Publisher: Bywater Books
Jill
Malone is an award winning author for her previous books, but Giraffe
People is probably more readable by the general public. This is likely to due to the fact that it’s a
coming of age story, something that most people can relate to.
Cole
Peters is fifteen years old; a difficult age for anyone, but especially the
child of a military chaplain. Cole is
trying to figure out who she is, what she wants and where she fits in the
general scheme of the universe while dealing with the shifting impermanence of
military life. As she says in the book,
“We never get to keep anything. Never. Temporary quarters, and temporary friends,
and temporary school…” It’s no wonder
that Cole boomerangs all over the place in her emotions and perceptions. She seems happy playing soccer and dating her
boyfriend; then she seems willing to give them up for the rebellious life of a
rock and roll band. Is her admiration
for Meghan, an older girl who is preparing for West Point, simply the normal
hero worship for a role model or the budding of early lesbian interests? Cole describes herself and her family by
saying, “Nigel and Nate and I have the exact body of our dad: stooped,
long-legged, with a narrow chest and flat feet.
We’re like giraffe people.” Maybe
what she’s saying is that it’s very difficult to be normal and different at the
same time.
The
reader can feel sympathetic towards Cole on a number of issues, mainly because
she has so many issues to deal with – teenage, the military lifestyle, a girl
in athletics, indefinite sexuality, and her father is a chaplain, bringing in
the religious aspect. What’s left for
the poor kid not to have to deal with?
The most interesting one turns out to be the impact on the life of a
military child. This is an area most
people never consider, but the constant shifting of areas and the inconstancy
of friends and schools is destabilizing more than anything. It provokes a question of whether or not
families with children should be in the military or if they should be stationed
in one place for longer periods of time.
Giraffe People is the least esoteric of Malone’s
books, but perhaps her most thought provoking because it deals with issues almost
anyone can relate to. The reader can
identify with struggles that have been experienced. It might not be a good idea to give the book
to an actual teenager however since it might upset more than help them.
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