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Booktalk
#1
Jenna now
has her driver's license and is ready to hit the
road. She can't believe her luck when her boss at
the shoe store asks Jenna to drive her from Chicago
to Texas. Mrs. Gladstone has a little job for Jenna
to do along the way. Jenna is enlisted as a
corporate spy. She is asked to spy on other shoe
stores. Come get some shopping tips along the way
as Jenna learns THE RULES OF THE ROAD.
Booktalk
#2
- How
many of you have your drivers license? What does
driving mean to you? Have any of you ever made a
long road trip? As a passenger? As
the driver?
Jenna
Boller is 5' 11" tall, and has red hair and brown
eyes. She works in a shoe store, you know, a
retail selling job. But she's so good at it
that the owner of Gladstone Shoes, Madeline
Gladstone, hangs out in her store. When
Madeline decides to go on a road trip to visit all
the stores in the chain, she hires Jenna as her
driver and undercover shoe agent. Mrs. Gladstone
wants to find out just what is happening in her
stores before she turns the business over to her
son Elden. Jenna cant wait--two months on the
road in a big white Cadillac, driving from Chicago
to Dallas. Jenna thinks she knows the Rules
of the Road, but there may be more out there than
she bargained for. (Kathy Bullene, North
Mason Timberland Library, kbullene@timberland.lib.wa.us)
Booktalk
#3
Just
recently, our daughter, Stacy, who is a junior in
High School next fall got her driver's permit and
started to drive. Let me tell you this has been a
very interesting experience. For example, when we
drove down to Arkansas over the fourth of July
weekend, my wife, Mary, let Stacy drive most of the
trip with only one month of driving experience. At
first, I thought it was a huge mistake. Why?
Because I am talking about highway driving! I am
talking about 75 miles per hour driving!! I was
very, very nervous. My wife had one hand on the
steering wheel and I was praying. (FOLD
HANDS). So, here is Stacy
changing lanes on the highway to pass a car which
means she was moving from the right to the left
lane. She has her hands on the steering wheel and
turns it a little to sharp to the left and I am
holding on for my life. (HOLD ON TO CHAIR). I felt
like I was on a roller coaster. Then Stacy steps on
the gas and passes the car and she moves back into
the right lane and she turns the car too sharp
again this time to the right and I grab a hold of
the seat again because I think my life is about to
end. (GRAB A HOLD OF A CHAIR AGAIN). You know
how the highway has a broken white line in the
middle and the solid white line on the right side?
Well, Stacy throughout the trip was constantly
going over the solid white line on the right side
of the freeway. Another thing that happened is that
at one point in our trip Stacy almost hit the side
of a bridge. All of this took place with Mary's
hand on the wheel. I can't imagine what would have
happened if Mary wasn't holding the steering
wheel. In the book
Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer, Jena has a job
selling shoes at a local shoe store. She is so good
at it that she catches the eye of Madeline
Gladstone, the corporate owner of Gladstone Shoes.
Jena has only had her license for six months and
Madeline wants her to drive her to the annual
stockholder's meeting in Texas where she will hand
the leadership of the company over to her son,
Elden. They will make stops in Illinois, Missouri,
Louisiana, and then Dallas, Texas so Jena can spy
out some of the Gladstone Shoe Stores along the
way. The trip will take the entire summer.
Here are the keys. How many of you would take them
after six months of driving experience? (PAUSE)
Raise your hands. How many of your parents would
let you drive on this trip? (PAUSE). Raise your
hands. Oh, I forgot to tell you what you would be
driving. (SHOW A PICTURE OF A CADILLAC). A
cadillac!!! This is not a junker. This is a
magnificent driving machine. You get in an accident
in this car and you are in big, big trouble.
When she takes off on this trip, Jena leaves behind
an alcoholic father who is always coming home drunk
and he is the single, biggest problem in her life.
She has had it up to here with him. After Jena
drives through some major cities she finds out that
Madeline Gladstone is not really handing over the
company to her son, but he is really involved in a
corporate takeover and there is nothing that
Madeline or Jena can do about it. Or, (PAUSE) is
there? (Paul Christopherson, Young Adult Librarian,
Millard Branch Library paulc@omaha.lib.ne.us)
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