Whirligig (Chinese Edition)

With a family always on the move, popularity and the ability to fit in quickly are vital to Brent Bishop’s high school survival. When he blows his chances with the girl of his dreams in front of everyone, he’s devastated. Brent tries to end it all in a fatal car crash, but instead he finds an unlikely beginning. He’s sent on a journey of repentance—a cross-country trip building whirligigs. His wind toys are found by people in need: a Maine schoolgirl yearning for her first love, a Miami street-sweeper desperate for peace and quiet, a kid in Washington who just wants to play baseball, and a San Diego teenager dealing with loss. Brent’s whirligigs bring hope to others, but will they be able to heal the wounds deep inside himself?

Annotation

While traveling to each corner of the country to build a whirligig in memory of the girl whose death he caused, sixteen-year-old Brian finds forgiveness and atonement.

Editorial Reviews

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Publishers Weekly

After a drunk teenage boy kills a girl while driving, his life is transformed by fulfilling a request of the girl's mother. PW's boxed review called Fleischman's novel "stellar." Ages 12-up. (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Children's Literature - Susie Wilde

Newly moved and angry Brent attends a party. It turns out he is dressed wrong and not clued into the planned activity. His fury escalates when he drinks, is rejected by a girl, teased and comes to blows with the host. Enraged and humiliated, Brent leaves and becomes lost in a maze of expressways. He decides suicide is the way out of all his problems. Only he doesn't kill himself but Lea, an eighteen-year old caring, honor student. Her parents ask Brent to create four whirligigs resembling Lea and place them in four corners of the United States. The sorrowful Brent, armed with a used instruction book, supplies and a bus pass, establishes handmade whirligigs in Maine, Florida, Washington and San Diego. Each has a positive effect on another person, but no one is changed more than Brent who sees life like a whirligig, "its myriad parts invisibly linked, the hidden crankshafts and connecting rods carrying motion across the globe and over the centuries." He understands also how Lea's death has saved him from blackness and set his life in motion, a "motion that he was now transferring to others." This has much to say about apologies, and discovering that saying "I'm sorry" is as important to the offending party as the injured.

About The Author:

PAUL FLEISCHMAN won the Newbery Medal for Joyful Noise, as well as a Newbery Honor for Graven Images. He lives with his wife and children in Pacific Grove, California.