Scholastic -- hcNew York -- 2005 --180pp
ISBN: 0-439-85861-5
A young boy feels invisible in his large, expressive family and hopes that his life on stage will bring him fame and fortune (or at least attention).
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I enjoy reading children's books. I have a lot of respect for most Newbery Award-Winning authors. I love the theatre. This should all combine to high marks for Sharon Creech's Replay, but it doesn't.
Creech does an admirable job combining the elements, but she forgot to focus on what the book is about.
Leo feels invisible in his family. Leo fantasizes about himself as hero in nearly every situation imaginable. Leo learns about his father as a boy. Leo learns about a lost family member. Leo learns that there is more to a person than just what he sees on the surface.
This last is probably the over-riding element in the book, but it gets lost amid too much other 'stuff.'
The switching in and out of the fantasy-Leo certainly adds something to the character ... what youngster doesn't imagine him/herself as the hero of any moment? ... but it really isn't important to the story. The main element is carried through as Leo discovers and reads his father's biography, written at the age of 13. It is underscored by his (Leo's) creating a back-story for his stage character, and it is punctuated by the discovery of a missing family member.
Unfortunately, none of these elements are built upon properly and instead of wonderful discoveries, the book peters out to a whimper.
Not a great showing by Sharon Creech
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