What if you were stranded in the middle of a war alone, with no family or friends and you had to survive with four strangers. Well in the book A Small Free Kiss In The Dark, the main character Skip is in that situation.Skip was a social outcast he had no friends and no mother. Skip was being put into foster care because his war veteran father was not mentally able to take care of Skip. He then decided to run away instead of being handed to a foster family. Skip took the train to the next town. He got off the train and headed to the mall where he ran into Billy, an elderly homeless man. After a couple weeks of looking out for eachother, one day a war breaks out and they have to find a place to hide. They head to the library where they run into a 6 year old boy named Max who was waiting for his mother. They then stayed at the library for a couple days until they decided it was dangerous because the library was falling apart from the bombing that occurred a couple days before. The group heads to Dreamland which was in no man’s land. There they met a teenage girl named Tia with her baby which they later name Sixpence. The majority of the story takes place in Dreamland until around the last 10-15 pages. I believe that people should read this book because it doesn’t just stick to one emotion. The book makes you feel a range of emotions from happiness to sorrow.
The setting of the story provide an isolation place for the group to bond. If the setting was in a more populated place the group would have most likely split up. Billy changes through the story because at first Billy didn't want anything to do with Skip. He tried to avoid Skip and was often angry at him. As the story progressed Billy became fond of Skip and began taking care of him as well as Max, Tia and Sixpence. Another person who changes throughout the story is Tia. At first Tia is a mysterious girl with a baby she was often seen at the amusement park, but she was never approached. Max and Skip then offered her alphabet soup and offered Sixpence baby milk. She then began to open up and talk to the group, in fact, she referred to Skip as Skipper. She did communicate with everyone, but she was never around because she was “dancing” for the soldiers.
The book began in first person making the story understandable. The story is told through the point of view of Skip. I believe the story is all a giant flash back that Skip is discussing years from then. One of the major events in the story was when Skip decided to leave his old life. The cause of this event was when Skip was going to be put in a foster home. The effect was that Skip met Billy and they end up forming their own family. Another event that had a big impact on the story was Skip and Billy meeting Max, Tia and Sixpence. The cause of this was they were all young and Billy felt that he needed to take care of them since he was an adult. The effect of these events was that it brought everyone together and made them closer. The last event that was a major point of the story was the war that broke out. The causes of the war are not stated in the book. The effect of the war was total anarchy. There was looting everywhere and everyones survival instincts took over.
“His rich detailed observations allow his thoughts to become your thoughts, and you effortlessly follow along his journey, step by step.” I agree with this quote from Lorraine Egan on Amazon.com. While reading the book I felt like I was apart of the entire journey. The way the author wrote the book it makes you feel like you’re actually there while everything is happening. “Another reason to love this book is its reasonable length.” I agree with this quote from C. Portner on Amazon.com. I feel that the book was just the right length. It wasn’t too long, but at the same time it wasn’t too short. It used all 177 pages to display a beautiful story about hope. “Great editing of good writing. I'd like to see more books of reasonable length.” There needs to be more books like this one. A reasonable length but enough pages to get its point out.
In conclusion, I believe that everyone should read this book just because of the beauty and simplicity of it and its overall message of hope. It is a good book for ages 10 & up. It doesn’t have too many complicated words and the story is easy to follow. To anyone in search of a good book to read. You should pick up A Small Free Kiss In The Dark, it is definitely worth reading.
The setting of the story provide an isolation place for the group to bond. If the setting was in a more populated place the group would have most likely split up. Billy changes through the story because at first Billy didn't want anything to do with Skip. He tried to avoid Skip and was often angry at him. As the story progressed Billy became fond of Skip and began taking care of him as well as Max, Tia and Sixpence. Another person who changes throughout the story is Tia. At first Tia is a mysterious girl with a baby she was often seen at the amusement park, but she was never approached. Max and Skip then offered her alphabet soup and offered Sixpence baby milk. She then began to open up and talk to the group, in fact, she referred to Skip as Skipper. She did communicate with everyone, but she was never around because she was “dancing” for the soldiers.
The book began in first person making the story understandable. The story is told through the point of view of Skip. I believe the story is all a giant flash back that Skip is discussing years from then. One of the major events in the story was when Skip decided to leave his old life. The cause of this event was when Skip was going to be put in a foster home. The effect was that Skip met Billy and they end up forming their own family. Another event that had a big impact on the story was Skip and Billy meeting Max, Tia and Sixpence. The cause of this was they were all young and Billy felt that he needed to take care of them since he was an adult. The effect of these events was that it brought everyone together and made them closer. The last event that was a major point of the story was the war that broke out. The causes of the war are not stated in the book. The effect of the war was total anarchy. There was looting everywhere and everyones survival instincts took over.
“His rich detailed observations allow his thoughts to become your thoughts, and you effortlessly follow along his journey, step by step.” I agree with this quote from Lorraine Egan on Amazon.com. While reading the book I felt like I was apart of the entire journey. The way the author wrote the book it makes you feel like you’re actually there while everything is happening. “Another reason to love this book is its reasonable length.” I agree with this quote from C. Portner on Amazon.com. I feel that the book was just the right length. It wasn’t too long, but at the same time it wasn’t too short. It used all 177 pages to display a beautiful story about hope. “Great editing of good writing. I'd like to see more books of reasonable length.” There needs to be more books like this one. A reasonable length but enough pages to get its point out.
In conclusion, I believe that everyone should read this book just because of the beauty and simplicity of it and its overall message of hope. It is a good book for ages 10 & up. It doesn’t have too many complicated words and the story is easy to follow. To anyone in search of a good book to read. You should pick up A Small Free Kiss In The Dark, it is definitely worth reading.
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