Gordon Korman
One day a gigantic swastika is found painted on the wall of the middle school. This one heinous act is followed by twenty six more swastikas. The mystery is who has done it and why? Korman’s story is told through the eyes of typical adolescent characters each searching for their own identity. Link is a popular jock who loves pranks, acts impulsively and is angry at his dad. Dana is a new implant to the town and the only Jewish girl. Michael is head of the art club and the only Dominican student. Caroline is head of the seventh grade class and believes in student involvement. Jordie is Link’s best friend and on and off again boyfriend of Pam. Then there are some grownup characters who play important roles: Reeltok, a famous video blogger with a huge following, Rabbi Gold, a sheriff, and some parental voices.
The school runs scared and requires a Tolerance education unit for everyone. When the swatiskas keep appearing the students feel anxious, fearful, helpless and mad and together they step up to create an active statement against this hated symbol. The students decide to make paper chains out of construction paper that are six million links long. Add to this mix a nationwide well known blogger who is annoying, invasive, persistent and determined to out the community on its dark secret of being home to cross burning by the KKK forty years earlier, a father who only wants this small town turned into a mountain Disneyland, paleontologists from a rich eastern university and a limited supply of construction paper. On top of this, there is a dramatic Holocaust story that Link learns about his grandmother. When he finds out that she was born Jewish, sent by her parents to live with nuns, raised Catholic throughout her life but just recently learned about it, Link takes it upon hisself to become a Bar Mitzvah to remember the unknown countless family members who never made it out of Nazi Germany. As the story unfolds through different voices the intensity of the project and the mystery builds.
Lessons learned about tolerance and hate, differences and community are abundant in this engaging book for fifth graders and up. The Sheriff sums up the message of the book with his response to the blogger:
“If you think that swastikas are fine and the Holocaust never happened-you couldn’t be more wrong. The hate shown her isn’t just about people who are Jewish or Black or anything else. it’s about us all- every single one of us! Hate is hate, and hate hurts everybody.”
Students who are Jewish should not be the only readers of Korman’s book. It is a window for all adolescents who ask many questions, search for answers and are looking to find out who they are and what they believe in. While the end does wrap everything up, perhaps a little too easily, it does promote forgiveness as long as there is growth and movement forward toward tolerance and inclusiveness. This is an engaging read.