Dear Classmates, 10/20/16
I have recently finished reading If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period. It’s a 217 paged realistic fiction book. The author is Gennifer Choldenko. She is a Newberry Honor award author for her book titled Al Capone Does My Shirts. She has won so many other awards and one is, New York Times best seller, along with eight others. If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period was published in 2007, I decided to read this because Choldenko is a very well-known author. I have heard only good things about her book so I decided to see if I agreed with everyone else’s opinions. One fact about the book is Publishers weekly stated,” It was an under the microscope examination of the cruel, always dramatic dynamics of Junior High.
If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period starts of with a girl named Kirsten and boy named Walk. They both happened to be late on the first day of Junior High and started to bond. They went through many problems with their teachers and each thing brought them closer. Fortunately Walk was there for Kirsten when her friends all turned on her. They started to get closer and closer until one day Kirsten brought Walk home with her. Thats when things started to change. Although they only met on the first day of school they may have a long history behind them.
I liked the way the author switched the character’s perspectives. It made it easier to know how they were feeling about the same situation. If I were the author I would have wrapped the book up better. I feel as if the story is still unresolved and there are more questions to be answered. Lastly, one of the main characters Walk reminded me of a character from the book Jump In The Sky. His name was Levi. They were both African American and fighting for their poor families throughout the whole book, although they were both very smart. “Balderis looks at Walk. She didn’t do it, Mr. Balderis, Walk blurts out. How do you know? She was with us most of the time”,(page, 44).
That is an important passage because it shows that Walk is willing to stand up for Kirsten. It proves that he is the right friend for Kirsten which you will then figure out later in the story when she is desperate for friends. I would rate If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period a 6/10.
Sincerely,
Molly Luckart
