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Title details for The Greats by Deborah Ellis - Available

The Greats

by Deborah Ellis
Bahni Turpin
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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With the unexpected help of a giant prehistoric sloth, ghostly grandfathers return to help a suicidal teenager.
Winning a national high-school geography competition should be the high point of Jomon's life. So why does he find himself running through the streets of Georgetown, Guyana, later that same night - so angry and desperate? Why does he heave his hard-won medal through the front window of a liquor store?
Why does a teenaged boy decide life is not worth living?
Arrested by police and detained in a jail cell, Jomon is jolted out of his suicidal thoughts by the sudden appearance of another teenaged boy - who claims to be his great-great-grandfather ...
Meanwhile, across town, the pride of Guyana, the life-sized exhibit of a giant prehistoric sloth named Gather, disappears overnight from the Guyana National Museum. While museum officials argue over who is responsible for the disappearance and who is in charge of getting the sloth back, only Mrs. Simson, a museum cleaner, seems to understand what needs to be done.
And so begins a strange and marvelous journey, as Jomon is sentenced to a youth detention facility, and a succession of his dead grandfathers appears, each one of them a suicide victim. As the grandfathers argue among themselves and blame each other for their own fates, they keep a watch out for Jomon, to try to make sure he does not continue their family tradition.
In this short, fable-like story, Deborah Ellis comes at the timely and difficult issue of child suicide with restraint, compassion, and freshness, as the grandfathers overcome their own fraught histories to help their grandson, who in the end is aided by the appearance of a wondrous giant rodent, busy enjoying her own return to earthly existence.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 29, 2020

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593343951
      • File size: 118570 KB
      • Duration: 04:07:01

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 700
    • Text Difficulty: 3

  • Reviews

    • School Library Journal

      December 1, 2020

      Gr 5-8-On a night that should have brought him great joy and pride, young Jomon's depression and loneliness drive him to violence and destruction, and subsequently to make the decision to end his young life. Although he helped his team win the national geography competition, Jomon feels that since he is no longer useful to the classmates, he will no longer have them as friends. His family life has been in shambles ever since his mother died, and his alcoholic father is frequently absent, more of a burden than a support. After he is arrested for throwing his gold medal through a store window, Jomon is visited by three of his ancestors, beginning with his great-great-grandfather, all appearing as their teenage selves. As they relate the tragic stories that led to their own deaths, revealing dark secrets and ancient arguments, the Greats try to use their experiences to deter Jomon from taking his own life. Meanwhile, in a seemingly unrelated plot, a life-sized exhibit of a Megatherium, a giant prehistoric sloth, comes to life and wanders out of the Guyana National Museum. By the time their paths cross, Jomon is less angry; he's ready to listen to his Greats and contemplate the possibility of a future, with newfound freedom like Gather the sloth. Both stories conclude rather abruptly. Bahni Turpin engages the listener masterfully, using appropriate expression and accents to reflect the voices of the Guyanese characters and their emotional exchanges. Organizations that offer help to those who contemplate suicide are appended. VERDICT By cloaking it in myth and allegory, Ellis discusses suicide and life's purpose without being preachy or heavy-handed, but leaves the resolution open-ended.-MaryAnn Karre, Binghamton, NY

      Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:700
  • Text Difficulty:3

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