VanellopeVirus asked Brian Harmon:

Dear author, do you think you can tell me the main idea of theme of the story. I'm writing a two chunk paragraph for a school project and I chose your book Rushed as my reading project? I have ADD and have a hard problem understanding and need your help deeply. I appreciate your help if given and will give you credit in my project.( even though they won't believe me, nobody does) thank you. VanellopeVirus a.k.a Sam.

Brian Harmon You know, I never was much good at identifying main ideas and themes, either. I never liked that a story had to do this or that. Even I'm not sure what the answer is. I mean I didn't sit down to write the book and think to myself, "What is the idea or theme that I'd like to write about?" I just sat down and wrote a story that entertained me and made me happy. That's not to say there is no main idea or theme, but I never once thought about it as I was writing it. When I was in school, I just made something up and I don't think any teacher ever marked it wrong. You just have to explain why you think it's the main idea or theme. It's kind of your opinion, if you think about it. So just kind of ask yourself what the book's about and go with it. Is it about Eric's physical journey? Is it about his metaphorical journey as he went from a nonbeliever to a believer in all the fantastic things he saw along the way? Maybe it's more of a spiritual journey. Or maybe it's not about the journey at all. Maybe it's really all about the unbreakable love between Eric and his wife. Or maybe it's about something else entirely. Just pick whatever sounds the most true and explain why. That's what I always did.

Hope this helps a little at least. Good luck! And thanks for reading!

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