Book Blog Mod. 9: Somebody
Springer, N. (2009). Somebody. New York: Holiday House.
Somebody is a story about parental kidnapping from the child’s perspective. Sherica’s father kidnapped her and her older brother from her mother when she was a toddler. Now fifteen, she is used to moving constantly, changing her name and hair color every time, and being ridiculed and underestimated by both father and brother. However, the inconsistencies in her father’s stories and her own curiosity finally drives her to discover the truth via the Internet.
This book was interesting, but a stretch. Today is known as the information age, where kids are inundated with information. To imagine two children who are completely unaware of their own kidnapping, or how irregular their identity changes are, is hard to believe. At their ages, how could their father keep them away from the Internet? Television? How does Sherica rationalize every book and TV show she sees being completely different from her own family life? It’s glossed over as childhood credulity, but still, not a single doubt? None at all? Even if Sherica has never stepped into a library in her life, as she claims, she should still have read books for school, watched TV in restaurants.
I found Sherica a sympathetic character, but she teeters. Constantly verbally abused, her self-esteem makes sense; she’s called "blimp," "air whale," and "blubber" more often than her name of the day. Her fear of getting her father in trouble is understandable, since he is the only parental figure she’s ever known, but the narrative gives no indication that this might be the narrator’s Stockholm Syndrome talking, and that her father does indeed deserve jail. She does eventually overcome some of her fears and insecurities, but that one of the first things she says to her mother is, "Listen, I’m not pretty or anything. I’m fat," (pg. 107) veers from the heartbreaking to the headdesking. It’s too much. And in the end, she gets away by simply walking out the door. For all her father’s control freak tendencies, apparently he never had a plan for if one of the children ever got it into their heads to leave.
I’m not the only one with doubts. Oddly, the book’s back cover appears to have very different versions of the reviews than the ones available from the Bowkers Books In Print database. On the back cover, School Library Journal says, "Springer captures feelings of fear, grief, anger, and revenge… A quick and easy read." But Books In Print’s School Library Journal review says, "The plot of this book is ridiculously unbelievable and the characters are flat and undeveloped… those looking for a worthwhile read on this subject [child abduction] should stick with Caroline Cooney’s perennially popular The Face on the Milk Carton." Booklist is a little less scathing, saying that "Springer packs her prose with just enough attitude to overpower the thin plot," and that the book has "a layer of optimism and meaning missing in many mysteries."
On the whole, this book is engaging enough, and I liked it, but it's just not quite good enough. There are probably better ones out there on the topic. Get something else.
Somebody is a story about parental kidnapping from the child’s perspective. Sherica’s father kidnapped her and her older brother from her mother when she was a toddler. Now fifteen, she is used to moving constantly, changing her name and hair color every time, and being ridiculed and underestimated by both father and brother. However, the inconsistencies in her father’s stories and her own curiosity finally drives her to discover the truth via the Internet.
This book was interesting, but a stretch. Today is known as the information age, where kids are inundated with information. To imagine two children who are completely unaware of their own kidnapping, or how irregular their identity changes are, is hard to believe. At their ages, how could their father keep them away from the Internet? Television? How does Sherica rationalize every book and TV show she sees being completely different from her own family life? It’s glossed over as childhood credulity, but still, not a single doubt? None at all? Even if Sherica has never stepped into a library in her life, as she claims, she should still have read books for school, watched TV in restaurants.
I found Sherica a sympathetic character, but she teeters. Constantly verbally abused, her self-esteem makes sense; she’s called "blimp," "air whale," and "blubber" more often than her name of the day. Her fear of getting her father in trouble is understandable, since he is the only parental figure she’s ever known, but the narrative gives no indication that this might be the narrator’s Stockholm Syndrome talking, and that her father does indeed deserve jail. She does eventually overcome some of her fears and insecurities, but that one of the first things she says to her mother is, "Listen, I’m not pretty or anything. I’m fat," (pg. 107) veers from the heartbreaking to the headdesking. It’s too much. And in the end, she gets away by simply walking out the door. For all her father’s control freak tendencies, apparently he never had a plan for if one of the children ever got it into their heads to leave.
I’m not the only one with doubts. Oddly, the book’s back cover appears to have very different versions of the reviews than the ones available from the Bowkers Books In Print database. On the back cover, School Library Journal says, "Springer captures feelings of fear, grief, anger, and revenge… A quick and easy read." But Books In Print’s School Library Journal review says, "The plot of this book is ridiculously unbelievable and the characters are flat and undeveloped… those looking for a worthwhile read on this subject [child abduction] should stick with Caroline Cooney’s perennially popular The Face on the Milk Carton." Booklist is a little less scathing, saying that "Springer packs her prose with just enough attitude to overpower the thin plot," and that the book has "a layer of optimism and meaning missing in many mysteries."
On the whole, this book is engaging enough, and I liked it, but it's just not quite good enough. There are probably better ones out there on the topic. Get something else.