in the moment but once the earthquake was done, her fear passed? One of those in the moment types of scenarios? I know a lot of my little guys can be very upset about something but the second you swoop in with something new, its like the situation never even happened! I definitely feel this would be a great book to read with older students or as a read aloud to even 3rd graders. The description of settings and events alone I feel would be enough to keep them interested! It is also a great gateway into some non-fiction text since that is now all the rage!
Meaghan,
I found this review on the book and wanted to share. It is the complete opposite of how we felt!
There was a reason this is a 2008 Nutmeg Nominee!
http://www.amazon.com/review/R211HKPLDJBCUE/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R211HKPLDJBCUE
Ops it didn't work. If you go to amizon.com it is the second review under the book. Sorry. I guess I have to figure out how to do this!
Amy,
I took a look at some of the comments on amazon. I assume you're referring to the English teacher from Florida. She seemed to disagree with most of what we've said! I did notice that if you look at all of the other reviews they seemed very similar to ours. I saw a couple of people agreeing with us that the book is action packed and would be a great choice for a reluctant reader. I'm sure many teachers would view this book as an "easy read" for most middle schoolers, but who doesn't enjoy an easy read every once in awhile? I have already recommended the book to some of my fifth graders, so I'll let them be the judge :)
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