Cummings , Priscilla. Red Kayak. 2004. New York: Dutton Juvenile. 2014
Age Level: 6th grade – 8th grades
Summary: Brady finds the lifeless body of his 3 year old neighbor Ben, in the river in the middle of the storm. After he pulls Ben into the boat he drops his cell phone over the boat into the water. Brady must then drive his boat and attempt CPR on the lifeless body. Brady must make an extremely difficult choice when he finds out that his two best friends, J.T. and Digger, are the direct cause why little Ben is now dead. Brady’s father assisted him in dredging up the Red Kayak. When Brady see’s that holes are drilled into the bottom, he breaks down and tells his father what his friends J.T. and Digger did. Brady decides to turn in his friends only after the stress, torment, and sadness began to seriously affect him. His friends are charged with murder and the story revolves around his coping with the boy's death, assisting Ben’s own mother with her grieving, and reliving the death of his infant sister years
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Red Kayak is for the teenager who has come to realize that Character is the most important element of a coming-of-age story as it reflects self; Red Kayak should be read by adults who tend to de-value the teenage mind thinking it's not capable of deep thoughts that aren't driven by selfishness. To get the full impact of the moral, I would recommend that teenagers and young adults read Red Kayak, but any age can learn a lesson from this truly heart-wrenching novel. I found Cummings's writing excelled right from the first chapter with gorgeous prose channeled through the thoughts of a fourteen-year-old boy. Her language was simultaneously poetic and character-appropriate. Most remarkable was the unpredictable nature of where the story was going
In Red Kayak by Priscilla Cummings, guilt is shown in almost every character in the story, but it is through Brady that we see the most guilt.
On their way home from school Jenny and Willie hook up. Then on the weekend, Jenny, Johnny, Willie and his family decide to go to the lake. Willie and Jenny set the table for a picnic when Johnny is out skiing. Willies mom complains about him never being safe enough. Next it is Willie's turn to water-ski. As Willie was doing a 360° turn, he caught the tips of his skis under the water and he crashed. Willies dad was in shock, Jenny had to give Willie mouth to mouth, and save his life. The left the boat, got into the vehicle, and drove to the hospital. Willie ends up with a speech impediment, and problems walking. He ends up doing crazy things, like acid, and drinking. He talks to a counselor whom he really likes. Willie does not want to go into a Special Ed class that the school is referring him to. He feels hopeless, and even jealous of his girlfriend for her athletics. He tries to play racquetball, but his dad gets frustrated with him. That night he hears his parents arguing over him. He hears his dad say that he thinks it would have been easier if Willie had died in the accident. From there he suspects Jenny and Petey of getting together, and finds out that they are.
After feeling ostracised by the township, the alienated Brennan family are driven to leave the town of Mumbilli at 4:30am. With hardly any peer support, Tom begins to lose his sense of security, resulting in his transformation into an unconfident teen who is afraid of public opinion. It is no wonder that Tom is unable to move on in his new town as he is being held back in fear of revealing his past. Burke tactfully illustrates Tom’s emotional kaleidoscope through phrases such as “I felt the knot snap” and “my guts landing at my feet” (Burke, pg 172) when reflecting on the accident. On the contrary, with encouragement from family members, Tom begins to step out of his comfort zone and face the future that is to come.
Where they grew up, kids as young as 8 years old were recruited into illegal operations; Wes and Tony included. Mary tried everything she could, but had lost her sons to the wonder and curiosity that money brings. The important place a mother should hold in her son’s life vanished and she was left to take care of their mistakes. Later in their lives, both boys were caught in a heist that set them up for an entire lifetime in jail. Their arrest sent “cheering responses” from everyone in their community. The boys were not only involved with a robbery, but a murder as well. The word spread quickly about their sentences and a “collective sigh of relief seeped through Baltimore. At home, Mary wept” (Moore 155). Many families go through traumatic experiences comparable to Mary’s situation. The choices her sons made left her alone, parallel to the isolation the boys were experiencing as
It has become evident, more so in our day and age, that children often feel burdened by the expectations that one’s parents have. Blinded by their own pretences, parents pressure their children to follow a path which they themselves think is best. As seen in “The Boat” by Alistair MacLeod, the narrator endures a tremendous amount of pressure from his parents. In comparison to my own life, my parents also put a lot of pressure on me because they want me to be successful. However, I find that the pressure exerted by my parents onto me is not helpful at all. To start, pressure often leads to stress, which then leads to long term complications such as anxiety and depression. Ever since I was young, my parents have wanted me to pursue a career in medicine. I was not very happy as it was not a field that I found
...ut Jake in a confused state of his life. His love has always been the river, giving him hope, peace, friendship, brotherhood, and love. The river gave him everything but has now taken away his only brother for no reason at all. No matter how much he tries to get away from his past, the river is his life and has become his home.
On the first week at Grandma’s, a man named Shotgun Cheatman died. Everyone in the town went to the funeral because he was the well known assistant to the Mayor. The funeral was held in Grandma’s house and a creepy thing happened that night when Tom the cat crawled inside the casket. The next day, Joey, Mary Alice and Grandma left the house and walked across fields of tall grass and “cow pies aplenty” to Salt Creek to go fishing. They found an old wooden boat and Grandma rowed the boat out into the creek. While on their fishing adventure, they encountered a cottonmouth snake that fell into the boat and a party of drunken men on land dancing in their underwear.
While Addie lies dying on her corn-shuck mattress, Darl convinces Jewel to take a trip with him to pick up a load of lumber. Darl knows that Jewel is Addie's favorite child. The trip for lumber is a contrivance- Darl's way of keeping Jewel from his mother's bedside when she dies. A wheel breaks on the wagon, and before Darl and Jewel can replace it, bring the wagon home, and load Addie's body onto it for the trip to Jefferson, three days have passed. By this time, heavy rains have flooded the Yoknapatawpha River and washed out all the bridges that cross it. The river is vicious, and the Bundrens' mules drown. The wagon tips over, and. Jewel, on horseback, manages to keep the wagon and its load from drifting downstream, saving his mother’s decomposing body. When the family finally makes it through the ordeal, they spend the night at the Gillespies' farm. Darl sets fire to the barn where Addie's body is stored in an effort to spare his mother. However, Jewel once again saves her coffin with a heroic act.
The victim is nineteen year old Khadijah Stewart. Stewart had grown up in the south side of Richmond, Virginia (a high crime area) where she met a boy named Tommie. Both were in middle school but Tommie soon got arrested for robberies and gun charges, he was sentenced to life as a juvenile. As time goes on Stewart forms a history of dating bad boys. The main on and off again boyfriend throughout her high school years was a young man named Lionel. In High school Stewart is skipping school to hang out Lionel and his gang members. Afraid how the streets could impact Stewart, the mother moves the family to Chesterfield County, a successful middle class suburbs, to create new life. As her life is changing for the better her heart longs to maintain
It is the day Cali will remember for the rest of her life, for it is the day Cali Millhouse discovers her uncle was murdered by a family member. It is Two o'clock and half of the town of Rosewood is piling inside the local funeral home. Mrs. Dunham pays her respects to everyone except Cali’s father, Steve, for Mrs. Dunham finds him to be evil. Maybe she is right, and he killed Cali’s uncle? Whether he was or not, it is still a sad day and she needed the comfort of her father. That morning the sheriff came by and informed Cali and her family that someone related to Keith killed him. Surprisingly, her father made a comment that he believed it was her Aunt Audrey. Audrey was a money hungry, mean, gold-digger who dated men for their money, and she knew Keith had a two billion dollar company that would be left to someone if he passed.Steve felt much animosity towards his older sister, and would vituperate her name any chance he got. Audrey blamed Steve as much as her blamed her, nevertheless you could feel their acrimony towards each
The film chronicles the histories of three fathers, and manages to relates and link their events and situations. First is Mitchell Stephens and his relationship with his drug-addict daughter. Second is Sam, and the secret affair he is having with his young daughter Nicole. He is somewhat of a narcissistic character because of his preoccupation with himself and pleasing himself, and his lack of empathy throughout the film for the others in the town. Third is Billy, who loves his two children so much that he follows behind the school bus every day waving at them. Billy is also having an affair with a married woman who owns the town’s only motel. On the exterior the town is an average place with good people just living their lives. But, beneath all the small town simplicity is a web of lies and secrets, some which must be dealt with in the face of this tragedy.
One mistake follows another; the narrator faced probable and actual consequences leading up to a revelatory moment: the discovery of a floating body in the Lake. This moment breaks and transforms him. “My car was wrecked;
The plot of the movie starts out in the woods as Keller Dover and his son Ralph Dover are deer hunting on Thanksgiving. Keller is teaching Ralph how to hunt incase of a disaster in which he would need to use survival skills. The movie then takes you to the Dover household in a suburban neighborhood. It was very cold and rainy. The Dover’s were getting ready to go to a the Birch household for Thanksgiving dinner that evening. The Dover family starts to head out of the house when the their daughter Anna realizes she has still not found her whistle. Parents Keller and Grace tell Anna not to worry about it they have to go. The family arrives at the Birch household where the two families reunite. Franklin and Nancy and their two daughters Zoe and Joy. Ralph and Zoe are ...
Madge is frightened. Up ahead, there is an accident where a motorcycle is down and a familiar face, Bob the gas filling attendant, is limping across the road. Bob asks Madge to help him stand the motorcycle back up. The reader may think that Madge has a way out of the situation with Bob’s help. The man thought to be Eunice, now tells Madge that he is actually Mr. Tabor. He says he is going to go help. Then Madge feels a sign of relief. The author describes the scene. Mr. Tabor tells Madge to drive away, and she does. She hears a noise, and the reader knows that Bob got shot. Madge drives off as quick as she can to her husband. She is so frightened that she couldn’t tell him until the next day what she experienced. They returned to town. Madge’s husband said that Mr. Tabor was at his desk at the mill, and Bob, the gas attendant, was not at the filling station. Bob told his boss the night before that he was leaving. Madge’s husband returns to tell Madge that nothing happened, but Madge and the readers know what happened. The author uses suspense to keep the reader’s attention and interest. In the end, Mr. Tabor is the one who helped take out the women killer, but the readers may have thought that he
In Conclusion, Lulu’s revenge, John Paul’s guilt, and Denny’s lust represents monstrous behavior. This story shows us that all humans are capable of monstrous behavior. Robert Cormier shares the perspective of a killer. Its take us on a journey through the characters’ eyes and shows us that even the innocent can be dangerous and how one event can negatively impact a person’s life.