As part of the Children’s Book Blog Tour set up by Kidz Book Buzz, I want to continue discussing Mary Ann Rodman’s fine middle grade historical novel, Jimmy Stars. Yesterday in my recommendation, I had this to say about Jimmy Stars:
This book brings up some important issues, ones that adults will do well to discuss with their children, and this book gives the perfect forum for such a discussion.
Interestingly, in her comment to that post Sally mentioned the topic of war. Another reviewer mentioned how timely this book was, referring to the suffering war causes. Even the endorsement blurb from Library Journal says “This psychological, child-oriented war perspective could provide significance in today’s military dilemma.”
I was a little startled. Yes, the story takes place during World War II, and attitudes about war may be drawn, but I didn’t see the story tackling that subject. (Note: the rest of this post contains spoilers.) Rather, I thought the story took on two other important issues: the promises adults make to children and don’t keep, and death.
First the promises issue. I thought Rodman did a masterful job portraying a child’s perspective. Clearly, the protagonist, sixth grader Ellie, took some things as promises that were intended to offer her hope and consolation. Instead, the empty words brought an extra dose of bitterness.
Towards the end, I didn’t think Rodman would bring resolution to this theme, but she did, masterfully. In a letter, Jimmy explains to Ellie why he made the promises. Her coming to understand this is a major part of her coming of age. From Jimmy’s letter:
I know I promised that nothing would happen to me. I shouldn’t have done that. Some promises are not ours to make. Sometimes you go ahead and make them anyway and hope for the best. You don’t want the people you love to worry. I’m sorry, [Ellie].
The other issue is death. Rodman actually walks Ellie through the various stages of grief: denial, anger, resignation, determination to keep the memory of the loved one alive. Again, these points were a natural part of the story, not in anyway forced.
However, it is here I think parents should also be reading this book in order to discuss the subject of death with their middle grader.
Ellie came to a point of hope because she learned how many other people loved Jimmy, because she determined to keep his memory alive in her heart, and ultimately because she came to embrace the creed he lived by: finding the joy. In his letter, he told her that there are worse things than dying, like not really living while you are alive.
These are all fine points. A number of other reviewers even commented on the book ending in hope, and it did that. But from a Christian worldview, it is an incomplete hope, a temporary hope.
Am I suggesting the end should have been different? Not at all. I do think, however, parents should use the occasion of reading this book to discuss eternal hope with their children as well.
And now, I’ll let you see what others on the tour are saying. I know several have interviews with Ms. Rodman, so you won’t want to miss them.
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[...] at A Christian Worldview of Fiction, remarks on the hopefulness of the book, yet finds it to not have a complete picture of [...]
Pingback by Jimmy’s Stars ~ Day Two — August 19, 2008 @ 8:36 am
Great points.
One of the reasons I loved this book was the message about the promises. I think it’s hugely important that parents not lie to their kids. We shouldn’t make promises we can’t keep. We shouldn’t try to shush a child’s fears with promises that what they fear can never happen. That’s not the answer.
Great points, too, about the healing Ellie found coming from an incomplete hope.
The reason I thought she came to accept the sovereign actions of God was that she had bargained with God throughout the book and she had lost. And yet, she did not hold any bitterness against him. Somewhere she came to accept death and evil without railing against God. I don’t see that being spelled out in the book. I don’t see her getting any answers to the problem of evil, but I see her praying throughout the book and accepting God’s answer at the end without turning from him. So I thought she did accept his sovereign choice to allow what happened. She could have easily hated God for what happened.
However, I do agree that this book was incomplete in it’s answers. One of the reason I liked it so much was that it didn’t give answers. Usually books give the wrong answers, I think. And I thought this one left the door wide open for the right answers even though Ellie didn’t fully discover them.
You’re right, though. If we stop where the book did, at finding healing in the idea of keeping someone’s memory alive, we’ve not gone far enough.
Comment by sally apokedak — August 19, 2008 @ 9:13 am
Dear Rebecca,
I don’t know if I am supposed to comment on comments made on my own book (what a sentence!) but I wanted to tell you why the ending on the question of Heaven is “incomplete.”
First of all, you are absolutely right that one of the main threads of the story is Jimmy making a promise to Ellie that was not within his power to keep. When the Iraq war first began I read account after account of deployed parents promising their children that “everything will be all right and nothing is going to happen to Mommy/Daddy.” All I could think of was “And what if everything ISN’T all right? How is that child going to feel about their parent for the rest of their life?” This struck a chord with me since I had a similar experience at age nine when a close relative made me a similar promise that she/he had no power over. And I can tell you that as old as I am, I have never quite forgiven that relative, although, as an adult, I can understand why they did it.
Now about that “incomplete” part. You know from reading the book that Ellie, Jimmy and their family were believers. It’s not discussed at length, but taken for granted. Just as when I was a child, religion was considered a very private matter, and people did not converse about it the way people do now. Nor was “The Greatest Generation” very introspective. They were too busy trying to survive…first the Depression, then WWII, to have much time to wonder about why things were the way they were. I believe that Jimmy did not find it necessary to underline the fact that he would be going to Heaven, because any alternative would never have come up on Ellie’s personal radar screen. Good people like Jimmy went to Heaven; bad people like Hitler went Somewhere Else Not So Good. For better or worse (by our contemporary standards) this was an assumption, at least in the McKelvey household.
The most important thing that Ellie had to lose was not whether or not Jimmy was in Heaven. The thought that he wasn’t never occurred to her. What she was losing was the precious relationship and memories of her beloved brother, and that was the resolution I ended with.
I hope that makes things a little clearer for you, Rebecca. And thank you for making me a part of your blog. I am so honored.
Best,
Mary Ann
Comment by mary ann — August 19, 2008 @ 9:38 pm
Mary Ann, we have discussions here all the time, so it is very appropriate for you to comment on a comment. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and give your thoughts behind the way you shaped the ending of the story. It’s always good to hear an author reveal that sort of thing. And thanks for writing such a wonderful story.
Becky
Comment by Rebecca LuElla Miller — August 21, 2008 @ 12:35 pm
Sally,
I agree, the promises theme was huge. I appreciated Mary Ann’s thoughts on that aspect of the book, too, and that she found inspiration for that from current events as well as personal experience. No wonder the book felt so current even as it made the past come alive.
Becky
Comment by Rebecca LuElla Miller — August 21, 2008 @ 12:38 pm