STEP BY WICKED STEP Review

SYNOPSIS

This novel is a tale that is both funny and moving. Five children are stranded together for the nightin a tower of creepy, dark old Harwick Hall. In that stormy night, the children uncover the story of RichardClayton Harwick which is very disturbing. It is a tale of a boy who of many years ago learned what it waslike to have a truly wicked stepfather.

Richard Clayton Harwick’s long hidden journal provides an inner tale that triggers off, one by one,each of the stories of the listening children. It turns out eventually that they all have step parents, somekind, some bad, some just plain wrong and so they tell each other their stories. After listening to Richard’sstory, each of the five tells his or her own. Their stories are powerful and intensely moving tales of childrenstruggling with change and shifting family conditions.

Claudia’s story shows things well on the way to a happy ending. Claudia feels disloyal to her mum whenever she has a good time with her father and his new girlfriend, Stella. Thus, she is unfriendly towardsStella. Finally, in front of her Dad’s friends who are rude to Stella, she compliments Stella and makeseveryone notice the lady.

Colin’s story is moving. Colin’s seems the saddest. He had someone he thought of as his father andnow he misses him so badly that it hurts. Colin’s mother leaves the only father Colin has known, a man shelived with for many years, and in her attempt to create a new life for herself does not see that Colin has been torn from a man he loves. Colin loves his stepfather, but hasn’t seen him for five years, and isobsessively determined to find him.

Ralph’s story, though merry, is as complicated as a maze. He has three stepmothers to deal with. Allof them are different in their ways. In addition, he has a lot of stepbrothers, stepsisters, half brother andhalf sisters to accept in his life. Ralph cannot keep track of which parent’s house he should go to afterschool each day, so his parents develop a lunchbox system: the Dumbo lunchbox means Dad’s house afterschool; the Mickey Mouse one directs him to his mother’s.Towards the end, we can see that he is anxiously waiting for his little half sister or half brother to be born.

Pixie has to deal with two really irritating sisters. She hates to go over her dad’s house twice in a month.She feels that everyone is pretending to be in a happy family when thay are actually not. She has to deal with two really irritating stepsisters and father who pretends he doesn’t notice how difficult things are forher.Soon, Pixie discovers that her stepmother and stepsisters aren’t any happier about the situation thanshe is. She learns to adapt to the situation. One of her step sisters teaches her mathematics and in returnshe tells ghost stories.

Robbo and his sister, Callie find that their half sister, Dumpa is the problem. Both their Mum andstepfather, Roy keep on arguing. The arguments are mainly due to Callie. Callie never seems to see eye toeye with Roy. Both Mum and Roy are committed with each other just because of Dumpa, their three yearold son. Eventually, Callie moves out to her Dad’s place and that solves the problem. Each of their stories is different, but through the act of telling, and through the responses of theother children, each one learns more about his or her life

CHARACTER AND CHARACTERISTICS

Richard Clayton Harwick Richard is the owner of Old Harwick Hall. He lost his fatherat a very young age. Later on, the mother remarries a guy, Reverend Coldstone. Richard cannot stand his stepfather attitude towards him and he decided to run away without knowing that he has made a decision that will change three lives. When he inherits Old Harwick Hall, he has lost his three closest members of the family
Robbo
Robbo is a patient boy. He is very patient on how his stepfather treat him and his sister, Callie. He is also a sports-mad especially in football match
Claudia
Claudia is a gentle person. Listening to Richard’s sad story, makes her tears. She is also loyal to her mother. She tries not to be too happy when she is talking to her father because she do not want to hurt his mother feeling and she dont want her mother to feel betrayed by her own daughter. Claudia is a fair and sensible person. She does not blame Stella on her parents divorce.
Colin
Colin is a dreamy and melancholic boy. He has a habit of daydreaming in class, which drove all his teachers to despair. He often sits by the skating rink to listen to the song 'The Bluebird of Happiness', and thinks of his dad. Besides, Colin is loyal to his dad. When he realizes that his dad is not coming to him, he secretly writes a letter to him but there is no reply. Even after five years, Colin still misses him. Colin is also a determined person. He plans to go back and look for his dad when he is old enough.
Ralph
Ralph is a smart boy. His teachers describe him as 'quick-witted'. He is able to remember the complicated arrangement of which house to go to on different days of the week.
Ralph is also a responsible boy. He cares for his stepmother, Flora, and her baby. Besides, Ralph is wise and sensible. He is against Colin's plan to disappear and tells the group about it. He tells Colin that he will not feel better by making his mother feel the pain of loss.
Pixie
Pixie is a smart girl. She is the first to realize what the five of them have in common. She is also brilliant at reading. She does not like it when Hetty moves into her bedroom, so she thinks of creative ways to get rid of Hetty. Besides, Pixie is also a brave girl. She is not scared to express her thoughts.

REFLECTION

How do you find the book
In my point of view, i find this book really interesting and at the same time i think it is also a very sad and touching story. I believe all the other readers are also able to understand oe relate to the book. Step by wicked step is a book where all the teenagers should read because it is special, Parents are also encouraged to read this book. Children and parents can easily relate to any 5 of the students in the book because some of the family might be going through the same problem. When students and parent read this book and also facing the same problem as them, the parents will finally understand how their children feel about all the things happening around them. This book is not only sad but there is also some happy endings. I had a good time reading this book and all my friends thinks that it is actually a very creative and nice book to read.

MORAL VALUES

Love
Richard and his family have a very portray strong family love between each other. After Richard run away, their love for Richard know no bounds. They even spend their family fortune to look for him after he leaves. After a long period of time of finding him, the mother fails to to find him and his mother dies of heartbreak. At the same time, Colin loves Jack as his own father. When Jack leaves, he pines for him.

Family is everything

This is the main message in all the five stories from Claudia, Ralph, Colin, Pixie and Robbo. Love is the factor that binds the family together but sometimes the family unit breaks down due to a lack of understanding between parents. Most of the time, children are not prepared for such a situation and this lands them in an awkward and painful situation. It is important to minimize the impact of divorce on children and to make sure they do not feel unwanted or unimportant. Parents must always try to keep the family together despite the breakdown in their relationship.

Optimism

The moral values of optimism makes a harbour hope of achieving what people wants. Colin is optimism to find Jack after he leaves him. He also leave his tabacco tin and hums his favourite song while waiting for him. In the same way. Charlotte is optimistic of he bother’s return. She leaves a letter on his table feeling sure that he will read that one day. True enough, he does.

We must learn to adapt to new situations

Children from broken homes have no choice but to learn to adapt to new situations. This may be unfair to the children who seem to be the ‘victim’ of circumstances beyond their control. However, in the five stories told, we learn that adapting is better than resisting although it takes a lot of patience and effort on the children’s part. Claudia shows she is a rational and sensible child to accept her step mother. Ralph, who has three step mothers, gets along with all of them despite their different personalities.

Don’t give up hope

Colin’s story is the saddest of all. He does not give up hope of one day finding Jack whom he accepts as his own father. He saves all his money and plans to look for his dad when the time is right. Colin is a very determined person despite his young age. He knows what he wants. Robbo also hopes his sister Callie will accept their step father Roy. However, Callie resents Roy and decides to live with her real father in the end.

LESSON LEARNT

The most important lesson that I have learnt from the novel is we must be honest in life. This novel shows us how the lack of honesty causes unnecessary suffering and hurt in families while honesty builds relationships. In the six stories in this novel, the adults show a lack of honesty towards their children. They do not tell their children what is happening in their lives. This causes the children a lot of stress and worry. For example, Lilith Harwick did not tell her children the truth about their father’s serious condition. We see how distressed Richard was when guessing and later finding out the truth. Colin’s mother causes him much pain of not telling him before hand that they were leaving his stepfather for good. I also learnt to love my family no matter what happens in life. I truely understand that love, sacrifies and understanding each other will keep a family together. No matter how often we fight, at the end of the day we are still back to normal like a family. We should always fight to keep what we love and cherish, and we should laern how to appreciate things before it is too late. In the other hand, we should not give up on our family no matter what because family is thefirst thing we ever relay on. Family is one thing that you can never use money to buy.

Would you recommend this book to the others

I would definitely recormmend this book to my friends and the others. The reason i would recommend this book is because i really enjoy reading it. I like it how they started this story with quite scary situation and it turns out to be very touchy and sad. It really touches my heart after i read. Every stories have it different emotions and interesting story that i would not want to stop reading. I am very certain that others who read this book will feel the same like how i think it is. This book is not only meant for childrens and teenagers. At the same time its also suitable for parents and also those who are older than us. Step by wicked step has a lot of moral values which can teach the teenagers and also the others. This story also made me understand how are family suppose to always stick together but not just run away and put things aside. So, i would most definitely recommend this book, Step by Wicked Step to others.