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ChaseR: A Novel in E-mails
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by Michael J. Rosen
Sales Rank: 1087389
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$0.01
At Amazon
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Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 160 pages
Publisher: Candlewick; 1st ed edition April 1, 2002
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0763615382
ISBN-13: 978-0763615383
Product Dimensions:
8.5 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
From Publishers Weekly
Rosen's (The Blessing of the Animals) semi-epistolary novel encompasses two somewhat contradictory themes. On the one hand, it's a perky celebration of e-mail, complete with numerous emoticons and group "newsletters." On the other, it offers a fictional summary of the conflicts between animal rights activists and hunters. Unfortunately, the former element drags down the latter. The narrative consists of e-mails sent by 14-year-old Chase, whose parents have recently moved from the city to a quiet farmhouse. He proves a prodigious but cutesy and often dull correspondent. "Your reading list sounds a lot like mine," he writes to his best friend. "So does your schedule. The state probably makes all eighth graders suffer through a lot of the same courses." Chase loves to make "smileys" and other word pictures: for example, "[/`b'\]" is one of his dogs. When a hunter wounds that beloved pet, Chase tries to raise awareness of animal rights. Eventually, he discovers that the impoverished farmers around him hunt not for sport but for meat, and therefore reconciles himself to the ways of his new home. Although Chase's ethical dilemma has much potential for debate and discussion, only the most eager of e-mail enthusiasts will persist past the banalities and typographical silliness that shroud the story. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9-Chase Riley, a 14-year-old who has recently moved from Columbus, OH, to a farmhouse 60 miles away, experiences jolt after jolt of culture shock. While he is happy that his dogs have more space to run around and explore, he soon finds out that acres of woods provide little protection from the perils of modern life, namely deer hunters and their guns. His new friends are from a world far more remote than the relatively short distance implies. Because the novel is related through e-mails from Chase to his friends and his sister, who is away at college, readers hear only his voice. However, the real triumph of this story is the way the other characters emerge in all their fullness, even though they never speak. Chase himself is a warm, funny, compassionate, and sincere boy who is earnestly trying to understand the changes in his life that the move has precipitated. His journey is compelling, and brings up questions that readers will be eager to explore along with him-they'll want to find the answers, too. Beyond the interest and intrigue of the story is the format of the book. Chase invents "smileys" for his friends and himself and creatively illustrates various scenes using only keyboard symbols. This is a rich and provocative story that will be enjoyed by those whose pains and gains of adolescence are near or far away.
Elizabeth Fernandez, Brunswick Middle School, Greenwich, CT
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Customer Reviews & Comments
It is August 10th. Fourteen-year-old Chase Riley is online writing a heads-up newsletter to his old classmates in the big city of Columbus, Ohio. Chase is now living on a farm sixty miles away, so Chase's dad can have some peace and quiet to study and write after he comes home from his job at the lab. Peace and quiet are the buzzwords. Chase is feeling rebellious at having to be so far away from his friends, but his e-mails are still bright and funny. It is not that quiet, Chase tells his buddies. The Cicadas in the daytime and the bullfrogs at night make ear-splitting noises. Is this what adults call "the joy of country living?" He knows that his two dogs are in heaven, free to run loose and chase anything that excites them. Unfortunately, they are also learning about skunks and tomato juice baths --- a bitter lesson. Even Chase smelled of skunk for awhile! Then there is the matter of making new friends. Chase keeps to himself when school starts and spends his time writing e-mails to his newsletter group and his sister, Mallory, at Kent State. He doesn't seem to be settling in to his new school environment, and the school guidance counselor is becoming worried. For Chase, writing e-mails has taken the place of forming friendships. I hope that most young readers will find the main character, Chase Riley, cool. He is an amazingly talented fourteen-year-old with obvious gifts in writing and computer literacy. His intelligence, fierce independence, and wry humor will help him to handle the adjustment of leaving the city for the country, making new friends, and coping with the other events in life's journey. (...)
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ChaseR: A Novel in E-mails
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