#robertgipe

Gipe, Robert. Trampoline: An Illustrated Novel. Ohio University Press, 2015.

Summary-

Trampoline written by Robert Gipe, is told from the perspective of a fifteen-year-old girl named Dawn Jewell. Dawn Jewell lives in Eastern Kentucky and her life is absolutely anything but simple. Dawn describes herself as a:

“freak, soft and four-eyed, with black fingernail polish, a dead daddy, a drunk momma, a crackhead brother, outlaw uncles, and divorced grandparents who made trouble for normal people every time they come off the ridge” (p. 70)

 Her father died when she was nine in a coal mining accident, her mother has been an alcoholic/drug-user every since and has moved in with her boyfriend Hubert, otherwise known as Uncle Hubert, her dead father’s brother. Her mother and Hubert’s drug use drove her to go live with her Mamaw who is the matriarch of her family and parts of the community. Mamaw is an environmental advocate for the area, and wants the strip mining on Bear Mountain nearby to stop. Unfortunately, even though strip mining is harming the land and the people on it, it also keeps food in the mouths of most of Canard County including many members of their own family. When Dawn attends a town meeting about the strip mining on Bear Mountain, she can’t help but defend her Mamaw from the cruel words of angry mining families; but when her outburst is recorded and played on the local radio station, she finds herself at the front lines of the controversial movement with a target on her back.

From this point on Dawn must decide weather she is going to save herself or save the mountains she holds so dear, and if there is anyway, she can do both. Her Mamaw wants her to stay with her Aunt June, away from Canard County, where she can live a calm life away from the constant drug use and illegal activity of her family. But for Dawn, the simple life is more nerve-wracking and complicated than trauma filled life of home. Dawn is confronted with the choice to stay in Canard County where she is comfortable and knows what to expect despite being looked down on by most of her community for her environmental stances; or stay with her Aunt June and live a more ‘normal’ life with dinner on the table in the evenings and a boy that wants to hold her hand. How can she decide where she is going to be happy as a teenager, and soon to be young adult, if the last time she truly felt it she was only a child?

Personal Response-

Reading Trampoline was eye opening for me in ways I did not expect at all. It in my opinion was one of the most accurate portrayals of a young mind in YA literature that I have read in a long time. Trampoline reminded me what it was like to truly be in the grips of adolescence yet somehow still feel beyond it because you are expected to deal with issues that are much bigger than yourself. Dawn is constantly told by those around her that she doesn’t act like she is fifteen, yet for the readers who get to experience her inner monologue, she is exactly fifteen in every way. She longs to fit in, she is tired of being bullied, she has a temper that flares up at the worst moments and she herself doesn’t even know why, and in times of conflict and stress she still wants her mom -no matter how much her mother has mistreated her.

The highs and lows of adolescence are coursing through her all while she is learning of the very ‘adult’ world around her. Dawn is forced to witness the degradation of her mother as she descends deeper into addiction, and what was once just alcohol turns into weed, then opioids. There’s even a section of the book where Dawn’s mother decides she wants to give Dawn a makeover, while she is extremely high. Even though Dawn really doesn’t want to go along with it, she does, because it’s her mother.  Dawn’s mom ends up shaving parts of her head and dying the rest bright green even when Dawn protests. I think the most heartbreaking part of this scene in the book is her mother laughing at her appearance as she leaves the room. Dawn is forced to come to the realization that just because they are supposed to be the ones taking care of you, does not mean they always have your best interest at heart. Dawn is forced to lose yet another piece of her adolescence which is the idea that adults are supposed to always look out for you as a child, especially your parents.

Connections-

Robert Gipe has created some of the most well-rounded characters I have ever read in a young adult novel, every character has their flaws and redeeming qualities, even if the ratio is VERY skewed in one direction or the other for some of them.  I also really enjoyed how this book told the story of a teen girl who is coming of age but avoids the stereotypical pitfalls of being boy crazy, fashion obsessed, makeup slathered and materialistic, instead he allows Dawn to simply be a young person who in my opinion, anyone, regardless of gender identity, can relate to in one way or another.

For all of these reasons, and more, I would absolutely love to teach Trampoline in my future classroom. It perfectly tackles serious issues as and relatable adolescent mindsets, while inserting comical anecdotes and metaphors at the perfect moments. It also makes amazing use of figurative language which I love. Dawn is constantly making hilariously accurate similes and metaphors such as:

 "The state people sat like prizes at a carnival game, eyes wide and blank, stuffed pink monkeys, green hippopotamuses piled too close together. Every once in a while they would take a note, but not that often" (12).