Module 7 The School Story

Summary: Natalie Nelson has had a tough time since her dad died.  Her mother works at a publishing firm, and Natalie dreams of writing books.  When she shows her friend Zoe a story she’s been working on, Zoe is determined to help Natalie get it published.  The two solicit the help of several grown-ups in their lives, starting with their English teacher.  Everyone who reads the story falls in love with it.  The girls create a publishing firm and take on alternative names.  In the end, the book is published, and Zoe’s mom is the editor.  She is shocked to learn that her daughter wrote the book that she found so endearing.  Impression:  Perhaps I like my realistic fiction to be more realistic.  It just seemed like everyone was way too stereotypical.  I listened to this one on audio, and I found myself talking to the discs.  Of course, everyone who read the book loved it.  Of course the girls were able to convince the CEO of the publishing firm to help push the book along.  Of course the teacher was willing to break some rules to do the right thing to help the girls.  It was entirely too convenient how everything came together.  Suggestions for library setting:  In an elementary setting, children may not be as jaded as I was as a reader.  They could certainly enjoy cheering for the underdog in the teenaged writer and rejoicing when her book is so successful.

Clements, Andrew, and Brian Selznick. (2001). The school story. New York: Simon &

      Schuster for Young Readers.

Like the author's popular Frindle (rev. 11/96), here's a story about a young hero who takes on the adult world and triumphs. Frindle's Nick invented a word; School Story's Natalie writes a whole book and gets it published under the eye of her unsuspecting mother, children's book editor Hannah Nelson, who only knows that she has an exciting manuscript from an unknown author. Natalie's story, "The Cheater," is just what the publisher ordered--a school story. Hannah's explanation of the genre fits Clements's book as well: "a short novel about kids and stuff that happens mostly at school." After reading Natalie's novel-in-progress, best friend Zoe is full of plans and chutzpah to get Natalie published. The more cautious Natalie insists they recruit their sixth-grade English teacher Ms. Clayton to advise, and thus is born the "publishing club" and two useful pseudonyms: Cassandra Day (Natalie) and Zee Zee Reisman (Zoe, reborn as Natalie's literary agent). Clements's storytelling is as good as Natalie's as he confidently charts the motives and actions of the two girls, their teacher, and Natalie's mom to make the scheme seem entirely plausible and its deviousness almost wholesome. Fun of a slightly more wicked kind can be found in the portrayal of Hannah Nelson's boss, the aptly named Letha: "Letha was never a picnic to work for, but when she was like this, things got broken, things like vases and computers--and careers." Family read-aloud and publishing comedy are two genres you don't often see brought together, but that's exactly what Clements has done here. Occasional pencil illustrations by Brian Selznick are warm and, where warranted, witty.

Sutton, R. (2001). The School Story (Book Review). Horn Book Magazine, 77(4), 448.

THE SCHOOL STORY A world-class charmer, Clements (The Janitor’s Boy, 2000, etc.) woos aspiring young authors—as well as grown up publishers, editors, agents, parents, teachers, and even reviewers—with this tongue-in-cheek tale of a 12-year-old novelist’s triumphant debut. Sparked by a chance comment of her mother’s, a harried assistant editor for a (surely fictional) children’s imprint, Natalie draws on deep reserves of feeling and writing talent to create a moving story about a troubled schoolgirl and her father. First, it moves her pushy friend Zoe, who decides that it has to be published; then it moves a timorous, second-year English teacher into helping Zoe set up a virtual literary agency; then, submitted pseudonymously, it moves Natalie’s unsuspecting mother into peddling it to her waspish editor-in-chief. Depicting the world of children’s publishing as a delicious mix of idealism and office politics, Clements squires the manuscript past slush pile and contract, the editing process, and initial buzz (“The Cheater grabs hold of your heart and never lets go,” gushes Kirkus). Finally, in a tearful, joyous scene—carefully staged by Zoe, who turns out to be perfect agent material: cunning, loyal, devious, manipulative, utterly shameless—at the publication party, Natalie’s identity is revealed as news cameras roll. Selznick’s gnomic, realistic portraits at once reflect the tale’s droll undertone and deftly capture each character’s distinct personality. Terrific for flourishing school writing projects, this is practical as well as poignant. Indeed, it “grabs hold of your heart and never lets go.”

The school story.  (April 15, 2001).  Kirkus Reviews.  Retrieved from: 
                http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/andrew-clements/the-school-story/