Swallowing Stones, by Joyce McDonald Reviewed Structure

Genre:  Young-Adult Fiction

Citation:

Novel Units Teacher and Student Packets. Novel Units.

Setting:  Present-day Briarwood, New Jersey

Themes:  Actions have consequences; ethical responsibility; dealing with grief; empathy

Point of View:  third-person, omniscient

Conflict:  Person vs. Self

Style:  Narrative

Tone:  Serious

Characters:

Michael MacKenzie:   17 year-old who accidentally kills charlie WArd; battles his conscience
Jenna Ward::  15 year old daughter of Charlie WArd; struggles to cope with her father's death
Joe Sadowski:  Michael's best frieand; lies to protect Michael
Amy Ruggeario:  has a bad reputation; comforts Michael and Jenna
Meredith WArd:  Jenna's mother; beacomes closer to Jenna throaugh mutual grief
Charlie Ward:  Jenna's father; killed by a stray bullet on the Fourth of July
Jost MacKenzie:  Michael's sometimes pesky, 13-yeaer old brother
Karen and Tom MacKenzie:  Michael's parents
Andrea Sloan:  Jenna's best friend
Jason Frieadman:  Jenna's boyfriend
Darcy Kelly:  Michael's girlfriend
Chief Dave Zelenski, Officer Doug Boyle, Sergeant Ralph Healey:  police officers
Annie Rico:  the town gossip

Summary:  Michael  MacKenzie receives a rifle from his grandfather on his birthday.  He fires a shot into the air in the nearby woods and the next day learns that a local man, Charlie Ward, was killed by a stray bullet.  Michael panics, realizing that he is responsible for the man's death.  He soon finds himself in a harrowing battle with this conscience as he and his best friend Joe work to conceal the truth at all costs.

Meanwhile, Jenna Ward attempts to cope with the losss of her father.  She struggles to accept his death as she confronts her anger at the killer, fear of vulnerability, resistance to change, and survivor's guildt.  Through it all, she is haunted by recurring dreams of a place from her and Michael's childhood, the Ghost Tree.

With the help of a mutual friend, Amy Ruggerio, Michael and Jenna work through thier pain.  The novel follow each character as they travel thier individual paths to personal growth.  When these paths converge, Michael and Jenna find themselves in the same place--a placeeof healing.

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