Repossessed, by A.M. Jenkins, is also a 2008 Printz Honor book. This is a story told from a very different point of view, that of a Fallen Angel trying out a human body. The human is a teenager named Shaun Simmons who was about to walk in front of a truck and would have died anyway. So it's not like he killed him. He's just borrowing his body so he can take a vacation and find out what it really feels like to be human. Throughout the story, this Fallen Shaun tries to leave his mark on the world by positively affecting the people around him: Shaun's mom, brother, and best friend, plus a girl at school and a bully. But he knows he is not supposed to be here, that this is breaking several rules, and he actually hopes someone up there notices him. By the end, he has attracted the attention of the Creator, who sends one of the Unfallen to convince him that it is time to give Shaun a second chance at stepping out in front of a truck and living with the consequences. But although the story stops there, I imagine that Shaun will survive the accident, learn to appreciate his life, and that the people who were affected by him in Fallen form will remember what he was like then and will be better for it. This story surprised me. I didn't expect to enjoy it, but I did. I certainly didn't expect to learn anything from it, but I did that too. I learned that we should appreciate the opportunities we have in life.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Repossessed
Repossessed, by A.M. Jenkins, is also a 2008 Printz Honor book. This is a story told from a very different point of view, that of a Fallen Angel trying out a human body. The human is a teenager named Shaun Simmons who was about to walk in front of a truck and would have died anyway. So it's not like he killed him. He's just borrowing his body so he can take a vacation and find out what it really feels like to be human. Throughout the story, this Fallen Shaun tries to leave his mark on the world by positively affecting the people around him: Shaun's mom, brother, and best friend, plus a girl at school and a bully. But he knows he is not supposed to be here, that this is breaking several rules, and he actually hopes someone up there notices him. By the end, he has attracted the attention of the Creator, who sends one of the Unfallen to convince him that it is time to give Shaun a second chance at stepping out in front of a truck and living with the consequences. But although the story stops there, I imagine that Shaun will survive the accident, learn to appreciate his life, and that the people who were affected by him in Fallen form will remember what he was like then and will be better for it. This story surprised me. I didn't expect to enjoy it, but I did. I certainly didn't expect to learn anything from it, but I did that too. I learned that we should appreciate the opportunities we have in life.
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