Replay

by Sharon Creech

I loved it!

The story shifts between scenes from Leo's family, Leo's imagination (which is really funny), and the school play that's in production…
It makes sense after a couple of pages, and from there it moves quickly.

Leo is 12, the second-oldest in a family with four children; his slightly younger brother plays football, his older sister plays soccer, his littlest brother has a lisp and sings all the time; his parents are hard-working and tired a lot of the time. His home is a whirlwind of different activities and busy-ness…there's always an air of mild chaos.

Leo retreats into his fanciful funny imagination, recasting scenes where he's famous and successful and has made everyone happy or someone gets what they deserve, etc. These imagination scenes are a lot of fun--and Creech has Leo's real-life and imagination follow each other seamlessly, which makes it all funnier, after a little bit of confusion at first.

Leo has a routine where he runs from his porch, jumps over a bush, climbs a tree, looks down, studies the neighborhood, and repeats this--with his goal being to see something new each time he goes around.. I liked these parts a lot

Also there's a great chapter, "Then and Now," where the play in falling apart because nobody is staying in character, and Mr. Beeber, the drama teacher, tries getting everyone to think about what his/her character was like before the play…it leads into an exercise where he has them pick someone they know and then write about what they were like when they were little, and how they're different now, and why that might be. …It's a well-done chapter--and connects with Leo's secretly discovering & reading his dad's childhood autobiography, The Autobiography of Giorgo, Age of Thirteen, and imagining what he was like and when/why/how he changed. It would be fun to do the exercise with kids who are reading the book.

The book itself is set up like a play--from the tickets on the cover, the title page that looks like a program/poster, a cast list, and a list of scenes instead of chapters…a curtain opens and closes at the beginning and end of the book. This all adds an interesting dimension to the story-- between this and the real/imagined/play format, I think Replay introduces current writing/storytelling creative trends to children's literature in a neat way. …it's like contemporary grown-up writing but right on target for kid readers.

The chapters are nice and short--speedy--and terrifically named. The pages are slightly smaller than typical pages. The combination makes for a manageable, readable book--not too thick seeming or intimidating… which is helpful since the reading itself (because of the back and forth and scene-shifting from reality to imagination to play) could be challenging.

The book ends with an appendix of Mr. Beeber's play--which is neat.

People who might like this book:
+ kids who really really really love acting/theater/writing
+ kids with lots of brothers and sisters
+ sharon creech fans
+ strong readers ready for uncommon storytelling

It might also be a good book for kids who are dealing with family sadness/sickness/death… because there's an honest treatment of that in the story--quiet and thoughtful and scared but safe--and it's reassuring without simplifying it.
In a way, the story is all about kids dealing with death, the inevitability and unpredictability of it (*even though no death happens in the story) …and about how powerful and magical storytelling is.

book site (with reading guide) || author site