Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell in Love

In the novel Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell in Love by Lauren Tarshis, Emma-Jean struggles to find her place as her 7th-grade peers at William Gladstone Middle School prepare for the upcoming Spring Fling. She considers asking Will Keeler, whom she considers to be an honorable person, but later realizes that they are not suitable for each other. Meanwhile, her friend Colleen feels insecure because she believes that no one would want to attend with her. In an attempt to cheer her up, Colleen’s close friend Kaitlin leaves an anonymous letter in her locker:

Colleen-

I think you’re the best girl in the whole grade. I hope you want to go to the Spring Fling.

Love,

Someone who thinks you’re so great.

Colleen’s reaction to this note is described brilliantly by Tarshis:

“Out of all the girls in the seventh grade, a boy liked Colleen.

Colleen, who wasn’t the prettiest girl in the seventh grade, or the smartest, or the funniest; Colleen, who wasn’t first violin or in high math or in travel soccer. A boy liked Colleen, because she was Colleen, because that was enough” (Tarshis, 32).

This novel is written in third-person, but takes on two different perspective. Each chapter alternates between Emma-Jean’s and Colleen’s point-of-view. This adds much more depth to the story because these characters could not be more different. Emma-Jean always has a logical approach to situations, even when logic may not apply. As Colleen described her, “she knew almost nothing about boys or clothes or makeup, but everything about birds and flowers” (Tarshis, 13). Colleen, on the other hand, loves trying on makeup and using fruity perfumes, both of which Emma-Jean believe irritate the skin and cause asthma. It is very bold of Tarshis to tweak her writing style as she goes back and forth from each of the two characters.

Tarshis does a wonderful job of creating characters that stay with you  long after the book is finished. I especially appreciated how well she fleshed out Colleen’s character and built her into something more than just words on a page:

“All eyes turned to Colleen, who was indeed the most fragile of the girls, easily upset by even the most benign conflicts. A recent debate about soda flavors had caused Colleen to put her hands over her ears and implore, ‘Can’t we all just agree?’” (Tarshis, 70).

I thought that this particular quote captured Colleen’s personality quite well. She clearly cares a great deal for her friends but  hates for there to be conflict. However, because of her sensitivity, she is often anxious. The reason why this stood out most to me is because I worry over the same things as Colleen would, and I think that the author took the appropriate and believable angle when expressing this characteristic.

The author uses both similes and metaphors to express the relationship Emma-Jean has with her peers. My favorite is when Emma-Jean’s friends are compared  to the moons of Jupiter:

“Like the moons of Jupiter, Colleen Pomerantz, Kaitlin Vogel, Valerie Rosen, and Michele Peters moved together in harmony through the chaotic universe of William Gladstone Middle School. And if Emma-Jean did not share their exact orbit, she was very pleased nonetheless to sit with them at their table” (Tarshis, 6).

I admire Lauren Tarshis’s writing style and the story reminded me of how complicated the seventh grade was.

A Mission for Closure

Asperger’s syndrome is characterized by an inability to pick up social cues, heightened sensitivity, and an apparent lack of empathy. Despite these barriers, those who Work At It* are often successful.

Caitlin Smith, Kathryn Erskine’s lovable character in Mockingbird, struggles to find closure when her brother is killed in a school shooting. This novel is written in the first person and takes the perspective of Caitlin, who is living with Asperger’s syndrome. Erskine does not flesh out Caitlin by simply describing her,  but by literally going inside of her head. Although difficult to follow at first,  the reader explores how Caitlin sees and interprets the world around her; watching as she grows from the tragedy that struck her community:

“I put my head under the sofa cushion and stare at the chest so I can think of an answer but instead I think of Devon and I wish he were here so he could tell me the answer and I think about how he could never tell me anything or do anything again--not ride his bike or play baseball or watch To Kill a Mockingbird* or be an Eagle Scout.

I hear the crying and then I see Dad’s hand reaching under the sofa cushion and pushing the wet hair out of my eyes. But I can’t stop crying. For Devon. Because of what happened to Devon. Because he got his life taken away and he can’t do anything and he can’t be happy or proud or live or love” (Erskine, 218).

CLOsure*, as she put it, “is the state of experiencing an emotional conclusion to a difficult life event” (Erskine, 67). It was a word she’d heard on the news soon after her brother passed and that because his killer was now locked up, the community should feel more at ease. But the image of the shooter on her television screen did not put her at ease. It would take something more powerful. Devon was an Eagle Scout, and still had an unfinished project underneath a sheet a in the Smith’s living room. It was a mission chest, one that was big enough for Caitlin to fit inside. Caitlin’s father had put a sheet over the chest when Devon died, and kept his eyes averted from the corner it was in. An air vent beneath the sheet gave an illusion of a bird “floating and falling and floating and falling” Erskine, 3). The repetition literally quickens my breaths, they go up and down and up and down, like the way someone would feel if they floated then fell then floated again. I think that it is important for a sentence to be dynamic and take the reader with it. Although Caitlin was only referring to the sheet as looking like a bird, I think that it was also alluding to how unstable she felt. Her mind does not work the same way ours does. Not only does Caitlin grow throughout the story, but we do, too.

*Caitlin would always capitalize words that were important to her, regardless of its placement in the sentence. She would not just capitalize the first letter of that word, but the letters within that word in which she found meaning. When Caitlin was asked to do a project on the Heart, she capitalized it each time she used it in her paper. When her teacher commented on this, Caitlin didn't understand why something so important should not be given its proper recognition.

*To Kill a Mockingbird is a recurring theme in this book. This was Devon's favorite movie; his nickname for Caitlin was Scout.