- School Begins
- Lunch Break
- The Club and the Threatening Note
- The New Mystery Club
- The Big Surprise
- Good-For-Nothing-Clue
- A Clue...at Last
The remarks by the publisher on his product are expected to bring out the key issues that may encourage people to read the book. His job is not the same as that of the book reviewer and thus, while I carry out this assignment, I promise I'll be very brief.
The Day School Began, written in seven chapters of thirty nine pages, excluding the preliminary pages, revolves around the school experience of Adam Johnson, an eight year old pupil at Balbay Academy.
Adams early morning sleep has been disrupted by his father, Mr. Johnson, who rebuked him for not waking up early the first day of school. He also informed Adam that his mother, Mrs. Johnson, would be their mathematics and science teacher.
Rather than be elated by what Mr. Johnson called a "good news", Adam was worried about what his friends - Jamie and Alex would say. He was afraid of the rumours that other pupils might spread about his mother being their Mathematics and science teacher.
As if to confirm his fears, the greeting he got he got from Alex immediately he arrived at School was, "I heard the news that your Mom is a new teacher..." Adam, Mark and Alex agreed to meet again in the gym at free time.
At free time, Adam invited Leslie to join in the meeting at the gym, only for them to stumble on Alex and Mark tied up in the corner of the clubhouse by some unknown assailants, with a threatening note to Adam. This development made them to decide to form a "mystery club".
The list of suspects was written down based on "who has neat writing". As the search for the suspects continued, it was discovered that the threatening note has "greasy finger prints". Another mystery club was then formed at home by the Johnson's, all in the effort to unearth the suspects.
At dinner in the Johnson's home, Adam found another note in his food bearing the same code with the one he found at the club-house in school. In the end, a list of three suspects that liked peanut butter was made and the principal must hear about it.
Broadly speaking, we can divide the events in the book into three major scenes: The schools, the home and in the bus.
The events that took place in the schools included all the activities at Balbay academy which Adam, Mark and Leslie attended. We also have the middle school which Courtney, Allison, Charlie and Elizabeth attended while Katie and Ashley attended West High School.
All the activities at home took place within the family home of the Johnson's. We also have Grandpa Joe and Grandma Jillian within the home setting.
The last scene was the school bus where Mark, Adam and Leslie got the clue as to who the suspects might be. It was in the bus that a list of three most likely suspects: those that like peanut butter was made.
It is relevant to point out here that the writer of this book was about 8 years old when this story was written. Perhaps this explains why her protagonist, Adam Johnson is eight years old like her creator.
What makes this book striking is the ability of an 8 year old girl to muster such imaginative capacity that is obviously above her age and to string and sequence events in such a marvelously logical order.
A close study of Adam reveals that he too like his creator is an intelligent individual. He has the ability to think, reason and take decisions on events that affect his well-being. He is a well developed character and the hero of the story.
I do not know whether Moji has a male sibling with the character of Adam or whether her perception of her closest male adult is not in the Adam she created. In any case, it is my position that it is unlikely that there would not be a similar character like "Adam" in the world of Moji.
Let me quickly point out that even though the book was written by a child, about children, it is certainly not for children alone. The work has enough ingredients of a serious fictional narrative for both children and adults to appreciate it. And all the conflicts that abound in the story are also found in the adult world.
As we all know, literature mirrors life or society. Thus, the fictional world being projected in "The Day School Began" is symbolic of the true world of adults and children.
Let us examine some of them:
- Rivalry: The Author demonstrates that rivalry is part of human existence irrespective of age or sex. We have rivalry between Big Bully v. Adam and his friends, Mandy Petriceli v. Courtney and her friends, Adam v. unknown adversaries, jut to mention but a few.
- Love: Allison is said to be drooling over Charlie while Adam is reported to have a "crush on Leslie". This shows that even children have emotions and can love and be loved.
- Democracy: Even children would like their rights and views to be respected. They vote on their choice of meal and other social benefits. All these are conducted in an orderly manner, thus challenging the world to borrow a leaf from them.
- Oppression of the downtrodden: This is evident in Big Bully's threat to those he refers to as "little mushrooms".
One major technique employed by the writer to arrest the reader's interest is suspense.
It became apparent after the attack on Mark and Alex that the suspects must be found before they wreak more havoc on Adam's camp. And some of the questions that come readily to mind are;
Who is after Adam What is his offence?
Who attacked Mark and Alex? For what offence?
Who are the figures in all black that tied them up?
Who left the threatening notes for Adam?
Why did Adam, Alex and Mark decide to form a "secret club"?
Did they offend a rival group in the process?
Why did the children decide to form a "mystery club" to unearth the suspects?
How did the note get to the home of the Johnson's?
The reader may not be able to answer all these questions even when he has read up to the last page. The author has declared her work "a mystery" so the answers to some of these questions shall forever remain "a mystery".
Having said that, I think the authors intention is not to create an aura of mysticism but, in her own words, to make the children become "real detectives". Consequently, she adorns the story with the traits of a "whodunit?" kind of literature associated with writers like James Hadley Chase, Ian Fleming of James Bond fame, Nick Carter and Kalu Okpi of the Pacesetters series.
But the authors technique which includes her imaginative use of language, immense descriptive capacity, use of elegant phrases, witty remarks and appropriate thematic concerns place the book above the level of the thriller kind of literature which is all threat, violence, blood, intrigue and sex.
The peasant woman selling pounded yam behind my guardians house at Isale-Ijebu always introduced her products by saying, "iyan re o!" Translated, that means "this is good pounded yam!" She never gave any reason why she regarded her pounded yam as good. She could have told us about the elasticity or the plasticity or the smoothness of her pounded yam.
My address is different from that woman in two respects.
- She would not give reasons for regarding her pounded yam as good. here I have given reasons why "The Day School Began" is a good material.
- I have read the book - the other woman would likely not eat any of the pounded yam balls unless there are remnants the market would not buy.
So my action therefore is only that of a torchlight flashing at gold to be acquired.
It is on this forgoing that I recommend this book to your school, to your children/grandchildren/great grandchildren and also to your friends (no matter how old they are)
And to the author, I say congratulations for living up to the authorship from grandparents to uncles and now to you. It is a good beginning.