From: Tana Elias <telias>
Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 15:15:02 -0700

I, too, find the "Jack's New Power (Jack Gantos, 1995) humorous, in both senses of the word as it's been used in thiss discussion. In the first story (Dynasty) in this collection of stories about Jack and his family, the father challenges every family member to face and conquer a personal fear after they witness him save a honeymooning couple from a dangerous ocean undertow. Jack is afraid of horses. Jack and his brother agree to help each other face their fears. Jack's brother, Pete, "helps" Jack overcome his fear of being kicked by a horse by convincing Jack to stand behind the horse and pull its tail--resulting, as you can imagine, in an incredible kick to Jack.

 "I took a deep breath and yanked the tail as though I were pulling a bell rope. The horse kicked me so viciously in the thigh that I skipped across the ground, staggered up the dirt path, and collapsed sideways into the bushes. The horse galloped off as I reached up with my free arm and jerked the shirt over my head.
"Pete was laughing so hard he had dropped onto his knees. When he saw me staring at him, he stood up and backed away."

Call me sick for laughing, but I did, because it's safely funny for a reader who isn't being kicked. The language is so descriptive of emotion, and the reader knows this is a funny scene because Pete is already laughing, so we know no real harm is done. This type of scene sets the stage for the discovery, while progressing through the stories of the book, that this is a family with many problems, but one who uses humor to get them through, as individuals, and as a family unit.

Tana Elias Meadowridge Branch, Madison Public Library telias at execpc.com Carrie Schadle wrote:
Received on Tue 12 May 1998 05:15:02 PM CDT