Inside this Issue - Jefferson County Public Schools

Are You in Love?
By: Keira Bailey
The Pact by Jodi Picoult. Harper Perennial, New York, 2006. 389 pages. ISBN-13: 978-0-06-085880-3
In the book, The Pact, Jodi Picoult uses a story of tragedy and love to show the problems of suicide pacts
among teens. “Emily has been shot to death by her beloved and devoted Chris as part of an apparent suicide pact.”
But Emily dies and Chris does not die.
Ms. Picoult uses teenagers to show how love can lead them to do anything. “He kissed her so gently she
wondered if she had imagined it. She pulled back slightly, to look into his eyes. And then there was a shot. Emily
was dead. ‘She was all the things I wasn’t. And I was all the things she wasn’t.’ Chris says as he’s talking to a
doctor. Picoult tells the reader right off that they were in love. “He covered her body with his, and as she put her
arms around him she could picture him in all his incarnations.”
The story becomes increasingly interesting when Chris goes on trial for Emily’s death. It’s hard for him
because he has not talked about what happened that night. “Chris lowered his eyes. ‘It was the night Emily wanted
to kill herself. I got the gun, like she asked me to. I drove her to the carousel. We talked for a while,
and....whatever.’ his voice drifted off, and Jordan watched him carefully, aware that he was back at the carousel
again, back with Emily. ‘And then,’ Chris said quietly, lifting his gaze to his attorney’s, ‘I shot her.’”
Jodi Picoult takes her readers through a lot of different emotions in her story. She clearly makes it known that people will do
anything for love. “Can you tell us how you felt about Emily Gold?” “I loved her more than anything in the whole wide world. Love will
make you do crazy things. I knew Emily her whole life.’ ‘Can you tell me about your relationship with Emily?’ ‘Do you know,’ Chris said
softly, ‘what it’s like to love someone so much that you can’t see yourself without picturing her?’ Jodi Picoult will keep you crying from
cover to cover as you follow this tragic story of love. Have some tissue near you.
Like many other teen novels, the characters are looking for love, but Picoult gives us the unique version. She presents problems
that happen every day in the real world. This book could be a real teen's life. This book will definitely make you think more about how you
make decisions in your life.
Operation Bring Husband Home
By: Canayec’ya Smith
We Take This Man by Daaimah Poole and Candice Dow. Grand Central Publishing, Hachette Book Group,
New York, 2009. 320 pps.
In We Take this Man, two literary powerhouses come together to tell the emotionally charged story of
Tracy and Dwight Wilson, the happily married couple of ten years who are living the ideal life. Both Tracy and
Dwight are excited when Dwight receives a job promotion, but the downside is that the job is located in
Maryland. After much thought, and discussing the situation with Tracy, Dwight decides that it wouldn’t be the
best thing to uproot the whole family, so he promises to return home every weekend. Although it started with a
job promotion it ended with a divorce and a child.
Alicia Dixon, the antagonist in the story, is the secretary at the new office who has never trusted men
because of how her father mistreated her mother. But, Alicia couldn’t help but fall for the new handsome software
executive. As the attraction grew stronger Dwight tried to restrain himself but Alicia was everything that his
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southern wife wasn’t, so it proved to be a losing battle. When Alicia ends up pregnant, Dwight decided to break
things off with Tracy, but the process wasn’t as easy as Dwight had hoped. “I don’t plan to forget about my
family. Look at the papers, Tracy. I plan to continue to take care of you. I’ll come to Jacksonville at least once a
month to see the girls. I plan to do what I promised you when I married you. You demanded divorce months ago
and I wasn’t sure. I wanted to work things out and all you kept saying is if you can’t have it your way then you
wanted a divorce. You got what you want.” (pg.135)
The story continues to unfold when each character tells their account of why and how their relationship has come to what
it is now. Tracy decides she isn’t going to sign the divorce papers because she doesn’t want her daughters to have to suffer. They deserve a
good father. On the other hand, Alicia is getting the royal treatment from Dwight. Ever since Alicia gave birth to D.J., Dwight hasn’t been
able to focus on anything other than them. The characters try to avoid making any more conflicts by moving everyone into Dwight’s
apartment. Of course, it begins to get hectic as both wives strive to get attention and quality time from Dwight. “By the end of our
conversation, I knew there was only one thing to do, and that was allow her and her child access to my husband. What I was about to say
didn’t even make sense to me. But the words came out of my mouth. I slowly said, “I don’t know how this is going to work. I can’t even tell
you I’ll agree with it tomorrow. But I’m going to allow you to be a part of my husband’s life.” (pg. 214)
Daaimah Poole is very well known for her creative writing style and her strong willed female protagonists in her previous novels.
Each of her stories are told from each character’s point of view to allow us a more detailed look into the conflict at hand. In her more recent
novel, A Rich Man’s Baby, she introduces new characters and a new issue…having a rich man’s baby. Tanisha Butler and Adrienne
Sheppard are both single mothers without a man in sight and this exciting adventure will lead them to their ultimate search to find money
and security. They won’t have to work or play as a wife. They can enjoy life while they’re still young.
Poole continues to grasp the attention of readers of all ages by making her characters relate to women of today. Many women can’t
find financial security and begin to rely on the government. Those few lucky women who do have a husband to help them run a household
have to worry about how they can keep them.
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