This book was Edward Bloor's satiric social commentary on the state of education today, especially standardized testing and No Child Left Behind standards. But it is also more than that! It is a supernatural mystery action-thriller involving a Demon named Jack who possesses certain people during Story Time hour(hence, the book title). Here's the BASIC setup, (which is hard b/c there are so many characters involved in A LOT of plot lines!)6th grade genius George Melvil and his popular 8th grade cousin Kate Peters receive acceptance letters to a different school, Whittaker Magnet School, in the mail. Whittaker is nationally known for having the top standardized test scores in the U.S. Geoorge is ecstatic at getting in because he anticipates he will fit in better there and get away from the bullying for his small size and short stature that he experiences at the public Lincoln Middle School. Kate is devastated about this development. She LOVES it at Lincoln, where she has already planned snag the starring role in this year's musical, Peter Pan. Kate's mom June id George's older sister ands they share the opposite sides of a duplex with Kate's grandparents, Ma and Pa, who are members of the regional competitive clogging group.Eventually, Kate caves and decides to give Whittaker a chance for her Uncle George's sake, but she soon regrets their decision when they are exposed to the TBC curriculum designed by Dr. Austin, husband to Cornelia Whittaker-Austin, descendant of the library building's founder. Yes, the school is in the basement of the library, and EVERYONE knows the library is rumored to be haunted by a ghost. Soon George and Kate along with Ma, Pa, and June are given jobs to help pay their $10,000 a year tuition. The Whittaker-Austin's make their life miserable sooner rather than later by constant testing and the public humiliation (for Kate) of being seated in class according to their test scores. George sat in the 1st seat in the front by the door, and Kate sat in the last seat by the wall. And to keep their strength up for testing, they are made to drink nasty-tasting protein shakes that give all the students an unhealthy green pallor that makes Kate dub them the "mushroom children". She has gone from popular with lots of friends to being persona non grata with only George to talk to.Soon Kate befriends the Whittaker school librarian, Pogo, who only speaks in nursery rhyme riddles. Pogo shows her a secret room in the library that contains rare books of all kinds, some of which are used for Story Time presentations in the main hallway and later up on the newly constructed rooftop stage. Pogo identifies with Kate and George because she herself was bullied and publicly ridiculed as a young child. It is her idea to exact revenge on behalf of Kate and George using the Demon she knows is hidden in the library books. Kate and George are all too willing to help because they want to get out. Kate is dying to get back to Lincoln and her crush Derrick Arroyo. Unfortunately, things go awry during three separate Story Times, and daughter Heidi, son Whit, and wife Cornelia are severely affected. During these sessions, the audience and Dr. Austin and his pals on the school board find out about the Demonic presence. They come up with a plan to destroy it with a nuclear death ray of sorts, developed by Whittaker's first and only genius student, Ashley-Nicole. Paralleling the Demon mystery is a personal mystery for Kate. June is severely agoraphobic, and she won't let Kate out of her sight for long, so no sleeping over at her best friend Molly's house. This stifles Kate and creates animosity between her and June, in addition to normal teenage hormones and young adolescent development. She blames June for the fact that her father Charley ran out on them when Kate was a toddler. Charley is supposed to be teaching overseas, but he doesn't respond to any of Kate's letters. We learn that there are mysterious circumstances surrounding Charley later on in the book, as well as a mystery involving a younger June.That's about all I can tell you without ruining the book by giving away the storyline, but I liked this book. It was confusing in a few parts(b/c of all the plot lines and twists)but it was funny, exciting, and entertaining. It held my interest and made me want to read more to solve the mysteries! If you love suspense, ghosts, secrets, Demonic possessions, and have a good sense of humor, you will enjoy this book! Kids will like the exciting ghost story; adults will like reading the mystery and reading between the lines and the satiric commentary regarding our "modern" education system! :)
It took me about a hundred pages to finally admit that I was into this book. Bloor builds his story carefully. The book is long, but the chapters are short and, honestly, I couldn't tell you what happened in any given chapter. But by the climax, the reader is wrapped up in a very big, crazy, funny, terrible event that goes beyond anything I could have come up with. It's a social satire that turns very dark and hits some pretty creepy notes on the supernatural side. It wraps itself up a little too neatly in the resolution, but then starts to split at the seams just as the book ends so that the reader becomes haunted with the possibilities of what could happen. Pogo's character was well created. Her involvement in the plot was mysterious and endearing; every line she spoke was precariously chosen; and her ability to pull power tools out from under her dress was awesome! How in the world did she hold them up there? Did she have a giant harness under her dress? I don't know, but I loved her. Favorite quotes:"All right. Here is the story about your father: He wanted to get married; we got married. The minister gave us a Certificate of Marriage. He wanted to have a baby; we had you. The doctor gave us a Certificate of Live Birth. Then he wanted to get divorced; we got divorced. the lawyer gave me a Certificate of Dissolution of Marriage.I put the papers in a safe deposit box at the King's County Savings and Loan. They all look basically the same.""These masterpieces of design, materials, and imagination raised combat casualty levels around the world to previously unrecorded heights." (bleak outlook on what we praise in our country)The First Lady kneeled next to one little girl. She put an arm around her, smiled, and said, "This is one of my favorite books, too. Tell me what you like best about it."The little girl smiled back and replied, "It contains excellent modeling of the phoneme-grapheme representation g-r." (our schools, everyone!)(In the next bit, the reader knows the rolling refrigerator has two dead bodies in it)"The First Lady would like a beverage.""Ah! Excellent." Cornelia looked around for the rolling refigerator. She spotted it off to her left, where Kate and George had parked it. She curtsied to the First Lady, walked over, and opened the lid. Then she let out a horrified scream.Agent McCoy unholstered his revolver.Rosetta leaped to her feet. "What is it? What happened?"Cornelia slammed down the lid, spun around, and asked, "Does the First Lady drink regular or diet?"
What do You think about Story Time (2005)?
I love Tangerine, so I was expecting to love this. Story Time is about a school that has kids take standardized tests all day, every day, to improve their scores. The government thinks the school is AMAZING from the test scores, but we know better. Bloor's Tangerine was a terrific, funny satire on environmental issues and from this book jacket, I was expecting a similar satire on today's standardized testing. But Bloor added this whole demon thing to the plot that just didn't work. It was a devil, or someone traveling in time through a demon, or just a haunting- I couldn't keep it straight, and by the end I was just glad the book was over. Darn!
—Nora
In 1997, author Edward Bloor took the literary world captive with the lightning-fast, suspense-packed writing in his first novel, Tangerine. His follow-up to Tangerine, Crusader, once again teleported readers to a darkly mysterious world in which nothing was quite what it seemed, where people who seemed good could turn out to be the vilest of villains, and those who appeared to be bad might end up saving the day in the end.Story Time is actually quite different from those earlier books. The plot isn't wound as tensely; in fact, many of the events that occur in the story seem to be reacted to with almost unbelievable calm by the main characters. People die in gruesome ways and there is very little lasting effect on the characters, even when they witness the deaths first-hand, sometimes standing but a few feet away from the victims. It takes a little while to get used to that unusual cadence to the story, and to realize that it's all very much intended by the author. Story Time is just as much satire as it is mystery, adventure or drama, and it should be read with that in mind. Whittaker Magnet School is a...different kind of place. It is a school obsessed—beyond what the confines of rationality would ever allow—with standardized test scores, and how to get its students to achieve higher scores than any other school in the country. Beyond the test scores, however, is a lurking maze of secrets, lies and coverups that threatens the futures of everyone at the school, though few of the students understand the extent of the danger. Is there some kind of a vicious demon driving the worst of the bizzare behavior at Whittaker? Do the Whittaker family representatives know more about it then they are willing to say? Edward Bloor is so good at writing glowing adventure that pops out from the page with its awesome rhythm and superior skillfulness that the points of beautiful wisdom in his stories can really sneak up on the reader. Story Time may be an over-the-top satire, but that is balanced with some moments of serene observation that magnificently reflect the most terrible and wonderful aspects of what it means to be a human, to throw one's lot out into a world that can be frightening and to hope for some personal success. At its best, the narrative of Story Time moves along with incredible pace and fervor, as Edward Bloor shows yet again what he is capable of doing when he clicks on all cylinders. It is a solidly performed novel that is very much worth reading, and will leave an indelible impression in the minds of all who choose to experience it. I would probably give two and a half stars to Story Time, but I would consider the full three.
—Josiah
I loved this. Part ghost-story, part satire, a good story that makes it's point without losing the elements of good storytelling.If you have a child in public school, you are familiar with the horror that the "Test Based Curriculum." You know, "teaching to the test", meaning standardized testing? Designed by androids whose only desire is to suck every scrap of joy and wonder out of learning, this unmitigated crap is the current standard here in the good old US of A. (Thanks Bush. Don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya.)Bloor does a nice job giving this junk the skewering it so richly deserves. I enjoyed it.
—Shelley
