The Greats

by Deborah Ellis

With the unexpected help of a giant prehistoric sloth, ghostly grandfathers return to help a suicidal teenager.

Winning a national high-school geography competition should be the high point of Jomon’s life. So why does he find himself running through the streets of Georgetown, Guyana, later that same night — so angry and desperate? Why does he heave his hard-won medal through the front window of a liquor store?

Why does a teenaged boy decide life is not worth living?

Arrested by police and detained in a jail cell, Jomon is jolted out of his suicidal thoughts by the sudden appearance of another teenaged boy — who claims to be his great-great-grandfather ...

Meanwhile, across town, the pride of Guyana, the life-sized exhibit of a giant prehistoric sloth named Gather, disappears overnight from the Guyana National Museum. While museum officials argue over who is responsible for the disappearance and who is in charge of getting the sloth back, only Mrs. Simson, a museum cleaner, seems to understand what needs to be done.

And so begins a strange and marvelous journey, as Jomon is sentenced to a youth detention facility, and a succession of his dead grandfathers appears, each one of them having died by suicide. As the grandfathers argue among themselves and blame each other for their own fates, they keep a watch out for Jomon, to try to make sure he does not continue their family tradition.

In this short, fable-like story, Deborah Ellis comes at the timely and difficult issue of child suicide with restraint, compassion, and freshness, as the grandfathers overcome their own fraught histories to help their grandson, who in the end is aided by the appearance of a wondrous giant rodent, busy enjoying her own return to earthly existence.

Genres: Fiction, Mental Health, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Audiobook, Fantasy, Abuse

191 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 29, 2020

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Deborah Ellis has achieved international acclaim with her courageous and dramatic books that give Western readers a glimpse into the plight of children in developing countries.

She has won the Governor General's Award, Sweden's Peter Pan Prize, the Ruth Schwartz Award, the University of California's Middle East Book Award, the Jane Addams Children's Book Award and the Vicky Metcalf Award.

A long-time feminist and anti-war activist, she is best known for The Breadwinner Trilogy, which has been published around the world in seventeen languages, with more than a million dollars in royalties donated to Street Kids International and to Women for Women, an organization that supports health and education projects in Afghanistan. In 2006, Deb was named to the Order of Ontario.

Reviews

[Saskia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conundrum central! 3.5 stars.

1. Why do I find it perfectly reasonable that the protagonist is on this journey with 3 dead ancestors, yet a prehistoric sloth coming to life and taking a jaunt is beyond belief? Two sides, same coin. 🤔

2. How do I marry a book solely about suicide with its intended audience of early high school children? I think the answer is that despite its careful handling, I probably don't join them up. If students find this book on their own, here's hoping they read the CW and TW warnings, if they feel like it might be an issue. There is a help section at the back too.

3. Feeling a little bit like Patrick Ness and his parallel stories that *sometimes* make superb connections but *sometimes* miss just a bit.

[Vighnesh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ARC.

This book conveyed its message really well and I really think this is a book that everybody needs to read.

It handled the topic of suicide well and I think that the way the author talked about of the topic was written very considerately.

I connected to the characters really easily and I think that's why I was really intrigued and gripped.

I would have liked for more things to happen in terms of plot and I would have liked to see Jomon in more situations.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a little strange. The supernatural elements of the prehistoric sloth was weird. Otherwise I really enjoyed it. It was a very interesting look at mental health in an unconventional manner. The grandfather stories were interesting and well constructed. The setting seemed a strange choice. There wasn’t enough about Guyana to explain why a white, Canadian author chose to set the book there.

[Sarah Pitman · Rating 4 out of 5]

An honest, heartrending, look at one young boy's determination to kill himself. This book addresses mental health and poverty through an unflinching lens, and trusts its young readers to take on the seriousness of the content. But even in its solemn premise, The Greats finds room for whimsy: Jomon's great-grandfathers return from the grave to tell him their stories and steer him to a better future in a cool take on the whole Ghost-of-the-Past genre. Oh, and let's not forget the resurrection of a giant prehistoric sloth that is never explained, doesn't really have much to do with the story, and yet, ties everything together perfectly. Exceeded expectations I didn't realize I had.

[Ayacchi · Rating 4 out of 5]

After winning the geography competition, Jomon ran out of his house in the middle of the night and broke the window of a liquor store. He soon been arrested and brought to jail, and later to the detention. There, he met his great-great grandfather, great grandfather, and his grandfather. They ended up the same: killed themselves. And they came to stop the cycle: stopping Jomon to kill himself. Meanwhile, at the museum, a giant ground sloth which supposed to be extinct went out for a walk. And only Mrs. Simson the cleaner who believed it.

I listened to the audio and found it was easy to follow. I don't even need to read the text (if I want to), because the narrator's voice is so clear.

I thought that Jomon's great grandfathers are just illusion, ghosts only he could see. But no. Other people could see them as well. Same goes with Gather the sloth. Up until the last pages, I didn't know what the correlation between the grandfathers and the appearance of the sloth. But then I knew. They were supposed to be extinct.

With the stories the grandfathers told Jomon, they wished he would learn about their regrets and to be the first one who stay alive and be happy. But Jomon found that the reason behind his grandfather's suicide are mere excuses. And their action only brought sadness and guilt for their sons, they didn't have father's figure in their life and so, failed to be fathers.

Toward this point, I realized how true this is. As the author mentioned in the note,

"Life can be hard. We can feel alone. We can feel that our present pain will be forever pain. It can be difficult to remember that things change and that we change in our ability to deal with them. We need to find a way to hang on through the tough times and trust in our ability to create a better life for ourselves".

[TheInkDoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

TW: Suicide

The book is about the internal struggle of a teen boy who is from a broken family. Nothing ever feels right and he is never happy. He is not able to figure out a way to be happy and decides to end his life. What makes him change this decision and the transformation of his thoughts is what this book is about. There are disconnecting bits here and there but should be a good reading experience!

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A revealing story about generational trauma. True to its school boy in Guyana roots. Isolation. Pressure to succeed. Loneliness. Misunderstandings. Regrets. Historical hardships.
Deborah Ellis has a way with culture and human nature. Simple stories of small things with big truths... A slow reveal but, depth non the less.
She has a poets mind for leanness of word count and a meaningful sense of story.

[Casey Morrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not crying, you’re crying 😭👏🏼
Inter-generational trauma is so so real, and this book illustrates its so heartbreakingly beautifully.
We all need a little soothing song in our lives.
I hope to always make the same, difficult, “final” choice as Jomon.
Sad yet serene.

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it in one sitting! Really enjoyed it 👌

[Shauna Yusko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read.
Reminiscent of Long Way Down
Trigger warning: suicide

[Erin Longheier-snider · Rating 5 out of 5]

A curious mixture of A Christmas Carol and a coming of age tale. Jomon struggles with the hand life has dealt him, but with the help of his greats and a kind police officer he chooses to live.

[Morvling Bookink · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the Megatherium would come up more, gave a 'special connection' to Jomon and his suicidal family tree.

[Yusuf Firdaus · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a powerful and deep story.

[Pandaaaaaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why did someone make a children's book so sad and heartbreaking 😭

[Tori Thacker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charming, magical and life affirming. A great read for those who struggle with mental health and/or those who love them. Plus, it includes a giant prehistoric sloth.