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The book immediately captured my attention, straight from the prologue. Rather than an explanation, the prologue in this book sets an interesting scene of four very different people at a funfair. It has an air of mystery and pulls the reader in, makiThe book immediately captured my attention, straight from the prologue. Rather than an explanation, the prologue in this book sets an interesting scene of four very different people at a funfair. It has an air of mystery and pulls the reader in, making you want to find out what brought these individuals together and what their stories are.
Chapter 1: The first character we are introduced to is Skip. Skip is portrayed as an unusual character and definitely not the average schoolboy. After referring to his family as his "pretend family" and leaving other subtle hints on the matter, it becomes evident that Skip's father was not assuming his responsibilities as a father since Skip's mother "left". It isn't revealed yet whether she died or simply left however after saying, "the kind of smile you'd give your mother if she came back for you" I think that she left Skip when he was younger. This may be where Skip's flight instinct come from as in just the first chapter he has decided to run away! We are then introduced to Billy, an old man who Skip meets on the streets shortly after running way.
Chapter 2: In this chapter we see Billy and Skip's relationship develop as they form a kind of friendship. Skip follows Billy to a refuge and although he is not old enough Billy lets him spend the night. After that night Skip goes out on his own, however he often sees Billy on the streets. About a month later Billy reveals to Skip that there was an "incident" and he moved out of the refuge. Three months later we are introduced to Archie, a footpath sweeper, who sees Skip's drawing on the footpath and agrees that he will be a great artist one day. Billy and Skip now sleep in the same places together and it is revealed that Skip is nearly twelve years old.
Chapter 3: Skip and Billy start going to the library to look at the art books in hope that it will educate Skip and at the library they meet a woman who works there named Michaela. Skip thinks she is beautiful and kind however, Billy warns him that she is a "do-gooder". He explains that "do-gooders" have good intentions and just want to help you, however they usually don't know how. Skip wants to continue going to the library regardless although Billy doesn't want her to find out he is homeless so he says that Skip is his grandson. Skip reveals that he has only ever been looked after by his mother (who he doesn't remember) and his father who he says is "damaged". When Billy holds Skip's hand in the chapter it is a turning point in their relationship. They have gone from companions to Billy taking on a fatherly/grandfatherly role. Billy is now helping Skip hide in a refuge for grown men and Skip reveals at the end of the chapter that he hadn't known that the day in the library was the last time he would ever see Michaela...
Chapter 4: Skip wakes up in the refuge to complete pandemonium. He quickly leaves his hiding place and is confronted with sirens and planes in the sky dropping bombs. There are fires and dead bodies everywhere and Skip runs straight through it all to reach Billy's room. He finds a bloody, broken figure wearing Billy's coat on one of the beds and thinking that it was Billy who died he draws pictures next to the body as a memorial. He eventually leaves and then gets chased by a man, who once he catches him is revealed as Billy. Billy had leant his coat to someone else the night before and it was him who was dead. The chapter ends with Billy hugging Skip and saying "I thought I lost you".
Chapter 5: Billy and Skip leave the refuge and see dead bodies and debris everywhere. While walking around they encounter a soldier who holds two fingers up in a gesture that suggests he wants to shoot them, however he lets them continue walking nonetheless, leaving Skip confused as to whose side the soldier was on. They go to the arcade where they find a group of homeless people and some food, which they eat and then head towards the library. In the library they come across a little boy lying on the floor. His name is Max and he is only six years old and he is waiting for his mother who told him she would be back. Billy, Skip and Max build a "bunker" in the library and go to sleep.
Chapter 6: Billy, Skip and Max wake up the next morning and Max's mother still isn't there. Skip silently prays that she doesn't return so that the three of them can stay together but by the end of the chapter he reverses his prayer in hopes that she will return. He to the reader that he knows what it's like to always be searching for your mother because his left him when he was much younger.
Chapter 7: Max's mother still hasn't returned and Skip thinks to himself, "Max thought about his mother the way other people think about the sun; because it was there yesterday, it would shine again tomorrow." Was this how Skip felt before his mother left? This is also incredibly relevant in our lives because people often think things will last forever until they are gone. In this chapter Skip, Billy and Max leave the library in search of another place to stay because buildings are constantly being bombed and the library is no longer safe. Skip again mentions "The Army of the Third Side": "The Army of the Third Side, unarmed because we didn't believe in war." This is a sad reality about war. There are often people caught in the middle who want nothing but peace, yet they are the ones who suffer the most.
Chapter 8: Skip, Billy and Max are on their way to Dreamland when Skip starts wondering to himself if Billy made a mistake in directions yet he "didn't dare say anything to Billy". I think this is because Skip trusts Billy like a parent and it shows how blindly he is following him. Whenever Max got bored or irritable on the long journey, Skip would act like an older brother and try to distract him: "Let's sing something". This is something I would do with my brothers on really long car rides if we got bored and it shows how the three of them are starting to form a family. In this chapter the reader really gets a good incite into how much the war is affecting people. When Billy, Skip and Max forgot about it they dropped their guard and were able to laugh and have fun, however after they left their new safe haven, the funfair, they were back to the reality of war. This was interesting to read about as I have never personally experienced anything like this.
Chapter 9: Skip wakes up and decides that he wants to give Billy and Max "one perfect day". He was doing this in hope that it "would be enough to keep us together". I think it is sad that Skip still feels as though he needs to convince Billy and Max to stay with him because he is afraid of being alone again. After the "perfect day" Skip asks Max what he wants to do tomorrow to which Max replies, "I think I'd like to go home". This must make Skip frightened as the common theme throughout the book has been about the three of them becoming a family and forming that relationship, however Max just wants to go home. What would happen to Skip then? Would he stay with Billy or be left on his own? At the end of the chapter Skip, Billy and Max see a girl at the funfair described as a "ballerina". She has a baby with her, however Skip thinks that she looks to young to have a baby, which makes me wonder if the baby is hers?
Chapter 10: While Billy is peeling an orange, Skip recalls a time in his childhood when he and his father used to have competitions using Minties wrappers. "We used to see who could tear the paper into the longest strip without breaking it." This seems like it was a happy memory from Skip's childhood with his father, which shows just how much his father being unable to take care of him would have effected him. Later in the chapter Billy states that he "never had anything before this all started'. By "this" I assume he is referring to the relationship between himself, Max and Skip, proving that, similarly to Skip, the small family they have created is all he has. Skip, Billy and Max have their first interaction with the girl with the baby at the funfair. They share their food with her, however she is still reluctant and will not talk to them. I wonder what has happened to the girl to make her so untrusting towards people?
Chapter 11: Max and Skip go to the girl and her baby and offer her some soup. They have a brief conversation, the girl finally trusting them to enough to talk to, however at the question, "Are you the baby's mother?" the girl shuts down and ignores them again. This makes me especially curious whether the girl is the babies mother and if not then what the connection is. In the middle of the night Skip hears music coming from outside and after going to see what it was he realised that it was the girl and she was dancing. He describes her dancing as "like light on water", reiterating how beautiful it was and how he had never seen anything like it. The ballerina sees Skip and allows him to touch the baby's hand and then he also sees that she has scars on her wrist. I wonder how she got the scars and I am incredibly curious about her story. After Skip tells her that Billy won't hurt her and he is "like the mother and the father of Max and me and he's our best friend", she takes her baby and allows Skip to lead the way to Billy and Max. Could the ballerina and her baby become new members of their makeshift family?
Chapter 12: The chapter has immediately fast forwarded and Skip informs the reader that the girl's name is Tia, however because she still won't tell them what her baby's name is, the three guys refer to her as Sixpence (the name of the nursery rhyme that Billy always sang to her). She even trusts them enough to leave Sixpence with them when she goes off by herself. Skip feels worried he will make a mistake with the baby, however from the way the chapter starts off, it is evident that they have already added Tia and Sixpence to their group. At the revelation that peacekeepers were being sent in Skip immediately asks if the war's over and he thinks: "A thousand thoughts about what this would mean for us waited for me to pay them attention". This shows how the thought of them splitting up is always at the forefront of Skip's mind.
Chapter 13: Skip has gotten Max into drawing, which makes me think of them as brothers because often when my brother or I have a hobby, my youngest brother also picks up on it later. However, none of Max's drawings had faces "they all had machine guns". "It was the same with the sounds of war. They'd become normal". Unfortunately in this chapter we see that Skip, Billy, Max, Tia and Sixpence have all gotten used to the war and see it as a part of their everyday lives. Billy also reveals that the Red Cross have got their list of missing persons up, to which Skip thinks to himself that "Giving Max back to his mother was going to be one of the most difficult things I'd ever done". This just reiterates how close they have become in this short amount of time and the chapter concludes with Skip thinking, "I had to keep us all safe". He has a strong sense of responsibility and protectiveness over his small group.
Chapter 14: Skip wakes up early and goes to the chemist to gather supplies. He is dragged out of the chemist by two teenage boys who ask, "Watcha doin' on our turf?". This makes me wonder if the boys are actually soldiers because Skip describes them as teenagers. What do they mean by "our turf"? Are they the enemies or just civilians trying to stay alive like Skip and his group? Skip gets hurt by the boys and they burn his book. He returns to the funfair and thinks to himself, "But, if it meant keeping my friends safe, I knew I'd watch while every single one of my books got burned". Skip's books mean the world to him so the fact that he was willing to make that sacrifice for Billy, Max, Tia and Sixpence shows how much he cares about them.
Chapter 15: "I never told him about all the foster families, the beltings, the bullying and the loneliness." Just reading this sentence made me feel incredibly terrible for Skip. He keeps all of this inside of him and clearly has abandonment issues because of his past, which explains why he has a meltdown when Billy tells him that he shouldn't come when Billy takes Max back. "Liar! ... You don't want me around". Skip automatically comes to the conclusion that Billy must want to get rid of him, which leads Billy to reveal that he once had a son that Skip reminded him of. This is a huge step forward in their relationship because Billy had never told Skip anything about his past before.
Chapter 16: In this chapter Skip, Billy, Max, Tia and Sixpence have a feast the night before they are going to take Max home. Tia and Skip break the wishbone of the chicken and make a wish, which reminds me of how I used to do that exact thing with my grandpa. At the end of the night Skip draws a circle in the sand and asks Max to stand in it with him, calling it the "Circle of Brotherhood". He says, "even when we are far away from each other we will still be brothers". This is the first time Skip has outright given Max the label of his brother and it is clear that a strong relationship has been formed....more
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