Monday, June 18, 2012
PIC - Sparks: An Urban Fairytale
by Lawrence Marvit, 2002
"Dislillusioned by the drabness and difficulty of her life, Jo builds
"the perfect man" out of old car parts. When this junk-man magically
comes to life, it's up to Jo to teach him about the world. Sparks is the
story of a girl trying to fit in and, with the help of a man made of
junk, find her own identity." (from Amazon.com)
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I already posted this on my regular blog, but wanted to add to any discussion here:
ReplyDeleteJo (Josephine) is a 20-year-old mechanic with an alcoholic, abusive, police officer father and a continually stupored mother. Jo longs to belong, connect with people, but doesn't fit in well with her peers. She creates a pretend friend with scraps from old cars at the garage where she works. Lightning brings her creation to life. She teaches him language and gets a See and Speak so he has a voice.
Ultimately, I found this to be a very sad - almost tragic - story. Jo's alienation is definitely rooted in her parents' dysfunction. Her attempts to "go out" and do the things other young adults do doesn't turn out very well. The story is brilliantly written and drawn, but too mature in content and language for my middle school.
(I had to interlibrary loan this from the Rochester Public Library. It's hard to find!)