Whirligig

So this guy wants to commit suicide but in doing so accidentally kills a girl. To make up for it her mother tells him he must keep her spirit alive by placing "wirlygigs" at the four corners of the U.S. In doing so he finds out that life isn't so bad after all. This was my first bookclub read.

Brent Bishop has moved around a lot, so he knows "the rules" of trying to fit in at different high schools. A lot of these things have to do with status and appearance: the right clothes, cars, girlfriends. Those things matter to Brent. After getting humiliated at a party, he decides to end his

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life. The car crash he gets in doesn't kill him but instead it kills Lea, an 18-year-old with a bright future.
Her mother gives Brent the task of building whirligigs in Lea's honor at the four corners of the United States. The story is interwoven with vignettes of how the whirligigs touch the lives of people who come across them.
The story is beautifully written and the structure of the story reinforces the themes of interconnectedness, loss, and healing. Brent is a person transformed by his experience.

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This was a quick and easy read. You can feel the main character grow through his efforts to build the whirligigs and it was enjoyable to follow along. It makes you want to travel, and it also makes you want to take up woodworking and learn an instrument. Good read.

Brent is all caught up on the his new social life in Chicago. His father has just had another transfer and it's all about fitting in. When he goes to a party and is called out by the girl he really likes,everythingbecomes too much for him. As he's driving along the high-way, a voice inside his head

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tells him he doesn't have to deal with life anymore, that he has the power to end it all. So Brent closes his eyes and lets go of the wheel. He's fine, but it turns out he hit another car. He later learns the person he hit has died. He speaks to the mother of the girls he has killed, and she asks him to do one thing- make 4 whirligigs, put one in each corner of the U.S.- California, Washington, Florida, and Maine. And for some crazy reason he says he'll do it.

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My husband and I read this one aloud to each other. Loved the concept of the boy making ammends by taking on the task of building whirligigs and setting them in the four corners of US learning life lessons along the way.

I love how all the stories intertwine. I'm still working it all out in my head, but I thought this story was beautiful.

A young boy decides to end his life, instead he accidentally takes the life of another. The victim's mother requests that he build whirligigs in honor of her daughter, to make people smile the way she did in life. Follows the boy as he journeys across the country, putting himself together after the

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car crash that changed his life. Also shows how each of the whirligigs have positively impacted someone's life.

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Brent Bishop, high school junior, just wants to fit in. He thinks the party at the home of one of the popular kids at his new school will be his big chance, but the evening could not have turned out worse. Brent makes a fatal mistake, and must set out across the country to right the wrong he has

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committed. Like the whirligigs Brent is commissioned to create, in honor of a girl he never knew, Paul fleischman brings together four unrelated characters - with their own stories of love, acceptance, forgiveness, and peace - as they are each affected in their own way by Brent's work. The main story, of course, is that of Brent and his journey toward redemption and peace. Fleischman demonstrates well how our actions - good or bad, deliberate or accidental - can have the power to change someone's life. This multi-layered story is thought-provoking and beautifully told from the perspective of the different characters, with times and places shifting in each chapter.

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A teenage boy is responsible for another's death in a drunk driving accident. He sets up a whirligig in all 4 corners of the US as atonement. The book is more about the healing for the boy and the mother of the accident victim than about drinking and driving. This would be a great book for

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discussion.

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This book didn't have a big affect on me like I thought it would. The way the chapters were set up was kind of confusing and difficult to read. I think everything could have gotten into more detail. I couldn't really see the change in the main characters feelings and everything seemed "too

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convenient."

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Brent is a teenager who tries to commit suicide while driving. His attempt at suicide results in the death of a teenage girl, rather than himself. Brent just wants to get away; making and placing four whirligigs at each corner of the U.S. per request of the girl's mother is his ticket to getting

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away. Along his journey alone, Brent learns a lot about himself and matures.

The book would be useful in a discussion about how outcomes can seem so clear, but something different results.

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Very good, very moving story of redemption. Plus I just like Fleischman. He doesn't pull any crazy stunts. Very effective.

Within the first twenty pages, Brent has done something almost unforgivable: He gets drunk and wrecks his car, killing another teenager. What he can't tell anyone is that he was trying to commit suicide at the time.

Since he's a minor, and his parents are rich, Brent serves no jail time. Instead,

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the dead girl's mother asks him to build a whirligig at each of the four corners of the United States in her daughter Lea's memory. So Brent sets out for Washington with a backpack, a saw, and an old book on building whirligigs.

After each of Brent's chapters is a chapter that takes place long after the whirligigs have been built, showing how the whirligigs themselves affect the lives of the people who see them, showing that our good actions--not just our bad--can ripple outwards into the future.

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Impressive and beautifully crafted novel by Paul Fleischman! I loved the organization of the chapters and how Brent's story and quest to memorialize Lea is intertwined with individual stories of each whirligig and the influence it has on others. This is such a strong book to demonstrate the power

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of choices and their consequences, but amidst tragedy and poor decisions, Brent's character is really admirable, and it is refreshing to see him heal as he creates his final whirligig.

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A sometimes interesting look at how our lives touch other people's in unexpected ways. Features characters not always seen in YA -- a middle-aged Latino father, an old woman dying of cancer, a Filipino teenage girl. Nothing inappropriate here and lots to think about. The only potential problem is

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an attempted suicide at the beginning of the book. A tiny bit of alcohol at the beginning. But I think it's fine for sixth grade on up.

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I think this book would have been better if I had not listened to it. I think I missed some important parts. Also some of the people really annoyed me, and I think it was because of their voices. It was good, though... meaningful and pretty well written. I had expectations that things were going to

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come together differently at the end, so I was a bit thrown off when it was over.

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I loved every minute of reading this book, and I could barely contain my happiness when junking, contra dancing, and bookcrossing appeared in the end. Yes, those are some of the few things that make life so precious, even if you've made a fool of yourself or done something that makes you think it's

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time to quit. Just as Brent's whirligigs touched the lives of others he would never meet, Fleischman reminded me of some important lessons about life with this heartwarming story. The fact that the library discarded this makes no sense to me...wait, yes it does; thank you, Utica Public Library!

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Strange, interesting novel that I probably would have enjoyed more had I not been expecting the light-hearted humor of the author's father, Sid Fleischman.

This was a powerful book. I first read it when I was about ten, probably a bit too young, but it was a really good book about cause-and-effect and restorative justice. It's intellectual without being too heavy-handed. The writing is poetic and angry, sometimes funny. Great book.

Good, deep book

This book will make you think of the mark you are leaving as you exhist in this world. Push you to consider what it all looks like through the eyes of others. It was quite beautiful.

Driving home drunk after a socially disastrous party, high-schooler Brent tries to end his own life, but ends up taking someone else's, a girl named Lea. For retribution, her mother asks him to build whirligigs and place them at the four corners of the country. In alternating chapters, we follow

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Brent on his literal and psychological journey and see the lasting effect of the whirligigs on other people who find them.

This is a short book, and a quick read, although not for an impatient reader. The beginning is a bit confusing, as we see people interacting with the whirligigs before we know that Brent is building them. Nonetheless, this is a compelling and thoughtful story about the lasting effects of our actions- both good and bad.

I picked this up again after reading Chris Lynch's Free Will, because I wondered if the whirligigs in that book might be an homage to this one. I enjoyed it every bit as much as I did the first time all those years ago.

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Great story of a journey showing how people come together to affect each other in surprising ways

This is one of those books that is good on so many different levels. Another teacher recommended the book to me. The gist of the story is this Brent Bishop is in trouble. He caused the loss of another person’s life. He feels he deserves more punishment than he is given. The judge gives the

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victim’s parents the right to seek restitution. The victim’s mother meets with them and has an unusual request for restitution. Brent is to create four whirligigs and place them in four different states. She has even bought a bus ticket for him. Against his parent’s wishes he accepts. This is a journey that touches many different people and may actually bring about healing. I got to the end of this book and cried. It is that touching. The main character is so well developed that you feel his pain as you read his story. The settings are so well depicted you feel like you are right there with Brent. You feel his pain and want healing to happen for him. I could not wait to put this on my school shelves and recommend it.

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