Module 5--Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta



Source:  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2999475-jellicoe-road

Summary:
Taylor Markham lives at a boarding school and does not feel connected to any of the people in her life.  Though she cares deeply for many of them, she has trouble expressing this.  Her mother abandoned her at a 7-Eleven when she was eleven years-old.  Hannah, a lady who lives near the Jellicoe Boarding School, finds her there and takes her to the school.  When Hannah suddenly goes missing, Taylor panics and is sure something is wrong.  Through a winding story with many twists and turns, Hannah learns she is more connected to the people in her life than she had ever imagined and that her family has a rich history that began at the Jellicoe School.  Also a big part of the story is the relationship between the Jellicoe School, The Cadets and the Townies who engage in a tradition every fall called the Territory Wars.  The leader of the Cadets is a boy she has run away with three years before, Jonah Griggs.  She felt he betrayed her, like all the key players in her life, but learns he has always been on her side.  In the end, Taylor has both a past and future filled with trust, legacy, and love. 

APA Reference: 

Marchetta, M.  (2006). Jellicoe Road.  New York: HarperTeen.


My Impressions:
The book got off to a slow start.  Later, it became a page turner and the depth and details set forth in the beginning were well worth the needed patience.  I crave a sequel because the characters are so memorable and real and the plot so rich and intense that I mourned the book coming to an end.  And once Jonah Griggs came in to the plot, it had all the makings for a perfect book.  This is a book I will recommend to many adults.  It is best suited for High School, but school librarians should brace themselves for a challenge from a parent who may object to the sex and nudity inferred in some parts as well as other mature topics such as serial killers, cursing and molestation.  Nonetheless, this book will capture the heart of any reader and is of excellent literary quality--two ingredients that make a winning book. I have added it to my personal short list of favorite books. 

 Professional Reviews:

With Jellicoe Road, Australian author Melina Marchetta says that she was eager to "explore a community that wasn't necessarily defined by blood ties. I'm very close to my parents and sisters, but I also have a strong urban family who…are in my life for the long haul and ultimately that's what this story is about." After Taylor is abandoned by her drug-addled mother, she is taken in by Hannah, a longtime fixture of the neighboring Jellicoe School. But when Hannah disappears, leaving behind a cryptic manuscript that chronicles events that occurred 22 years earlier, the self-contained teenager must learn to forge connections with her classmates, students from a rival school and a ragtag collection of locals from Jellicoe town. At the center of the book, which Kirkus called "a beautifully rendered mystery," is Taylor's attempt to meld past and present into a new version of herself. "I think all of us are in a constant search for who we are, despite age and cultural backgrounds," says Marchetta. Shifting deftly between Taylor and Hannah's narratives, the author slowly unravels the secrets of her protagonist's past. "The reader has to work harder because they're not quite sure where it's going for a while," she says. "They don't know Taylor's story, but then again, she doesn't either."

[Review of the book Jellicoe road, by M. Marchetta]. (2008)  Kirkus Reviews, 76(23), 14. Retrieved from http://www.kirkusreviews.com  

Taylor Markham isn’t just one of the new student leaders of her boarding school, she’s also the heir to the Underground Community, one of three battling school factions in
her small Australian community (the others being the Cadets and the Townies). For a generation, these three camps have fought “the territory wars,” a deadly serious negotiation of land and property rife with surprise attacks, diplomatic immunities, and physical violence. Only this year, it’s complicated: Taylor might just have a thing for Cadet leader Jonah, and Jonah might just be the key to unlocking the secret identity of Taylor’s mother, who abandoned her when she was 11. In fact, nearly every relationship in Taylor’s life has unexpected ties to her past, and the continual series of revelations is both the book’s strength and weakness; the melodrama can be trying, but when Marchetta isn’t forcing epiphanies, she has a knack for nuanced characterizations and punchy dialogue. The complexity of the backstory will be offputting to younger readers,
but those who stick it out will find rewards in the heartbreaking twists of Marchetta’s saga.

Kraus, D. (2008). [Review of the book Jellicoe road, by M. Marchetta]. Booklist, 105(5), 34.  Retrieved from http://www.booklistonline.com
Library Uses: 

• Starring Your Family: Working with a writing teacher, students could research their family history then write a portion of it as a fictional story, as Hannah did in Jellicoe Road.   
•  Birds of a Feather: Display Jellicoe Road with other books that mention To Kill a Mockingbird in the plot, such as Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine after students read To Kill a Mockingbird for reading class.
• Visual It!: Have an art contest where students must paint or draw a selected description from the book. Marchetta writes vivid descriptions.  Students would not need to read to participate in the contest although they may be drawn to read the book because of the contest.  The art contest could be an ongoing contest that might use a book excerpt each month.  It would promote books and add artistic decor to the library setting.  The book could be displayed next to the artwork so it is easily accessible if a student wants to read the book.