Whirligig (novel)

Whirligig

Author	Paul Fleischman
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	none
Genre	Fiction
Publisher	Macmillan
Publication date	May 15, 1998
Pages	133 pages

Whirligig is a 1998 novel by Paul Fleischman. It is about a teenager who puts up four whirligigs in each of the corners of the United States in order to pay restitution (and to find redemption for himself) after he kills another person, on accident, in a suicide attempt by car crash.

Plot

Whirligig is about a boy named Brent Bishop, he has to live with the consequences of his actions. The story starts when Brent is preparing for a party. Brent has always been the new kid, but this time he wants to be one of the popular kids, but in order to do that he has to date the most popular girl in school, Brianna. When Brianna embarrasses him in front of everybody Brent decides to commit suicide. He decides to try and kill himself in a car crash, but instead of killing himself Brent kills a girl named Lea Zamora. Brent was too young to go to jail so Lea's parents tell him to make a journey. This journey involves going to four different cities of the United States and placing one whirligig in each city, in honor of Lea Zamora.

JOURNEY WHIRLIGIGS

Picture WASHINGTON When Brent arrives at Washington he starts to make his first whirligig, his first whirligig was a harp. The harp was full size the same size you will find one in an orchestra. It was a harp because Lea had played in one orchestra.

Picture SAN DIEGO In San Diego Brent wanted to stay at a hostel but they tell him that only foreigns can live there. Brent lies telling that he was from canada. The whirligig Brent made at San diego was made of a mermaid, he decide to change the book mermaid hair to black in his project. Picture Florida When Brent arrive to Florida he sleep on the beach. At the beach he met some children who helped him to make his third whirligig, the whirligig was of a marching band in it, it was a drummer, a trumpet player, a clarinettist, and a men with a trombone. Picture Maine Brent made his last whirligig in Maine. The forth whirligig was made of a girl it was Lea Zamora, she was wearing seashells for a necklace and her face reflectors in the hire. This whirligig was the largest of all and also the most beautiful. HOW BRENT CHANGING BY THE JOURNEY. Picture Brent at the beginning or the book was a boy that care a lot in materialistic stuff and money. Brent wanted to be popular and to feat on society being like others. when all of that fail in the party he feel sad and depressed then he commit the accident. Seance the mother of Lea Zamora give him the challenge of putting a whirligig in each corner of the united states on the trip he met people and start to get mature he learn about the world and when the journey finish he reenter in life again. After the journey Brent had change.

But this journey nor only change the life of Brent it also change the life of other people like Raul's dad (Flaco), Trisha,Tony,Stephanie, etc when they see the whirligigs that Brent made in his trip. JOURNEY CITIES. Picture Washington Washington is a state in the Northwest corner of the United States and Brent's first destination. Picture San Diego San Diego Is a major city in California, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, approximately 120 miles south of Los Angeles and is in the border with Mexico. Picture Florida Florida is a state in the southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, is where Brent make the third whirligig with help of some children. Picture Maine Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, hear is where Brent made his last whirligig and he made it of Lea Rosalia, here is when Brent start to feel alive and part of the human community again after finishing his journey.

Style

The novel alternates the perspective of the narration every chapter. Among these are Brent, whose perspective takes up every other chapter starting with Chapter 1. In the other chapters, four different characters are introduced. They are all profoundly impacted by the whirligig.

External links

• Whirligig – Book Review
• Whirligig – Google Books
• Publishers Weekly Review
• [nataliawhirligig.weebly.com]