It was loneliness."
Ravani lives in a town named Slaughterville. Yes, it is a small town with an abattoir and this place is the main employer. Ravani's dad works there, and I do need to give a warning that sensitive readers might find the early scenes in this book very distressing but stick with me this book is fabulous!!
Late one night Ravani sees a strange scene outside from his upstairs window. Ravani lives at the end of a dead-end street called Offal Road. Up until this night the house next door has been empty. The old man who previously lived there, he was the local undertaker, has now moved into an aged care home. As Ravani Foster, who has woken in the middle of the night, looks out from his room he sees a large white truck arrive, and from out of the back step seven children ranging in age from five or six up to sixteen or seventeen. The final child, a girl about his age, takes a little longer to emerge. There are no adults.
"Her hair, which was tied back with a black ribbon, looked silver in the moonlight. But Ravani thought that in the sunlight it would look gold. She wore blue jeans and a white T-shirt. One hand held a suitcase, just like the other children, but the other held something else: A white umbrella. The lacy, pretty kind that fancy ladies carried at fancy events like horse races or country picnics. ... She looked left, and then she looked right, and then she looked up."
These children, especially that girl, are set to change Ravani's life and later even the whole community.
I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but this book feels like a jigsaw - you need to pay attention to every little piece because Dan Gemeinhart very cleverly and neatly ties all the pieces together into a very, very satisfying ending.
Here are some important text quotes:
"The cow watched his approach. Its ears perked up. Ravani stopped in front of the condemned creature. He put his hand on the barbed wire and looked into its eyes. There was a sparkle there. A warmth. ... Ravani looked around quickly. There was no one in sight. ... A choice was made. A mistake, perhaps, but a choice to be sure. Ravani undid the latch."
"I'm not looking for a friend' she said. 'Me neither,' he lied."
"Tears spang hot to Ravani's eyes. Tears because Donnie's knee hurt, tears because he had dirt in his mouth, tears because he was tired of the cruelty and the loneliness, and tears most of all because he knew it was no use. That no matter what he did, no matter what he did or didn't say, that he would always be the sparrow caught in the kestrel's claws."
"He was tired to his soul of being lonely. And he'd thought for too long: Someday. Someday I'll be happy. Someday I'll have a friend."
"The first secret is that I have secrets ... the rest you'll have to wait for."
"The paper was long - really four of five pieces taped together. Drawn all the way down it, in ruler perfect neatness, were piano keys. Pencil lines marked the ivory keys, black keys scribbled dark with black crayon. 'This is my practice piano,' Virginia said ...'It's almost as good as having a real piano.'"
I also love some of the words and expressions used by Virginia - bullspit; no sweet Juniper; cheese and rice Rav - I said a spider not a rattlesnake; and holy spit, mister. Oh and the character names like Hortense Wallenbach - editor of the local newspaper and Mrs Grunchly - boat race official. And when Rav's mum invites Virginia over for piano lessons the piano I sighed with happiness. Oh, and each kid has a special talent - thank goodness for this. (You might relate this to Savvy by Ingrid Law).
Bookseller blurb: In the dead of night, a truck arrives in Slaughterville, a small town curiously named after its windowless slaughterhouse. Seven mysterious kids with suitcases step out of the vehicle and into an abandoned home on a dead-end street, looking over their shoulders to make sure they aren't noticed. But Ravani Foster covertly witnesses their arrival from his bedroom window. Timid and lonely, Ravani is eager to learn everything he can about his new neighbors: What secrets are they hiding? And most mysterious of all...where are the adults? Yet amid this shadowy group of children, Ravani finds an unexpected friend in the warm and gutsy Virginia. But with this friendship comes secrets revealed—and danger. When Ravani learns of a threat to his new friends, he must fight to keep them safe, or lose the only person who has ever understood him.
The place names in Slaughterville set the tone for life in this town - Carcass Creek; Skinister Slaughterhouse; and Red River.
Ranani loves birds - try to find Twitch by MG Leonard. And the way the children are being hunted reminded me of the movie scenes with Robert Helpmann from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Listen to an audio sample from page 2 onwards. In this interview Dan talks about his book. And here is Dan reading his first few pages. Here are some very detailed teachers notes.
Reading a book like The Midnight Children I marvel at the imagination of authors like Dan Gemeinhart. This is a story of extreme contrasts, of the deepest of friendships and it is an exploration of complex relationships.
Colby Sharp 'This is the book that will stay in their heart. ... from the opening pages you will know that this book is special! ... Read it, it's PERFECT.'
Stop and look at the cover - a young boy has filled a jar with fireflies, his face is bathed in their light, it is very dark and we assume very late. Stretch out the cover - there are five other children watching this boy - hidden among the trees. The boy looks quite well dressed whereas one of the other children is wearing patched pants that are perhaps too big or too small.
One of the things that happens when you read lots of books (from around the world and from here in Australia too) is you start to 'know' some authors and this makes it easy to anticipate a terrific story. I was so keen to read this book I bought it in hardcover so here in Australia it cost over AUS$30. I do hope a paperback edition is released so you can add this to your own shelves or library collection. I also adored this book by Dan Gemeinhart:
Years ago, I read another book by Dan Gemeinhart and then I am so happy to say I convinced a Grade Six teacher to read it to her class - and everyone (children and teacher) enjoyed it! This is important because this teacher (as with many others) was locked in to reading the same books to her class year and year - I rejoice that I expanded her horizons just a little.
Here is the third book I have read by Dan Gemeinhart - but I need to give a warning - there are some very violent parts to this story - it was a harrowing book to read but it also a very powerful story of redemption that is sure to linger with you.
Read these quotes from Dan Gemeinhart about his writing - ithey resonates with me:
I do agonize over every line, and I do a lot of cutting things out and putting things back in and changing things out and all that kind of stuff, trying to make it right, especially for a young reader. Like, I take that responsibility really seriously, that these kids have a lot going on in their lives, these younger readers, and a lot you’re competing with, you’re competing with sports in school and PlayStations and all these things and Tik Toks, phones and all that stuff. And so, I want my books to be books that young readers enjoy, and they want to read the next chapter, and they’re drawn into it to the magic of the story. And I don’t want to waste their time because they’re pretty busy.
So, one of my steps of revising, because I’ve got three kids, is when I finish a rough draft, I then read it out loud to my family because we read books together every night anyway. And so, when I finish a book okay, now we’re going to read Dad’s terrible rough draft, and reading it out loud is a great way to find those false notes where it looks good. You on the page, in your head, it sounded fine, and then you read out loud, and it sounds fake, or it sounds cheesy, it sounds too much, or it just sounds false.
... books aren’t just a great way to spend a summer day or to entertain you. Like, you can learn something, you can say something, you can really experience something bigger than yourself through stories.
Companion books:
