It’s summertime and this season tends to be the time when we put a little extra “oomph” into reading more. Although our schedules slow down and we’re apt to take some vacation time, it’s the perfect opportunity to stimulate our minds with material that we can enjoy and learn from! Mystery, suspense, thriller, romance, historical, sports and a thousand other genres pique the curiosity of avid book lovers which all offer the gift of both educating, entertaining and exciting whoever browses through their pages. Ordinarily, I’m a James Patterson or Elin Hilderbrand fan but lately I’ve been experimenting with dramatic fiction including the titles, “Lost in the Sun”, “Fangirl”, “Eleanor and Park “ and my recent conquest, “Sure Signs of Crazy”. This last one I really enjoyed (although the others are fantastic too), because for one thing, it was incredibly well written (author’s name is Karen Harrington) and second, the main character’s best friend just so happens to be a plant! If you’re confused I’ll fill you in a bit…
“Sure Signs of Crazy” is a story about a twelve-year-old girl named Sarah who struggles with the tragic truth of having a mentally insane mother. Ten years ago, she was institutionalized for murdering Sarah’s twin brother at the age of just two by drowning him in the kitchen sink. The main character survives the incident but is now left with an alcoholic father who is vacant at best and incapable of realizing his daughter’s need to come of age. That all changes during the summer going into seventh grade when our heroine takes control and forces her family to cope with the past and move on. Now this might seem a little depressing but here’s the interesting part…
Having incredible writing skills (Sarah pens letters to Atticus Finch from “To Kill A Mockingbird” for a school assignment which ends up being therapeutic to her deeper understanding), she lacks ease with verbal communication and naturally befriends a plant. Now you’d think the plant would just sit there and wilt but the author brilliantly personifies it to have opinions, likes and dislikes. Harrington introduces situations where the plant is exposed to alcohol and feared to become “sick” as well as neglected and “lonely”, all things we know a pe plant was a real person. My favorite example of this is seen when Sarah attempts to run away but is fearful of the needs of her plant. She decides to dig a hole in the ground for her friend and describes this procedure where she clearly identifies with the plant as having human physical features:
“I placed her into the hole and pressed the old dirt around her waist. I kneel at her new spot and try not to cry. Tell her all the cool things she will be able to see from this view.” (page 225-226)
As the book continues, she begins to open up to more person to person connections including her neighbors, grandmother, father and even her mother. We learn through unpeeling the layers surrounding the little girl’s life that she is not the meek character from the beginning and in fact is a strong young woman who the world eagerly awaits to read her own words. The reader is probed into believing that her friendship with the plant is at least partly responsible for this breakthrough.
Try “Sure Signs of Cralant is incapable of feeling. In several passages the plant disagrees with Sarah and at other times, requests its caretaker to turn it around for appropriate sun as” for a fun yet intriguing read this summer!