Unbelievable!  Another incredible first novel, this one by Lauren Tarshis.  The writing is tight, the story is compelling, the pace moves quickly, there is wonderful symbolism (the quilt!), the characters are well developed, and the storyline is appropriate and of interest to middle school students… so Tarshis has her quality-writing ducks in a row.  But what I really admire about this book is, like The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt, the book has heart and soul.  Two sweet souls, actually – Emma-Jean Lazarus and Colleen Pomerantz – both students at William Gladstone Middle School.

Further distinguishing this book from most middle/YA novels, these girls are NICE, NORMAL kids with normal problems.  Emma-Jean is an extremely level headed and intelligent girl who contentedly keeps to herself since she has very little in common with her peers.  Colleen Pomerantz is a truly kind and good hearted girl.  When Emma-Jean finds herself unusually conflicted by a sobbing Colleen, she proceeds, in typical deliberate Emma-Jean fashion, to provide assistance.  Despite pure intentions and a well-thought-out plan, complications ensue.

Other than the death of Emma-Jean’s father two years prior to the narrative’s setting, this book doesn’t deal with extreme circumstances and evil or absent or ineffective adults.  As a matter of fact, it has fully-functioning, extremely realistic adults doing their best for their offspring and/or students.  The adults are not perfect, just realistically flawed.  Colleen’s mother struggles to show affection, but she does show affection in her own way.  Mr. Petrowski, the most flawed adult, unfairly harasses his student Will Keeler.  Unfortunately I’ve known teachers like him; thank goodness not very many!  And he is balanced (and chastised) by a wonderful young teacher, Ms Wright.  (Hmmm… Ms Wright.  I didn’t notice the name before.  Perhaps it is a coincidence and perhaps it is purposeful?)  And like Schmidt’s The Wednesday Wars, this novel realistically includes faith in the life of a character.

Part of growing up is realizing that everyone views the same circumstances differently.  Wendelin Van Draanen’s novel Flipped remains my favorite for illustrating this reality, but Lauren Tarshis has credibly provided similar insights.  Because Emma-Jean does not pick up on “normal” social cues due to her mathematically analytical (and abnormally mature) perspectives, the reader can examine the middle school world objectively.  Because Colleen views the world completely through emotion the reader is provided important contrast.

But nothing in this novel is didactic.  It is funny and sweet.  Among my favorite moments is when Emma-Jean shows up at Colleen’s home to offer advice.  Colleen is obviously not answering the doorbell deliberately, but Emma-Jean does not view it that way:

(p137) “Emma-Jean backed away from the door and looked up at the curtained window through which Colleen had been peering.  There was no sign of Colleen.  In fact, to the casual observer, the house would appear completely empty.  However, Emma-Jean was not a casual observer.  Colleeen Pomerantz was in this house.  And there was only one explanation for her failure to respond to the doorbell:  She was too weak, perhaps in a state of collapse.  Very likely, her mother had gone to the market or the drugstore, believing that Colleen’s condition was stable.  Perhaps she was unaware of the capricious nature of viruses, how symptoms can subside only to flare suddenly and violently just hours later.”

You can see from the passage above that Emma-Jean’s sections of this novel require readers with good vocabularies… or a good dictionary and the will to use it!  Those readers without good vocabularies will understand the narrative, too, and may benefit from learning a new word or two!

It is worth noting that Lauren Tarshis is writing an Emma-Jean sequel coming out in May 2009.

The overall message of this book is valuable!  When we seek to interact and truly understand others… we often end up understanding more about ourselves.  Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree was an Oprah’s Kid Book Club Selection, but don’t let that stop you!  This novel is worth reading and worth recommending!