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| Plot Summary of May I Help You, Said the Counselor |
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"Sevi Norwood, a novice counselor hired to replace Ola Leonard, West Deerfield High School's recently deceased "perfect" guidance counselor, immediately gets into trouble with her eccentric principal. As he tries to force her into "virtual dismissal" by making her working conditions intolerable, she attempts to find allies on the faculty. She strikes up a friendship with an English teacher, whose husband, the previous principal, had mysteriously disappeared several years before Sevi's arrival.
When a former student commits suicide in front of the house where Sevi is living (which happens to be the same house the former counselor lived in), Sevi uncovers information which leads her to believe the former counselor may have once assisted in the still birth of an illegitimate child and buried the child's body in her own garden. When Sevi attempts to verify her suspicions, she uncovers a body, but not the body of an infant. How that body came to be in the counselor's garden, and what relationship it has to a missing newborn is up to Sevi to determine."
Betty Tesh, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of May I Help You, Said the Counselor |
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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
Composition of Book
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 50%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%
Tone of story
- very upbeat
Time/era of story:
- 1980's-1999
Murder of certain profession?
- students/teachers
Kind of investigator
- amateur citizen investigator
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Crime Thriller
Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown)
Yes
Is Romance a MAJOR (25%+) part of story?
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- teacher
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
How much violence does he/she use?
- none
Ethnicity/Race
- White/American
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- business executive
Eccentric:
Yes
- eccentric
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- throughout most of the book.
Motive of antagonist
- power
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- quite fatty
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Mid-Atlantic states
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee
Style
Part of a series?
Yes
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
How many deaths?
- 1
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Click here for more information about this book
Betty Davenport Tesh Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 Betty Tesh
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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