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| Plot Summary of Tunes For Bears to Dance To |
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"Robert Cormier, celebrated writer of mordant books for "young adults" (_I Am the Cheese_, _The Chocolate War_) published this one late in his career. Not long after the Second World War, eleven-year-old Henry works at Mr. Hairston's grocery store and makes friends with a Holocaust survivor named Mr. Levine, who spends all his time building and whittling a replica of his childhood village. In exercising his considerable power over the boy and demanding an impossible task, Mr. Hairston confronts Henry with the nature of human evil. This compact story can be read in less than an hour, but packs a quiet wallop."
David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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"Henry and his parents move to a new town after the death of Eddie, Henry's older brother. Henry befriends an old man, Mr. Levine, who had survived the Holocaust. Mr Levine spends most of his time in an arts center recreating his lost family and town out of wood. Henry joins him there often, to escape the silence at home caused by grief over Eddie's death. Mr. Hairston, Henry's ill-mannered employer, offers Henry a gravestone for Eddie (which Henry most deeply wanted) in exchange for destroying Mr. Levine's award-winning wooden village. "
Cassandra, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Tunes For Bears to Dance To |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- depressed
Time/era of story
- 1930's-1950's
Kids growing up/acting up?
Yes
Internal struggle/realization?
Yes
Struggle over
- vague finding self/purpose in life (i.e. no plot to book)
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Coping with loss of loved one(s)
Yes
Loss of...
- brother/sisters
Age group of kid(s) in story:
- grade school
Something wrong upstairs/downstairs?
- searching for identity/meaning
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- student
Age:
- a kid
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- small businessman
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a substantial amount
- throughout most of the book.
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 2 (a little)
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
Small town?
Yes
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
- little dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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