A coma is a state of unconsciousness where a person is unresponsive and cannot be woken.Imagine this. You are lying in a hospital bed, in a coma, apparently dead to what is happening around you. But you experience it all the same, hear what is being said about and to you, and try in vain to communicate with your loved ones and the world outside.That is what happened to Robbie Ainsley, a 10 year old boy who spent over 6 weeks on a life support system in Wonford Hospital after being struck by a car outside his home. Robbie was chasing his beloved dog Lucky, who had escaped through the front gate to chase a neighbour's cat, as Robbie was about to take him for a walk to the park. The last memory Robbie has is of Lucky being struck by a car, before Robbie himself is hit. "Lucky was out of the gate and into the road before I could stop him. I ran after him. I heard the car, heard the squeal of brakes, saw Lucky disappear underneath the wheels. But I never saw the car that hit me." Lucky spying the neighbour's catUnimaginable, isn’t it? Locked in a coma, hearing medical staff discussing your case, without being able to join in. Robbie listened to his parents and sister talking to him, but was unable to respond. And he tried, fruitlessly, to work out how to make contact with them. "If I'm going to be dead, I want there to be a heaven. But I don't want to go there yet, or anywhere else. I want to stay here, and I want to stay alive. I know that if I want to stay alive, I've got to wake myself up. I must. I try really hard to break out, but my mind just won't let me. It's like it's locked from the outside and I can't find a key."Robbie's family, classmates and teachers do everything they can to talk to Robbie, to keep him company while he is in his coma. His father organises for his favourite Chelsea football player, Gianfranco Zola, to visit him in the hospital. Zola leaves behind his no. 25 shirt for Robbie, with a promise that when Robbie wakes up, he will have tickets to the next Chelsea game, as well as a private kick with Zola on the field.Zola and his shirtAs the weeks pass by, Robbie senses that the comings and goings of visitors diminish. Even his favourite nurse, Tracey, who sings to him, appears to be giving up. "Mum and dad hardly say a word any more. I think they might be giving up on me. They just sit and wait, their silence and their sadness filling the air around me.Worst of all though, even Tracey seems to be losing heart. She doesn't sing like she used to, and she was crying when she came in a moment ago. Lets face it, Robbie, if Tracey thinks you're not going to make it, then things are not looking good, not good at all.I sleep a lot, almost all the time now. I want to stay awake in my head. I know I must, or else I'll die. Got to keep my mind awake. Got to keep living. But the trouble is that sleep is warm and gentle and inviting, and when it takes me by the hand I just want to go…."Cool is a beautiful, moving and powerful story. It is also educational for children. I love the way that Robbie describes a coma. "Coma - funny word, that. Looks a bit like comma. Sounds like it too. Hope my coma is a comma, and not a full stop. I'm not exactly frightened of the "full stop". But I would miss everyone, everyone at home, at school….."The experience of being in a coma differs from person to person, and also depends on how deep the coma is. Some people remember events that happened around them while they were in a coma, while others don't. Some people have reported feeling enormous reassurance from the presence of a loved one / friend. Cool does not just focus on negative events. The author illustrates that positive things can come out of even the worst situations.A thoughtfully written book in which Award winning author Michael Morpurgo crams a great deal of emotion into. Definitely a must read.Awards- Shortlisted Blue Peter Book Award (The Book I Couldn’t Put Down Category)- Winner Portsmouth Book AwardIllustrations in this review are by Michael Foreman
I like this book very much and i think its very touching. The story is about a narrator called Robbie and his dog lucky, his parent are divorced long time and one day his dad came and wants talk to Robbie's mom and his mom wants Robbie avoided this conversation so she told him took lucky for a work and Robbie ask his mom for some money for ice cream and he said cool but his mom don't like cool this work and she went angry and told Robbie go out and Robbie took lucky for a walk but Robbie forgot to use the dog chain and lucky is so excited and lucky just ran out of the garden and Robbie is trying to catch lucky and a car just came out and crashed on lucky and when Robbie saw that he went forward there is another car crashed on Robbie and he went into coma and he went to hospital by the ambulance. And when he is safe the doctor said he is in a serious coma and he needs to here something extremely excited and he might have chance to woke up. And after this chapter is about the thinking in Robbie's brain cause he can hearing what people are saying and he wants to wake up but he can't and there is a lot of people came to try to wake him up by some surprise like his classmate his family his friend and his favorite foot ball player Zela but he is not waking up and at the last his dog lucky and his parents went together again and he wake up by the surprise and Zela made a promise if Robbie wake up he is going let him play soccer on the stadium court with him.
What do You think about Cool! (2007)?
Name:- SAVI t Date :- November 23, 14 Book Review Graphic OrganizerDirections: Fill in the information below to help you organize your ideas for your book review. Title: COOLAuthor: Michael Morpurgo Story ElementsSetting (Time, Location, etc.)_____________________________________________________________List the Main Characters and their traits. The main character is Robbie and he is the main character in the in the book because he was in a Coma and he said what it felt like to be in a Coma and all the things he felt while he was in a Coma Another character is Tracey she is a Nurse, she looks after Robbie because she works in a hospital.Another character is Lucky he is a dog and is Robbie’s kind of best friend as in like family.Conflict/Problem? Discuss the conflict or problem the main character is facing. Like I told you before the Main character is in a coma from a car accident, the boy is only 10 , his parents are sooo upset, but then the boy in the end comes out of the coms.Discuss the important event in the story in chronological order. otRobbie’s mum asks Robbie to take lucky for a walkotLucky gets hit buy a car, Robbie tries to save himotHe gets knocked by a car too otRobbie is in a coma otHis mom and dad gets separted otHis best friend in the hospital is Tracey otHe has been on a coma for 6 weeks otHis dad gets Zola (football player) to come and talk to him otRobbie has a way of communicating with Tracey (telepathy) otRobbie’s parents get back togeather otRobbie gets weaker day by day coz he is still not upotDoctors give up otParents give up otTracey gives up otBut then the dad slowly sneaks Lucky into the hospital otLucky licks Robbie’s face and he gets up. otThen after that he went off to watch the football match otJust like Zola promised he was given a VIP in the directors box.otThe end Discuss the ending of the book. How was the conflict resolved? So in the end of the book Robbie comes back to life, I mean he comes out of his coma. Lucky comes and lick his face he wakes up, I think that lucky was the only worry he had. What was the theme or lesson learned in the book? What connections can you make to other books, movies, or personal experiences? Well I really have no personal connections, but I think the theme of the book is to never give up in what you have to do and in what you love. Opinion: well I really liked this book, it is a very sad story the ending was pretty predictable, I have watched a few movies like that. My opinion of the book is that I liked because it is very interesting and has an amazing moral and a story or like theme. The book was predictable because I have seen many movies and so I kind of knew what the eding would look like. The ending of the book was Robbie came out of the coma, due to the fact that Lucky came and licked his face and he woke up. My favorite part was when Robbie woke up, when he was still like a small puppy, lapping and flapping and jumping. A connection I made with the book was that how much is family tried and how much they loved him was a connection I made, because I remember when I got dengue for the 2nd time it was the very bad kind of dengue then I was really bad and I couldn’t even eat but my parents were really supportive and helped me and gave me encouragement.Recommendation: I would recommend this book to other students because it’s a book with a lot of different stuff, loosing a pet, being in a coma, can’t keep your feelings to your own self can u ? A rating for this book would be form a scale of 1 – 10 would be 9. Because there are some parts I didn’t understand much and some parts that I found pretty hard. I really like the Author his books are really good, he has great skills and his books are mainly based on animals.
—Savindi Jayasuriya
Robbie has been hit by a car and is now in a coma, this story is about what he is thinking inside his head and how his parents try to wake him up.The characters are Robbie, Gianfranco Zola, his parents, a nurse, Lucky (Robbie's dog) and Dr. Smellybreath.The setting is in a hospital ward, in England.This book is in 1st person, because it is inside his head (the opinion of other characters come in Robbie's perspective, through what he hears) .This book is okay for mature children, because the vocabulary is simple, but the subject is not for children under 7. This book is sad, funny and emotional at times, but it has a happy ending.I really enjoyed this book, because you really get to know the boy, his history, and his views on the world.
—Joe
I liked this book very much because the ending was very sweet and was very touching. I thought this book described how someone being trapped inside a coma feels like. Morpurgo uses a simile to describe what it feels like. "Being inside a coma is like being locked in a room on the outside", This made me understand the pain people go through when inside a coma. It captured the lonely desperate feeling someone have when being trapped in a coma. He also mentions in the book because he is trapped in a coma he becomes more observant in later days.
—Charles Lor
