Stray Voltage

by Eugenie Doyle

Book Overview

Ian Daley lives with his father, mother, and older brother on a dairy farm in northern Vermont. Times are hard for small farmers and they only get harder when a winter ice storm brings down the power... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0142401536
• ISBN13: 9780142401538
• Release Date: July 2004
• Publisher: Puffin Books
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 0.3" x 4.3"

Customer Reviews

Stray Voltage

This book really gets you into the mindset of what it would be like to be a child on a farm. It's written in a style which makes me feel I'm being told this story by a friend of mine who knows the main character: Ian. Ian, his older brother Ray and his mother and father have a farm in Vermont where they raise milk cows. Stray voltage occurs when the electricity jumps from the power lines. When this happens on the farm, the water the cows drink constantly contains stray voltage. Because of this, the cows avoid drinking water, which means that they produce less milk, since milk is 90% water. Ian's mother wants to sell the farm and move, but his father still wants to wait, in hopes of things getting better. The mother gets so frustrated with the stray voltage that she leaves, giving neither of her two sons any warning. She left only a few months before Christmas, providing Ian with a kitten as a early Christmas present. Ian does not get along with his brother or his father. He's afraid of his father, because he's so big and strong, and his brother Ray doesn't treat him well. His mother was his only friend, and she left. His only connection to her a short letter from her here and there. This is a story of Ian's struggle to cope with the change and a story of his growth. At first he couldn't understand why his mother left, then he wondered why she left him there. He felt she didn't want him, but realized later it wasn't because of him. This is a story about learning, understanding and making the best of your situation.

Read it aloud

If you know a boy ... have a boy ... who "doesn't like to read", read him this one. You will love it and he will be pulled into Ian's world immediately. Besides, is there a better way to turn on a non-reader than to read aloud. Do it. Then give your copy to a sixth grade teacher so he/she can read it aloud to many kids every year.

Not just for farm kids to enjoy

Ian has known nothing other than the dairy farm for his eleven years of life. He doesn't seem to be a farm kid--his mother always acted as a buffer between he and his father--but the chores, the cows, and the routines have become a comfort zone for Ian. When his father decides to sell their cows, Ian is surprised at how much he is against it. But ever since the ice storm broke power lines, stray voltage has plagued their farm, and the cows are sick because of the extra electricity. The farm is also suffering because Ian's mother has left. Suddenly there is one less person to help with chores or keep things clean in the house. Ian struggles with missing his mother, and finding his place on the farm without her. School saves Ian, and his teacher often provides the comfort he needs.The emotions in this book are real and powerful--the reader is drawn into Ian's world, and can't help feeling the same things Ian is feeling. Ian's character also feasibly develops through the course of the book, and we see him change from event to event. Other characters do not suffer development at Ian's expense, though. Doyle creates each person with the same care as she does Ian. Farm kids--old and young--will be able to identify with many things in this book. Reader should know that there is undisguised swearing in the book, but it fits the scenes and characters and discussion. Overall, this book didn't disappoint me!

Real Boys in the Real World

In language that shimmers, like the ice storm so beautifully described in it, this book brings to life some very real boys, aged 11 and 17, who live on a farm in Vermont, and grow up by doing tangible things like cleaning out the barn, playing basketball, making maple syrup, doing homework, and by having relationships with the people around them that are rich, warm, but often painful. Dad is difficult, Mom is distant(read that gone), and you can just about cut the tension created in this little world of thinking adolescents. These are people who are living and growing by doing and thinking, not standing and watching.The best things about this book are the fact that the writer treats both her characters and readers with the greatest of respect, never talking down to them, the plot really charges to a climax, and the writing is just so..good. A great book either to read yourself(parent) or get for that child who you'd like to get interested in good writing.

A Vivid Depiction of Rural Vermont Family Life

The author brilliantly draws the reader, adult or child into the world of her subjects. Her phrasing and pace blend the reader's initial distant feelings with the actions and events that occur. Dramatic events, a storm and a fire stand out in this respect, are so carefully enacted that the reader's own sensations mirror those of the characters. Such writing and feeling must be born of personal experience shaped by considerable artistic skill. A remarkable work for a new novelist!