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Jasper Jones
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Jasper Jones (2009) (edit title/settings)

by Craig Silvey (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

Charlie Bucktin, a bookish thirteen year old, is startled one summer night by an urgent knock on his bedroom window. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in their small mining town, and he has come to ask for Charlie's help. Terribly afraid but desperate to impress, Charlie follows him into... read more

Summary edit see section history

The title and central character of this book, Jasper Jones is a no-user, a trouble-maker and has, for some reason in his hour of need, sought help from an unlikely source. Charlie Bucktin. Charlie is a rather bookish, quiet, unassuming teenager. And although both boys live in the town of... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

The title and central character of this book, Jasper Jones is a no-user, a trouble-maker and has, for some reason in his hour of need, sought help from an unlikely source. Charlie Bucktin. Charlie is a rather bookish, quiet, unassuming teenager. And although both boys live in the town of Corrigan, until now, they haven't spoken a word to each other. They live in different worlds. Until now, that is.

But now, their lives are going to change beyond all comprehension. Neither of them can return to boyish innocence. For Jasper, who's had to drag himself up, it doesn't matter a jot. He's no one to care whether he lives or dies, frankly. He could probably rot in prison and most people would say good riddance. He lives amongst harsh people with harsh things to say. However, Charlie is a different kettle of fish entirely. He comes from a 'respectable' family where his father reads books and his mother has honed her social skills beautifully. Not that she needs them in this runt of a town. Corrigan is a rather ugly (in more ways than one) mining town somewhere in Australia.

The well-known saying that 'two wrongs don't make a right' has real resonance in this novel. That's exactly what Jasper and Charlie do and then give themselves bellyfuls of deep guilt thereafter. Silvey piles on the tension and suspense page after page, relentlessly. And it makes for page-turning reading. As more of the town's inhabitants become embroiled, the boys' stories and their lies, get deeper and bigger, almost by the day, sometimes by the hour. The boys are digging one massive hole for themselves.

Characters/People edit see section history

  • Charlie: Narrator. Geeky boy.
  • Charlie Bucktin: A precocious thirteen year old who is looking for ways to avoid being bullied for being too smart. A late night knock at the window from Jasper Jones offers an opportunity to help someone that could be answer to his problems. That is until he discovers Jasper's own problem, and from there his life takes a severe change that has repercussions on his family, his friends and his town.
  • Jasper Jones: An outcast in his own town who has had to grow up fast as his father cares more for getting drunk than him. His aboriginal mother was killed in a car accident when he was two and the circumstances surrounding this death have greatly affected his Dad. Jasper is a natural athlete who is feted by the town on the football field, but vilified and accused of everything that goes wrong in the town.
  • Jeffrey Lu: Charlie's Vietnamese neighbour who is a proud cricket tragic and Doug Walters worshipper. Crafty spin bowler and handy batsman who is never allowed to play in the town's team due to his race. A quick wit allows his to match intellectual horns with Charlie and they enjoy shooting the breeze when it gets too hot to play cricket.
  • Laura Wishart: Jasper's occasional paramour and the older sister of Charlie's own crush, Eliza.
  • Eliza Wishart: Laura's younger sister. Charlie's crush.
  • Jack Lionel: Add a description of this character.
  • Chuck: Charlie's nickname.
  • Charles
  • Corrigan: Town where the action takes place.
  • Jeffrey Lu: Jaspers best friend
  • Charles Bucktin
  • Rosie Jones: Jaspers mum
  • Baniszewski
  • Mark Twain: Famous Author that is made reference to a lot-
  • David
  • Doug Walters: Australian cricketer who made his First Class debut for New South Wales against Queensland in the 1962-63 season.
  • Atticus Finch: Atticus Finch is a fictional character in Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird.
  • Gertrude Baniszewski: Gertrude Baniszewski (September 19, 1929 – June 16, 1990), was an Indiana divorcée who, with the aid of most of her own children and neighborhood children oversaw and facilitated the prolonged torture, mutilation, and eventual murder of Sylvia Likens, a teenaged girl she had taken into her home.
  • Eliot
  • Cooke
  • Yair
  • Superman
  • Harry Rawlings
  • Sylvia
  • Findlay
Show all 26 characters
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “"I don’t need to trick meself into thinkin anyone else is listenin, or even cares. Because it doesn’t matter. I matter. And I know I’ll be alright. Because I got a good heart, and f* this town for makin me try to believe otherwise. It’s what you come with and it’s what you leave with. And that’s all I got.””
    Jasper Jones
  • “I feel like an icy cold beer” he says.“What? Why?”“I don’t know. It always looks so refreshing. I wishhhh to be refreshhhhed by an icy cold beer”” But you’ve never had beer!”“So?”“So, how can you feel like something you’ve never tasted?”“You never kissed Eliza Wishart before but you still wished to do that. ”I roll my eyes at him.“That’s a lot different to a beer”.“Telling me. A beer is farrr superior. You don’t have to sit around holding its hand and saying nice things about its hair”.”
    Jeffery and Charlie

Setting & Locations edit see section history

  • Corrigan: A rural town in Western Australia

First Sentence edit see section history

Jasper Jones has come to my window.

Table of Contents edit see section history

1 - 9 chapters (unamed)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Craig Silvey (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Country: USA (1st American Edition)
Publication Date: 2009
ISBN: 9780375866661
Page Count: 312

Awards edit see section history

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Young Adults

There is a fair amount of language in this book.

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • To Kill a Mockingbird
  • The Body
  • In Cold Blood
  • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer / Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

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