LS 5623 Mod 2



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 Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer

Module 2 Realism, Romance and Censorship

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bauer, Joan. Rules of the road. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1998. ISBN 0399231404

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Bauer has created a character in Jenna Boller that is unlike any other. Readers will respect her, cheer for her, ache to be her friend and miss her when the story ends. Jenna Boller is a tall, honest, courageous sixteen year old shoe salesgirl in Chicago who becomes the long distance driver to the cranky, old owner of Gladstone Shoes.  Jenna is unsure what to do with the conflicting feelings she has concerning her father and his addiction but is very confident in her love for her mother, sister and ailing grandmother. She isn’t the typical confused and tormented teen. Instead Jenna is strong, bright and faces her flaws without shame. She faces challenges with a level head and a loyal heart.  When employed by the dymanic Mrs. Gladstone to drive her to Texas and back, Jenna proves to be a true hero to herself, Mrs. Gladstone and to teens everywhere.

BOOK HOOK/EXPLEMPLARY OR FAVORITE LINES

Headlines:

Drunken Dad Disgraces Daughter, Driving for Dollars, Terrified Teen Has Drunk Father Arrested, Daring Duck Beats Odds to Win.


EXTERNAL ASSESSMENTS

Booklist

It's downright wonderful these days to find a teenage protagonist who is smart, moral, funny, confident (mostly), and open-minded about grown-ups. Not that hulking Jenna Boller doesn't have her share of problems. A strapping five foot eleven with a strong work ethic, Jenna is an outsider at school. The fact that she spends most of her time selling shoes at Gladstone's shoe store (and loving it) doesn't help in terms of a social life. But it's her alcoholic father who is her main concern. When he suddenly comes back into her life, drunk as usual, she's not sure she can handle it. Lucky for her, rich, curmudgeonly Mrs. Gladstone, who is 73, needs someone to chauffeur her to Texas to a stockholders' meeting and help her check out the Gladstone stores along the way. It seems her son is engineering a company takeover that is breaking her heart. Like Squashed (1992), this has its introspective side as well as its share of sad moments that show the long-term damage alcoholism has on families and individuals. But it's also a warm, funny, insightful story about ordinary people who look beyond age to the things they have in common and the wisdom they can share.



School Library Journal

Jenna Boller, 16, has had a lot of practice at being responsible. Her mother is a nurse who works the night shift, and her younger sister yearns for attention. Jenna's long-divorced, alcoholic father embarrassingly shows up whenever he gets an occasional urge to "make it up" to her. In addition, her wise and beloved grandmother is grappling with Alzheimer's disease. So the teen's mother reluctantly agrees to let her accept a summer job driving the elderly Madeline Gladstone, the crusty and demanding president of the shoe chain for which Jenna works, from Chicago to Texas. Jenna is surprised to learn that Mrs. Gladstone has problems, too: an aching hip as well as an aching heart. Her conniving son is maneuvering to take over the company and sell out for a huge short-term gain. Jenna comes to admire and love her boss and eagerly enters into an alliance of loyal employees to save the company. In making this valiant attempt, she finds herself truly transformed. Bauer's juxtapositions are inviting; youth and age, wealth and work-a-day struggle, big-city loneliness and big-state caring, practicing alcoholism and big-hearted sobriety, stockroom wisdom and boardroom chicanery. The author creates some fabulous and sometimes flamboyant characters, witty dialogue, and memorable scenes, thus making readers really care about the intricacies of matching shoes to people and finding the right focus for Jenna as she strives to meet tall goals. Bauer's best yet.