Bitopia, Ari Magnusson (Olivander Press, 2012) Length: 240 pages (paperback)
Genre: Children's Books
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
{Image source: here}
Plot:
Stewart, a sixth-grade boy from Harrison City, hides from some eighth grade
bullies in a pipe system underground and ends up in a mysterious world full of
danger. Most alarmingly, there is no apparent way to get back to Earth from
this place with no sun. The place is called Bitopia and Stewart has to find a way
to help everyone escape.
Thoughts:
A lot of times bullying is a
situation that happens to kids daily, but which their peers tend to overlook,
either because they don’t think it is very hurtful behavior, or because it
doesn’t apply to them so it “doesn’t really matter.”
In addition, sometimes
Anti-Bullying training is rendered, a bit, useless, because kids don’t know
boundaries. When does playful teasing become hurtful bullying? I know that
children are shown extreme cases, like one child pushing another child multiple
times, but sometimes they really need to “see” an example like this book
provides, and really get into the victim’s mindset (Here, it’s the main character),
so they are able to stand up for themselves readily.
I loved this book, in all honesty. I
really like how Stewart is in denial at first about staying in Bitopia, as far
as he knew, for forever, because that is a really realistic portrayal of
emotions.
Sometimes, people don’t really want
to face the truth, and, although I don’t know whether real people do this or
whether it’s just an overused scene in books, many authors choose to have their
characters, I don’t know, “self-harm”—not very seriously, stuff like banging
their heads against a wall and the cliché of pinching oneself—to apparently see
if they were dreaming while something life-changing—for good or for bad—happened.
But there were some odd parts, too,
like in the beginning when Stewart was running from the bullies, and he passed
a construction site. When he arrived there the construction workers were still
there, and then, very quickly, Stewart apparently realized they were putting
their big machines away, and then they all deserted the place. It’s funny, when
you realize that the whole thing probably only took about thirty seconds to one
minute, judging from Stewart’s anxiety about being caught as the bullies loomed
closer.
One of my least favorite characters
was Lester, the really arrogant Chief Defender (protector) of Bitopia. I
suppose that is a favorable reaction, because the author made Lester really
difficult to like. He was very conservative and believed everything The Comlat,
a sort of prophecy book, said. What’s more, he and Stewart were basically
enemies, and it’s really hard to like the main character’s enemy.
Have you read this book and would
like to share your opinions? Give me a comment below!
Helpful Links: The author's website, which includes a free study guide!
