Probably my favorite Abe Lincoln Award book this year is I Am the Messenger by Marcus Zusak. The main character in this book, Ed Kennedy, is an underachieving nineteen year-old cab driver. He’s basically happy just hanging out with his friends and dog, and he leads a fairly uneventful life. That is, until he is in the wrong place at the wrong time, or the right place at the right time, depending on how you look at it. Ed happens to be in a bank when a totally inept thief comes in to rob it. When the robber sees his getaway car driving away, he runs out of the bank dropping his gun on the way out. Ed picks up the gun, apprehends the robber, points the gun at him, and then the police show up. Ed, of course, becomes an instant hero. Soon afterwards, Ed begins getting playing cards in the mail. Each has an address and a time and/or riddle written on it. Ed realizes he has to follow through on the messages, and his “assignments” get more and more involved. He wonders who is sending him the messages, but can’t seem to figure it out. I won’t tell you what happens, but I will tell you that I think if you read at least a chapter of the book, you’ll get hooked and want to finish it.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
I Am the Messenger
Probably my favorite Abe Lincoln Award book this year is I Am the Messenger by Marcus Zusak. The main character in this book, Ed Kennedy, is an underachieving nineteen year-old cab driver. He’s basically happy just hanging out with his friends and dog, and he leads a fairly uneventful life. That is, until he is in the wrong place at the wrong time, or the right place at the right time, depending on how you look at it. Ed happens to be in a bank when a totally inept thief comes in to rob it. When the robber sees his getaway car driving away, he runs out of the bank dropping his gun on the way out. Ed picks up the gun, apprehends the robber, points the gun at him, and then the police show up. Ed, of course, becomes an instant hero. Soon afterwards, Ed begins getting playing cards in the mail. Each has an address and a time and/or riddle written on it. Ed realizes he has to follow through on the messages, and his “assignments” get more and more involved. He wonders who is sending him the messages, but can’t seem to figure it out. I won’t tell you what happens, but I will tell you that I think if you read at least a chapter of the book, you’ll get hooked and want to finish it.
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2 comments:
I also love this author's other book, "The Book Thief" (although both books are very different).
I loved I "Am the Messenger", this is definitely my favorite Abe book of the ones I've read. Markus Zusack has such a great control of language and character that I was saddened when I finally finished the book and had to stop reading. Though the ending irked me a little bit, also.
I can't wait to see what this author does next; I feel that he improved between "The Book Thief" and "I Am the Messenger", and I'll have a new favorite author on my hands if he manages to improve (or simply keep his ability at par) again.
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