Breaking Dawn  (Twilight Series #4)
Stephenie Meyer, 2008
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
768 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780316067935


Summary
When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give, how could you not give it? If it was someone you truly loved?

To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, a tumultuous year of temptation, loss, and strife have led her to the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or to pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fates of two tribes hangs.

Now that Bella has made her decision, a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating, and unfathomable, consequences. Just when the frayed strands of Bella's life—first discovered in Twilight, then scattered and torn in New Moon and Eclipse—seem ready to heal and knit together, could they be destroyed...forever?

The astonishing, breathlessly anticipated conclusion to the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn illuminates the secrets and mysteries of this spellbinding romantic epic that has entranced millions. (From the publisher.)

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Author Bio
• Birth—December 24, 1973
• Where—Harford, Connecticut
• Education—B.A., Bringham Young University,
• Currently—lives in Phoenix, Arizona


Stephenie Meyer's life changed dramatically on June 2, 2003. The stay-at-home mother of three young sons woke up from a dream featuring seemingly real characters that she could not get out of her head.

"Though I had a million things to do, I stayed in bed, thinking about the dream. Unwillingly, I eventually got up and did the immediate necessities, and then put everything that I possibly could on the back burner and sat down at the computer to write—something I hadn't done in so long that I wondered why I was bothering."

Meyer invented the plot during the day through swim lessons and potty training, and wrote it out late at night when the house was quiet. Three months later she finished her first novel, Twilight. With encouragement from her older sister (the only other person who knew she had written a book), Meyer submitted her manuscript to various literary agencies. Twilight was picked out of a slush pile at Writer's House and eventually made its way to the publishing company Little, Brown where everyone fell immediately in love with the gripping, star-crossed lovers.

Twilight was one of 2005's most talked about novels and within weeks of its release the book debuted at #5 on the New York Times bestseller list. Among its many accolades, Twilight was named an "ALA Top Ten Books for Young Adults," an Amazon.com "Best Book of the Decade...So Far", and a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year.

The highly-anticipated sequel, New Moon, was released in September 2006, and spent more than 25 weeks at the #1 position on the New York Times bestseller list.

In 2007, Eclipse literally landed around the world and fans made the Twilight Saga a worldwide phenomenon! With midnight parties and vampire-themed proms the enthusiasm for the series continued to grow.

On May 6, 2008, Little, Brown and Company released The Host, Meyer's highly-anticipated novel for adults which debuted at #1 on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. The Host still remains a staple on the bestseller lists more than a year after its debut.

On August 2, 2008, the final book in the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn was released at 12:01 midnight. Stephenie made another appearance on Good Morning America and was featured in many national media outlets, including Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek, People Magazine and Variety. Stephenie headlined the Breaking Dawn Concert Series with Justin Furstenfeld (lead singer of Blue October) to celebrate the release in four major markets across the US. Breaking Dawn sold 1.3 million copies in its first 24 hours.

The Twilight movie, directed by Catherine Hardwicke and starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, was released on November 21, 2008. Twilight debuted at #1 at the box office with $70 million, making it the highest grossing opening weekend for a female director.

Stephenie lives in Arizona with her husband and three sons. (From the author's website.)

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Book Reviews
In the fourth and purportedly final novel from the best-selling "Twilight" saga, main character Bella Swan must finally choose between her vampire love and her human life. As in the previous three novels, Bella's shyness and passivity, along with the remnant memories of Edward's Victorian human life, keep the love scenes fairly unobjectionable, though the results of such scenes are far from tame; some parents may even object to the earliest of these descriptions. Also, the novel's split perspective, in which readers oscillate from Bella's perspective to her werewolf best friend Jacob's and finally back to her own, may annoy both diehard fans—because Jacob's perspective and internalizations at times mirror exactly what fans have come to expect of Bella—and any newcomers to the saga who start with this book—because they are not likely to be as invested in the character dynamics. Overall, the plot seems perhaps too convenient and often lacks the emotional tension and suspense of its predecessors in the series, but the ends are neatly tied in a way that should leaves fans of both Edward and Jacob satisfied. Especially in light of the forthcoming cinematic adaptation and film release of the saga's first book, which will likely only expand Meyer's popularity (and the number of discussions contrasting Meyer with J.K. Rowling), this may be one book that cannot be avoided or ignored.
Children's Literature

Meyer closes her epic love story of a human, a vampire, and a werewolf in this, the final installment of the saga. The story opens with Bella and Edward's wedding, and relations between Jacob and Bella remain uneasy. On honeymoon and unshackled from any further concerns about premarital sex, Edward fulfills his promise to consummate their marriage before he changes Bella into a vampire. An unexpected conception throws their idyllic world back into chaos as factions (both wolf and vampire) battle over whether or not to destroy the potential monster that is killing Bella from within. The captivating angst, passions, and problems manage to satisfyingly fill pages where surprisingly little action takes place, even after the powerful child's birth brings the Cullen family under the scrutiny of the Volturi. The international cadre of vampires who come to the Cullens' aid are fascinating, but distract from the development of prime characters at a pivotal moment. The novel begins and ends with Bella's voice, while Jacob narrates the middle third of the tale, much like the final pages of Eclipse (Little, Brown 2007). While darker and more mature than the previous titles, Meyer's twists and turns are not out of character. Fans may distress as the happy ending for everyone, including a girl for Jacob, lessens the importance and pain of tough decisions and difficult self-sacrifices that caused great grief in previous books, but they will flock to it and enjoy it nonetheless. —Cara von Wrangel Kinsey, New York Public Library
School Library Journal

Perpetually clumsy Bella is about to marry the very sexy and graceful vampire Edward Cullen. In exchange for Bella's hand in marriage, Edward agrees to turn her into a vampire shortly after the ceremony. Bella's shape-shifter, more-than-best friend, Jacob, is none too happy about her impending transformation, not only because she will become a nosferatu but also because it will violate the tenuous treaty between the vampires and werewolves of Forks. When her honeymoon takes a surprising turn, Bella decides to remain human a bit longer. Her decision threatens not only her life but also the lives of her new family and friends. Since Twilight's thrilling debut (Little, Brown, 2005), readers have been waiting to find out how this addicting supernatural love triangle will play out. The series finale offers closure but certainly not satisfaction. It contains the elements that made Meyer's first two novels intoxicating reads but wraps them in an overly long and noxiously sappy package. Meyer writes pervasive angst like few other authors can so fans may rejoice in that aspect. She sacrifices the opening novel's brisk pacing for tedious inner monologues. The single mildly comic, and thereby least cloying portion, portrays Jacob's point of view. Alas, it is also the shortest section of the book. By the time readers arrive at the ridiculous conclusion, they will likely have thrown the entire novel across the room several times. Team Edward and Team Jacob will have fun race-reading and then commiserating over the less-than-stellar conclusion.
VOYA

It might seem redundant to dismiss the fourth and final Twilight novel as escapist fantas—but how else could anyone look at a romance about an ordinary, even clumsy teenager torn between a vampire and a werewolf, both of whom are willing to sacrifice their happiness for hers? Flaws and all, however, Meyer's first three novels touched on something powerful in their weird refraction of our culture's paradoxical messages about sex and sexuality. The conclusion is much thinner, despite its interminable length. [...] But that's not the main problem. Essentially, everyone gets everything they want, even if their desires necessitate an about-face in characterization or the messy introduction of some back story. Nobody has to renounce anything or suffer more than temporarily—in other words, grandeur is out. This isn't about happy endings; it's about gratification. A sign of the times?
Publishers Weekly

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Discussion Questions
1. Breaking Dawn contained many more twists and turns than the previous titles in The Twilight Saga. Which of the plot lines did you predict? Was there foreshadowing that led you to your prediction? Where? What was the most surprising moment for you?

2. The anticipation was high for the last installment—what did you think would happen that didn’t? Could it have fit into the story? How? And would it have changed the outcome?

3. As Jacob tries to explain Bella’s situation to Charlie, Charlie cuts him off, asking just to know if she’s OK. Based on how much Jacob let slip, do you think Charlie knows the truth? If not, what other conclusions could he have come to about the Cullens, Bella, Jacob, and his La Push friends?

4. Throughout the series, the vampires have displayed a wide variety of special talents. However, until Renesmee’s arrival, we never saw talents passed from one generation to the next. If Alice and Jasper were able to have a child, what might their baby’s special talent be? How about Esmee and Carlisle? Rosalie and Emmett?

5. When Alice and Jasper disappeared, what were your initial thoughts? Did you believe that they were gone forever? What were some other possibilities for them going away? Would it have been possible for them to stay with the family and still protect them? How—and what impact could that have had on the ending?

6. Bella as a newborn vampire has changed in many ways. She has become nimble and confident, and also shows a level of self-control that is surprising to the Cullens. Do these changes seem natural? Did you find yourself getting reacquainted with Bella—and do you think she was doing the same with herself?

7. The scene in the meadow looked to be headed toward a fight-to-the-finish war between the Cullens and the Volturi. What did the Cullens do right to peacefully resolve the situation? What strategic mistakes did the Volturi make that ultimately led to an ending not of their choosing?

8. Since New Moon, we have all believed that Jacob and others in the Quiletes tribe were werewolves. However, in the field Edward refers to them as shape-shifters. Why did Edward use that term? What are the main differences between werewolves and shape-shifters? Why is this distinction important?

9. Renesmee’s talent allows her to communicate in a very unique way. Breaking Dawn presents innocent uses of her talent, however do you think her talent will mature as she does? For example, do you think she could someday be able to manipulate images to show people what she wants them to see? How could this give the Cullens an advantage if the Volturi were to reappear?

10. Stephenie Meyer has noted that each of the novels in The Twilight Saga pays homage to other literary classics. For Breaking Dawn, she has said Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Merchant of Venice were the key inspirations. In what ways do you think Breaking Dawn’s structure and key plot points draw inspiration from A Midsummer Night’s Dream? In what ways do these elements differ? The Merchant of Venice, according to Shakespearean scholars is a “problem play”—setting out to explore specific moral dilemmas and current social problems through the central characters. Can you identify characters beyond Bella and Edward that struggled with moral dilemmas in Breaking Dawn? What characters set the stage for social parallels that we see today?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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Stormbreaker (Alex Rider series #1)
Anthony Horowitz, 2000
Penguin Group USA
256 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780142406113


Summary
They said his uncle Ian died in a car accident. Alex Rider knows that’s a lie, and the bullet holes in his uncle’s car confirm the truth. But nothing can prepare him for the news that the uncle he always thought he knew was really a spy for Britain’s top-secret intelligence agency. Enlisted to find his uncle’s killers and complete Ian’s final mission, Alex suddenly finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse, with no way out.

The original novel that started the worldwide phenomenon. (From the publisher.)

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Author Bio
• Birth—April 5, 1956
• Where—Stanmore, Middlesex, England, UK
• Currently—lives in London, England

Anthony Horowitz is the author of one previous book for teens: The Devil and His Boy, which received glowing reviews all around. He is also the author of several plays and television screenplays in his native England. (From the publisher.)

Horowitz's Alex Rider Series numbers 7 books (and one short story) with other installments planned.

More
Anthony Horowitz is an English author and screenwriter. He has written many children's novels, including the Power of Five, Alex Rider and Diamond Brothers series and has written over fifty books. He has also written extensively for television, adapting many of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novels for ITV series. He is the creator and writer of the ITV series Foyle's War.

Horowitz was raised in "a Jewish enclave," living an an upper-class lifestyle. His father acted as a "fixer" for prime minister Harold Wilson. Facing bankruptcy, Horowitz's father removed his wealth from his bank accounts and hid it away under a false name. He then died and the family was never able to track down the missing money despite years of trying.

As an unhappy and overweight child, Horowitz enjoyed reading books from his father's library. At the age of eight, Horowitz was sent to the boarding school Orley Farm in Harrow, London. There, he entertained his peers by telling them the stories he had read. Horowitz described his time in the school as "a brutal experience,"often whipped by the headmaster. Horowitz adored his mother, who introduced him to Frankenstein and Dracula. From the age of eight, Horowitz knew he wanted to be a writer, realizing "the only time when I'm totally happy is when I'm writing."

Horowitz now lives in North London with his wife Jill Green, whom he married in Hong Kong on 15 April 1988. Green produces Foyle's War, the series Horowitz writes for ITV. They have two sons, Nicholas Mark (born 1989) and Cassian James (born 1991). He credits his family with much of his success in writing, as he says they help him with ideas and research. (From Wikipedia.)

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Book Reviews
Alex Rider becomes the first fourteen-year-old MI6 agent when his uncle is assassinated. Alex is forced to take over the case involving a suspicious computer baron who has donated thousands of his newest, top-secret modules to British schools. This action-packed spy novel, the first in the projected Stormbreaker series, has all the cliches: a stony-faced hero, plenty of preposterous stunts—including using the rappelling cord to catch an airplane—terse dialogue, and the evil Egyptian, Russian, and Fräulein. There is not much else to the story, however, nor to Alex's character. Horowitz draws him out a little in the beginning as a reluctant spy who is unwilling to kill—although plenty of other people do kill each other in this story—but then loses him as the movielike plot predictably and explosively unfolds. This uncomplicated novel is fun fare enough for the Young Indiana Jones fan or reluctant reader. Although it offers little that a B movie does not, sophisticated readers will find it simplistic. Those readers looking for intrigue and suspense will be served better with John Marsden or Peter Dickinson. Broad general YA appeal—Nina Lindsay
VOYA

(Gr 5-9)Alex Rider's world is turned upside down when he discovers that his uncle and guardian has been murdered. The 14-year-old makes one discovery after another until he is sucked into his uncle's undercover world. The Special Operations Division of M16, his uncle's real employer, blackmails the teen into serving England. After two short weeks of training, Alex is equipped with several special toys like a Game Boy with unique cartridges that allow it to scan, fax, and emit smoke bombs. Alex's mission is to complete his uncle's last assignment, to discover the secret that Herod Sayle is hiding behind his generous donation of one of his supercomputers to every school in the country. When Alex enters Sayle's compound in Port Tallon, he discovers a strange world of secrets and villains including Mr. Grin, an ex-circus knife catcher, and Yassen Gregorovich, professional hit man. The novel provides bang after bang as Alex experiences and survives unbelievably dangerous episodes and eventually crashes through the roof of the Science Museum to save the day. Alex is a strong, smart hero. If readers consider luck the ruling factor in his universe, they will love this James Bond-style adventure. With short cliff-hanger chapters and its breathless pace, it is an excellent choice for reluctant readers. Warning: Suspend reality. —Lynn Bryant, formerly at Navarre High School, FL
School Library Journal

What if James Bond had started spying as a teenager? This thriller pits 14-year-old Alex Rider against a mad billionaire industrialist. Non-stop action keeps the intrigue boiling as Alex tries to stop the remarkably evil Herod Sayles from murdering Britain's schoolchildren through biological warfare. Alex begins as an innocent boy shocked by the death of his Uncle Ian in a traffic accident. Suspicious of the official explanation, he investigates and finds Ian's car riddled with bullet holes. He narrowly escapes being crushed in the car as it's demolished, then climbs out of a 15-story window to break into Ian's office. He learns that Ian was a spy, and reluctantly joins Britain's MI6 intelligence agency. After surviving brutal training and armed with stealthy spy tools, Alex infiltrates Sayles's operation as the teenage tester of the "Stormbreaker," a new computer Sayles is giving to British schools. Thereafter he survives murderous ATV drivers, an underwater swim in an abandoned mine, and an encounter with a Portuguese man-o-war jellyfish before hitching a ride on an already airborne plane. The plot is, of course, preposterous, but young readers won't care as they zoom through numerous cliffhangers. This is the first book in a series planned by the author, and may prove useful for reluctant readers looking for excitement.
Kirkus Reviews

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Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Stormbreaker:

1. What makes Alex suspicious of the official explanation given for his uncle's death? Trace the steps that eventually involve the reluctant 14-year-old in the dangerous undercover world that Ian inhabited.

2. Talk about the rigorous preparation Alex undergoes to become an M-16 agent.

3. Which of Alex's spy tools do you like the most?

4. What is the secret behind Herod Sayles donation of computers to Britain's schools.

5. Discuss the book's characters. How does the author portray them—as complex human beings with rich inner-lives, or as more one-dimensional characters, lined up on a spectrum of good vs. evil?

6. How did you find the book—suspenseful or predictable? If suspenseful, how does Horowitz, as a writer, create suspense? What techniques does he use? If predictable, how so? Were there points in the story that you felt manipulated, where events were overly contrived? Did any of that detract from your enjoyment of the book?

7. Considering both the cool "spy toys" and Alex's riveting adventures, in what way does Horowitz play into the wish-fulfillment of young people (and older folks)? Is this what's made the book (and the series) so successful?

8. Would you recommend Stormbreaker to others? Are you inspired to read the rest of the Alex Rider series?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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Hatchet
Gary Paulsen, 1987
Simon & Schuster
192 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781416936473


Summary
Brian Robeson, 13, is the only passenger on a small plane flying him to visit his father in the Canadian wilderness when the pilot has a heart attack and dies. The plane drifts off course and finally crashes into a small lake.

Miraculously Brian is able to swim free of the plane, arriving on a sandy tree-lined shore with only his clothing, a tattered windbreaker, and the hatchet his mother had given him as a present. The novel chronicles in gritty detail Brian's mistakes, setbacks, and small triumphs as, with the help of the hatchet, he manages to survive the 54 days alone in the wilderness. (From the publisher.)

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AAuthor Bio
• Birth—May 17, 1939
• Where—Minnesota, USA
• Education—N/A
• Awards—3 Newbery Honor Awards; Spurs Award of Western Writers of America
• Currently—lives in La Luz, New Mexico


Gary Paulsen writes many young adult coming of age stories about the wilderness. He is the author of more than 200 books (many of which are out of print), 200 magazine articles and short stories, and several plays, all primarily for young adults.

Born in Minnesota in 1939, he was raised by his grandmother and aunts. Paulsen used his work as a magazine proofreader to learn the craft of writing. In 1966, his first book was published under the title The Special War. Using his varied life experiences, especially those of an outdoorsman (a hunter, trapper, and three-time competitor in the 1,150 mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race), Paulsen writes about what he knows best.

Much of Paulsen's work features the outdoors and highlights the importance of nature. He often uses "coming of age" themes in his novels, where a character masters the art of survival in isolation as a rite of passage to manhood and maturity. He is critical of technology and has been called a Luddite.

Dogsong, Harris and Me, and The Winter Room, which won the Newbery Honor. Woodsong and Winterdance are among the most popular books about the Iditarod. (From Wikipedia).

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Book Reviews
[H]eart-stopping...at every moment Brian is forced to face a life-and-death decision, and every page makes readers wonder at the density of descriptive detail Paulsen has expertly woven together. Poetic texture and realistic events are combined to create...a book that plunges readers into the cleft of the protagonist's experience.
Publishers Weekly


(Grade 8-12) Paulsen tells a fine adventure story, but the sub-plot concerning Brian's preoccupation with his parents' divorce seems a bit forced and detracts from the book.... Paulsen emphasizes character growth through a careful balancing of specific details of survival with the protagonist's thoughts and emotions. —Barbara Chatton, College of Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie.
School Library Journal

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Book Club Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Hatchet:

1. What is Brian's state of mind as he heads from New York to visit his father in Canada? What affect does his mother's "secret" have on him? Why won't he tell his father...or his mother that he knows about her affair? How does his mother respond to Brian's moodiness?

2. Talk about Brian's decision to commit suicide—what finally drives him to this point? In what way is he changed by his failed attempt?

3. What inner traits does Brian develop to survive in the wilderness? To which of those qualities do you most attribute his survival? Consider patience, self-control, perseverance.... What else?

4. From the beginnings of literature, stories have pitted man against nature. In what way does Hatchet turn that theme on its head? How does Brian's relationship to nature change during the course of this novel? What lessons does he learn about the natural world?

5. Brian's English teacher once told him that his mind has the power to control his body. In what way has Brian achieved greater harmony between mind and body?

6. At one point, Brian catches a glimpse of his reflection in the lake. What does he see? How has he changed physically?

7. When Brian finds the survival pack, he rejects the rifle. Why?

8. Hatchet is a coming-of-age story—in the extreme. Once rescued and returned to civilization, how has Brian's survival experience changed him? In what way is he a different boy than the one who stepped on the plane at the beginning of the story? How, for instance, does he come to view his parents' divorce?

9. Put yourself in Brian's shoes. How would you fare in his situation? Which personal qualities and skills would you draw upon to survive? Could you survive?

10. What is the significance of the title? Why would Gary Paulsen have chosen "hatchet" as the name of his book? What does the hatchet symbolize?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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Summary  |  Author  |  Book Reviews  |  Discussion Questions

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Jim the Boy
Tony Earley, 2000
Little, Brown & Co.
256 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780316198950

In Brief  
Selected by Granta as one of America's best young writers and featured in The New Yorker's best young fiction issue, Tony Earley now gives us a luminous portrait of a ten-year-old boy growing up in the Depression-era town of Aliceville, North Carolina:

As the sun began to set, Jim and the uncles watched the last yellow light of the day slide up the mountain toward the bald, dragging evening behind it. When the light went out of their faces, they turned and watched it retreat up the peak, where at the summit a single tree flared defiantly before going dark. A chilly breeze whipped from nowhere across the bald and flapped the legs of Jim's overalls. He turned with the uncles for a last look at the view before heading down the mountain. All but the brightest greens had drained out of the world, leaving in their stead an array of somber blues. A low fog had begun to seep out between the trees along Painter Creek. Jim jumped down from the rock and looked again toward home.

At once delightful and wise, Jim the Boy brilliantly captures the pleasures and fears of youth at a time when America itself was young and struggling to come into its own.

Jim the Boy will appeal to the readers who loved classics like To Kill a Mockingbird, Ellen Foster, and A Member of the Wedding. (From the publisher.)

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About the Author 

• Birth—1961
• Where—San Antonio, Texas, USA
• Reared—North Carolina
• Education—B.A., Warren Wilson College; M.F.A., University
  of Alabama
• Awards—Granta's 20 Best Young America Fiction Writers;
  Nation Magazine Award
• Currently—lives in Nashville, Tennessee

Tony Earley's short stories earned him a place on Granta's list of the 20 Best Young American Fiction Writers in 1996 and a National Magazine Award for fiction. He has twice been included in the acclaimed anthology, Best American Short Stories. The author's previous novel, Here We Are in Paradise (1994), received critical acclaim. He lives with his wife and dogs in Nashville, Tennessee, where he is an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University (From the publisher.)

More
Tony Earley is an American novelist and short story writer. He was born in San Antonio, Texas, but grew up in North Carolina. His stories are often set in North Carolina.

Earley studied English at Warren Wilson College and after graduation in 1983, he spent four years as a reporter in North Carolina, first as a general assignment reporter for The Thermal Belt News Journal in Columbus, and then as sports editor and feature writer at The Daily Courier in Forest City. Later he attended the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where he received an MFA in creative writing. He quickly found success writing short stories, first with smaller literary magazines, then with Harper's, which published two of his stories: "Charlotte" in 1992 and "The Prophet From Jupiter" in 1993. The latter story helped Harper's win a National Magazine Award for fiction in 1994

In 1996, Earley's short stories earned him a place on Granta's list of the "20 Best Young American Novelists", and shortly after that announcement, The New Yorker featured him in an issue that focused on the best new novelists in America. He has twice been included in the annual Best American Short Stories anthology. His writing style has been compared by critics to writers as distant as a young Ernest Hemingway and E. B. White. One of his favorite writers is Willa Cather.

Earley lives with his wife and daughter in Nashville, Tennessee, where he is the Samuel Milton Fleming Associate Professor of English at Vanderbilt University. (From Wikipedia.)

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Critics Say . . . 
[The story] has the stealth aspect of something intended for young readers in an innocent, less cynical time. In fact, 'Jim the Boy' is anything but quaint. Mr. Earley may not have invented the coming-of-age novel, but he streamlines and reawakens the genre with this swift, lovely book.
Janet Maslin - New York Times

Tony Earley's first novel returns to basics, back to modernness in the old sense of the word. It's not a big book, just a good one -- and in this instance 'good' is higher praise than 'great' . . . A novel that does one thing memorably instead of many things forgettably.
Walter Kirn - New York Times Book Review

An old fashioned novel that perfectly captures the innocence and confusion and wonder of childhood...manner in which the story is told suggest the certainty of an immensely gifted writer...rich and satisfying, but wholesome just the same.
Chicago Tribune

The genius of a novel like this is Earley's trust in the purity of his style and the plainness of his story. Pergaps all things done very well look simple. This isn't a book for children, but I reak a few chapters to my family, and all of us, from eight uears old and up, were captivated.
Christian Science Monitor

A dazzling first novel...By the end of this book, the life of this boy and his family blaze at you like a whole town of lights.
Newsweek

When the book opens, Jim has never traveled more than 30 miles from Aliceville. What he doesn't know about the world would fill many, many books; what he learns during a year deftly fills this one.
Paul Gray - Time

Simple, resonant sentences and a wealth of honest feeling propel this tracing of a 10-year-old boy's coming of age in Aliceville, N.C., in the 1930s. Earley's debut novel (after his well-received collection Here We Are in Paradise) carries us, in charmingly ungangly fashion, toward its moving, final epiphanies. Quizzical, innocent Jim Glass lives on a farm with his widowed mother and three uncles, who provide companionship for the boy and offer casual wisdom on life's travails. Jim's father's sudden death at age 23 left a wake of tenderness as his legacy, so much so that Jim's mother still feels married even after his death. However, she will never speak to her father-in-law, who has spent some time in jail and is a despicable loner with a rumored penchant for illegally distilled whiskey. The stormy background Earley provides makes Jim's openness and na vet all the more haunting. The narrative develops as a series of loosely related, moving anecdotes: the tragic story behind Aliceville's name, a trip with an uncle to buy a horse that becomes a lesson in the transience of corporeal life, a race up a greased pole at a carnival that casts a new light on Jim's bonds with another boy, Jim's best friend's struggle with polio, Jim's mother's resistance to a suitor, and the introduction of electricity to Aliceville on Christmas Eve. In roundabout fashion, and in simple, often poetic prose, Earley brings his protagonist to knowledge of his identity. The dramatic and entrancing growth of this wisdom may strike some readers as overly sentimental. Nevertheless, the closure the book achieves is solid and well-earned.
Publishers Weekly

This is the story of the tenth year in the life of Jim Glass, a boy growing up in fictional Aliceville, NC, in 1934. Though well read by L.J. Ganser and nicely produced, there just isn't much novel in the container. Earley's talent for description is fine, but description alone doesn't provoke a sense of nostalgia for simpler ways, simpler times. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of character growth, not much insight into the preteen mind or into country or town life in Carolina during the Depression. So, what is it? Some short stories with a set of common characters; not much happening, no easily discernible plot. A fatherless boy is raised by his mother and his three uncles. Things happen, some of which are mildly interesting, and the boy grows a little older tape by tape, chapter by chapter. Recommended for those interested in the 1930s South or in Southern writers. —Cliff Glaviano, Bowling Green State Univ. Libs., OH
Library Journal

Though marketed for adults, this gem of a first novel features a young protagonist and the straightforward storytelling and wholesome humor often found in books for young readers. Somewhat reminiscent of Gary Paulsen's warm and funny novel, Harris and Me, it begins with Jim anticipating the double-digit status of his tenth birthday. The story is filled with the simple, but meaningful occurrences of growing up in rural North Carolina during the Depression. Jim is guided through life's early lessons by three uncles who hand out sage-but-subtle advice, unmerciful-but-good-natured teasing, and tough-but-unwavering love. There are many memorable scenes that will grab young readers--discovering how hard it is to hoe a row of corn, or win a greasy pole-climbing contest, or play baseball better than the town boys. It has episodes that are poignant, humorous and accessible to all ages, especially if read aloud. However, when read as a whole, Jim's appealingly naïve point-of-view, while wonderfully telling and entertaining to nostalgic adults, may not engage middle grade readers or interest young adults. The old-fashioned charm and nostalgia of coming-of-age in the 1930s seem constructed more for adult appreciation, and except in selected excerpts, probably will not spin the same magic for younger readers.
Children's Literature

This novel has received a lot of good press, and librarians will probably consider adding it to collections, but for whom is it meant? On one hand the story of a 10-year-old boy in rural North Carolina in the 1930s seems meant for younger readers, especially given its simple style and vocabulary. But will younger readers warm up to the episodic plot and lack of action? The care with which the boy's bachelor uncles help raise Jim might touch the hearts of adult readers. They will respond to the sentimental depiction of an age gone by, but will they be satisfied with the flatness of the characterizations? The interview with the author included in the Reading Group Guide may provide a clue to Earley's intention. He names Willa Cather, especially My Antonia and Death Comes for the Archbishop, as an essential influence in his work, and the reader can see his point. But what Cather makes resonant—the lost past, the wild American landscape, childhood in small towns—Earley makes only handsome. Jim the Boy strains for greatness, a little like The Old Man and the Sea. The book is stately and inoffensive; it even mulls over an archetype or two. Jim's father died before he was born and Jim must face up to his crotchety, reclusive grandfather and understand his mother's loneliness and need. A pleasant story of childhood in a long-ago America, this novel reminded me oddly of Bridges of Madison County, a simple story of adultery in the hinterlands. Both are small books, quick reads that give a sense that something important, elemental even, may have been said. (Recommended for junior and senior high school students, advanced students, and adults.) —Michael P. Healy; English Teacher, Wood River H.S., Hailey, ID
KLIATT

Structured as a series of simple yet multilayered stories, this novel chronicles the seminal events occurring between Jim Glass's tenth and eleventh birthdays. Because Jim's father died before he was born, he is being raised by his loving but still grieving mother and her three bachelor brothers in a rural North Carolina farm valley during the Depression. The life lessons Jim learns primarily from his gracious, loving uncles deal with prejudice and tolerance, friendship and rivalry, honesty and falsehood, one's place in one's family and in the greater world, and coping with death and loss. Earley creates memorable, parable-like stories while maintaining mesmerizingly simple language and a child's emotional point of view. One story describes the day Ty Cobb passes through town on a train. Jim and his friend/rival, Penn, toss a baseball back and forth next to the train, hoping that Cobb is watching. Despite Penn's pleas, Jim refuses to loan him his mitt, instead throwing the ball over Penn's head. Running to retrieve it, Penn collapses. Weeks later, Jim's uncles drive him to Penn's mountain home where Jim has never traveled. One of Penn's legs is now paralyzed by polio. After some initial awkwardness, the friends talk amiably. When Penn falls asleep, Jim quietly walks away, leaving his beloved baseball glove at Penn's side. The stories never become sentimental or maudlin. Their deceptive simplicity and multi-layered plots allow readers of all ages and levels of literary sophistication to derive pleasure from the book. The description of rural North Carolina is wondrous at times but might put off those who prefer a snappier plot. This beautiful, slow-paced jewel is worthy of repeated readings. (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal.) — Florence H. Munat
VOYA

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Book Club Discussion Questions 

1. How do Jim's uncles each play the role of father-figure? Do they make up for his father's absence? Should Jim's mother have remarried when she had the chance in order to give Jim a "real" father?

2. Both the setting and Jim's life have a simple quality, yet through each flows a more complicated undercurrent. How do the setting and era reflect Jim's character?

3. Why does Uncle Zeno take Jim on the trip out of town? What do the incident with the horses and his first view of the ocean teach him?

4. Jim's mother turned down the marriage proposal because she believed she had already met and married her one eternal love. Do you believe, as she does, in the idea of eternal love?

5. Why did Jim feel such a strong sense of rivalry toward Penn? What about their pasts and their families' pasts gave them a special bond?

6. Jim has moments of selfishness. How does he begin to take responsibility for his actions as he grows older?

7. In just one year, both Jim and the United States experienced tremendous change. How does Earley incorporate the evolving society into Jim's story? Think about education, the economy, electricity, transportation, race relations, and polio. What will Jim experience as society evolves that his uncles and mother never did? How will his adult world differ from theirs?

8. What role does Abraham play? What lessons does he teach Jim, both in the field and in the alley?

9. What is the significance of the final scene with Jim's grandfather and his two cousins? What realizations does Jim have during this scene?

10. Think about the stories that are told about Jim's father. What is his vision of the kind of man his father was?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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