Leavitt,
Martine. Calvin. Macmillan/Farrar Strauss
2015
181p
$17.99 ISBN 978-0-374-38073-1 hs/adult Realistic fiction E-BN
What a treat to read a book in which word choice
has been carefully thought out so the result is concise, lyrical, and full of
WOW moments. Calvin’s journey is told as a letter to Bill Watterson with “play”
dialogue interspersed, including blank space after a character’s name to indicate a
silent reply. Calvin knows he was named for the comic strip character from “Calvin and Hobbes”. The reader enters
Calvin’s genius-level mind as he contemplates things such as school courses that
provide no real foundation for practical living, bullies, sophisticated math,
brain neurology, and possibly the most inexplicable -- the mystery of
love. Calvin, seventeen years old,
knows that if he could just get his hero/nemesis Bill Watterson to do one more
Calvin cartoon without Hobbes, his schizophrenia would disappear and he would
be “normal”. Calvin sets out with Hobbes
and Susie to accompany him as he treks across Lake Erie to the shores of
Cleveland where he knows Watterson will be waiting for him. How much is reality
and how much fact (another concept he puzzles through with amazing insight) is
left for the reader to discern. Possibly only true “Calvin and Hobbes” fans, and many are
getting on in age, will get all the references to the cartoon, but Calvin’s
journey is fascinating regardless of the age of the reader. Brilliant writing.
Gr 8+
Strongly recommended for high-school and adult
readers. The journey into Calvin’s schizophrenic mind is fascinating to
encounter, with many facts bumping up against reality, something we all face
to some degree.
Summary: Travel with Calvin, newly diagnosed with schizophrenia, as he sets
out across a frozen lake to meet his hero/nemesis Bill Watterson, creator of
the “Calvin
and Hobbes” comic strip. Concise, articulate writing with brilliant moments of
humor and insight. Gr. 8-12+
Schizophrenia-Fiction --Lois
McNicol
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