MARTINE LEAVITT REQUIREMENTTom wakes up in a park with no recollection of who he is, where his lives, or where he comes from. His backpack gives him virtually no clues, except a note that says, "you're nice." Tom realizes that he doesn't know who he is, but he wants to be nice, smart, and good. He gets to know himself, and finds evidence of all three of those traits as he does so. His story is roughly parallel to Prince Tamino's in Mozart's The Magic Flute, at least as far as the "Papageno" character in his young street friend goes, as well as the beautiful "Pamina" character, Pam, in the clutches of a supposed bad guy, and the fact that the two need to face the trials of water and fire together. This book is perfect for young adults because it's well-written and exciting, but mostly because it deals with finding yourself, which is a challenge all young adults need to face regardless of their situations. Tom, who had before always been a "loser," becomes a "finder," and discovers what he's good at and where he belongs, so that when he finally learns who he used to be, he realizes he'd much rather stick with who he had worked to turn into. It's a great help not only to young adults who need to find themselves, but even for adults, to learn to try looking at things and people from a new perspective. I'd recommend this book, definitely. And I loved hearing her talk in our class and describe her own thoughts of the book!
The poem was called "Goblin's Market."The words were things you could hold; they had weight and shape and smell: fruits, lick, melon, golden. ...When he read this poem, it was easy to see why his own wasn't working, wasn't finding Daniel, or home."It's interesting to me that Martine Leavitt, who has seven children - seven children! Shouldn't that indicate considerable stability? - writes about unpredictability with such passion. Tom is 15 and can't remember anything except how to run. In his running he encounters Samuel Wolflegs, a broken medicine man, who tells him he is a Finder. Tom finds a pen and a notebook and (shades of Harold's Purple Crayon) begins to write himself a life, a personality, a world, and ultimately, a future.So maybe the unpredictability and the instability that Leavitt writes about is really...well, about writing. About never knowing what will jump out of your pen next.<
What do You think about Tom Finder (2003)?
MARTINE LEAVITT REQUIREMENTThis book was okay. I didn't feel a real sense of resolution at the end, which is alright, I suppose. I did enjoy that it was an exploration of self. I mean, think about it: if you woke up having no idea who you were, you'd have to take the time to remember things like: I'm a good speller, a bad basketball player, etc. It's a rediscovery.I'm interested why the driving motif in the book had to do with the magic flute as it didn't seem so parallel that Tom Finder was a retelling or interpretation of The Magic Flute. I enjoyed the poetic nature of Tom's thoughts and writings. That's what bumped it up to 3 stars for me. As far as the plot goes, I;d say it was 2 stars.
—Kara
I thought this was a good book for the 12 year old age range, which is exactly what I expected when I read the back and bought the book, so no big surprises there.While the 'mystery' of Tom's life wasn't such a big mystery -- the author drops some pretty heavy hints after all -- it was still intriguing to watch Tom go through his life on the streets, making friends, and trying to find Daniel. On a shallow note, I really liked the fact that this book was clearly Canadian, set in Canada with small Canadian references. If I had to guess, I'd say Calgary from the names of the LRT stations, but I could be wrong.It was a bit short. I would have liked to have known what happened to Tom afterward. It felt like a bit of an abrupt ending. But then, perhaps going on would have either been too depressing or too pat, so I can understand why the author chose to stop where they did.
—April
