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Das Königreich Der Pilze (2012)

by Mary Amato(Favorite Author)

4.12 of 5 Votes: 1

languge

English

genre

Humor

publisher

Carlsen Verlag

review 1: Whoa. First off, I thought this was just a kid's book on finding humor within school. NOT THE CASE.This storyline is pretty dark and honest in how many families are brought up here in America (which btw I wasn't sure if this was Britain or America for a while, Amato never confirmed where this was in the book). I mean the first chapter alone involved a baby found in the dumpster, 3 kids and 2 garbage bags filled with belongings and a mom breaking down. So much fun to be had.So children's book basically out the door, this is more of a middle school grade level storyline, though with elementary writing and humor. It's a weird combo and not something you find often. The only reason it's not a high rating (this book is a great choice for 6th graders, especially boys) is because... more it gives me so much anxiety and stress from an adult perspective knowing that this book is every parents worst fear. It's too much reality for me. Kids should read this book, either to connect to or open up their eyes on a new situation they might not thought possible for others.
review 2: The book "Invisible Lines" by Mary Amato is a amazing book from start to finish. This book falls into the genre of realistic fiction, which happens to be my favorite one. However an interesting thing about this book in particular is that it includes blemishes of non-fiction, mostly about Mushrooms. I enjoyed how the author slipped in these small segments as it was sort of a break from the intensity of the book itself. The book is about a boy named Trevor Musgrove and his experiences after moving to a new school and trying to fit in. Trevor Musgrove isn't a very wealthy child and sometimes he has to make sure certain people don't know his backstory in order to make friends. There were 4 literary elements the author used very well and intrigued me about the book. These were his use of characterization, conflict between characters, mood, and imagery. The way the author of this book used mood was very hard to identify, but very well done nonetheless. At the beginning of the book, the mood seems to be a progressively cheerful one, this is indicated as Trevors like slowly gets better and better and he get more accustomed to the new school and area he’s moved to. This is evident in the fact that Trevor finally found a class he enjoys, he also agreed to try out for his favorite sport, soccer, and has devised a plan to do so, he has also made friends with the some of the most popular kids in school. However, you can already feel that the situation is tense. The author is obviously trying to lead up to something, in other words, she is foreshadowing what this is probably going to lead up to. The author indicated this by what she’s told us about the situation Trevor is facing. For example, although he is planning to try out for the soccer team, his mother isn’t too keen and may not let him. Another example is the fact that the only subject Trevor enjoys, Summit Science (Similar to Honors Classes), is not a subject he is supposed to be in. Trevor may see this as a happy accident, but something is bound to go wrong somewhere. As the book progresses, the mood does infact change into a tenser, disappointing one. You start to feel sympathetic for Trevor. You can see this as one of Trevor’s few friends abandons him and starts to despise him. Another example is when his mother starts to work at a place called the fry factory, this enforces the fact that Trevor cannot try out for his soccer team as he has to babysit his siblings instead. This point in the book is clearly distinguishable as the climax.Trevor faces many conflicts throughout this book, they could be classified as small conflicts, large important ones, conflicts with himself, and conflicts with others. A few examples of this literary element the author is trying to enforce occur when Trevor has to decide if he wants to disobey his mother and go to his soccer tryouts, which are very important to him, or stay back at home and watch over his siblings until his mother arrives home. This is an example of a conflict that Trevor faces with himself. The ongoing feud between Xander, Trevor’s ex-best friend, and Trevor himself is a very obvious conflict Trevor faces with someone else. They used to be friends but now despise each other. Though this book mostly consists of miniature conflicts faced by a single main character, Trevor, he does in fact face a few that could get him in a lot of trouble. Approximately 3/4th’s of the way through the book, around the climax, Trevor is accused of stealing Xanders cell phone as it is found inside his backpack. Though no one believes him, he is not guilty and is trying to figure out how to get himself out of this mess. During this section of the book, the tone is very scary and intense. I think the author is trying to paint a picture of a conflict that is very realistic and very serious.The author of this book used both direct and indirect characterization. If you investigate the book closely you easily see morphed forms of direct characterization. This kind of characterization occurs because the author never fully explains to the audience a detail about the main character by saying something like “Trevor is a graffiti fanatic with an interest in soccer.” The author usually tells us things in a direct yet indirect way. An example of this is when the author writes, “Because when I’m standing up I’m what you call a stand up comedian, and when I’m sitting down, I’m just plain funny,” she isn’t indirectly telling us that Trevor is a funny bloke because this isn’t dialogue spoken by Trevor, it’s more of an introduction. Though the author doesn’t use a lot of direct characterization, indirect characterization is everywhere. For example, Trevor’s effect on Diamond, a friend of Trevor’s, is quite large. He helps her escape from her abusive step dad and takes initiative in order to stop it. Trevor is also a funny person and often makes his classmates laugh. While the author describes and interprets the reactions to Trevor’s joke by his classmates, it helps show that Trevor is a talkative, funny, and bold figure. His interactions with the antagonist, Xander, also help to show his emotions and better draw you into the terrifying rollercoaster that is Trevor Musgrove’s life.The final literary element the author uses spectacularly is imagery. Infact, to enhance the immersion of the book, the author also has an illustrator, Antonio Caparo, add in small section of drawings such as the non-fiction sections. He uses his drawing in two main situations in the book. These are when Trevor does some graffiti and when Trevor takes notes in the Summit Science Program. The illustrator does small sketches in the corner of the book to show what Trevor Musgrove might draw in certain situations. These sketches help immerse you into the book as they add another dimension into the book, a visual one. These sections sometimes ended up being my favorite part of the book, as they were filled with fancy techniques of drawing and graffiti, they were overall a great addition to an already great book. The final use of illustration in this book was during the note taking parts of this book. During the scenes where Trevor is in science class he is often requested to take notes. Since his character is very artsy, you can imagine his notes would be too. There are little drawing of notes which not only provide a sense of imagery but also a whiff of non-fiction to read. These notes often refer to Mushrooms and are surprisingly well written and very informative. I would even go as far as to admit that I went back to look at these sketches after reading the book because they were so interesting and I had never seen anything like them in any book i’ve read. Because of all the previous things the author and illustrator did perfectly, it’s easy to forgive one or two mistakes. This book was fantastic in its sense of mood and immersion and I would most certainly recommend it to anyone interested in a good read. less

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