S TUCK I N N EUTRAL Book By: Terry Trueman By: Brittany Hester

A UTHORS I NFORMATION

Terry Trueman was born on December 15, 1947 in Birmingham, Alabama, but grew up in Seattle. He attended the University of Washington, where he received his B.A. in creative writing. He also has an M.S. in applied psychology and an M.F.A. in creative writing, both from Eastern Washington University.

S OME A WARDS T RUEMAN O BTAINED 2000 Booklist Editors Choice Awards Publishers Association 2001 NASEN Highly Commended Award (UK) 2001 Isinglass Teen Book Award 2002 Kentucky Bluegrass Award

O THER B OOKS Other Books written by Trueman.. - Hurricane - 7 Days at the hot corner - Swallowing the sun - Cruise Control

R ESOURCE

Can be found in our library. Cruise Control, Call Number- F TRU,Copyright Stuck In Neutral, Call Number- F TRU, Copyright- 2000

R ESOURCES Inside Out and No Right Turn is a book written by Trueman but not found in our library.

S IMILAR B OOKS Because she’s my friend By: Harriet Sirof, call number- F SIR, Copyright Mind’s eye By: Paul Fleischman, Call number- F FLE, Copyright Tell me how the wind sounds By: Leslie Davis Guccione, Call number- F GUC, Copyright When the road ends By: Jean Thesman, Call number- F THE, Copyright Cerebral palsy By: Nathan Aasenq (Nonfiction), Call number AAS, Copyright- 1991

R ELATED W EBSITES Title- For my child: Help and Hope for Life, URL- Date Visited- February 28,2011

R ECOMMENDATION

Everyone should read this book because it shows their is more than a person then just what meets the eye. The book portrays that there is nothing to fear but fear itself but not every end is painful sometimes it’s a new beginning. This is a sad book but it will keep your interested in what is going to happen next, how is it going to end and what will be become the outcome of everything.

C HARACTER D ESCRIPTION

M AIN C HARACTERS Shawn McDaniel's – He is the boy in the wheelchair that can’t speak or move and the book is all about him and suppose to be from his point of view. Shawn fears that he dad wants to kill him because his father kept saying “should I put you out of your pain?” Cindy- She is Shawn's sister and she stands up for him throughout the book and she tried to teach him how to read.

M AIN C HARACTERS C ONTINUE Syd McDaniel- He is Shawn's father the one that loves his son but at the same time wishes his son was different is it because he don’t won’t people to look at his son weird or because he don’t won’t his son in pain? Paul- He is Shawn's brother and he got in a fight over someone messing with Shawn and he stood up for his brother and was there for him no matter what.

P LOT D EVELOPMENT

E XPOSITION Protagonist- Shawn McDaniels There is really no Antagonist but the bad character in the book is portrayed to be Syd. McDaniels Background Info. - Shawn McDaniel has brain damage and his mother lindy has took care of him with the help of his brother and sister since his father left when they when the kids where all little.

C ONFLICT Man VS Self - Shawn struggles with himself not being able to control nothing. His conflict with himself is internal mostly all emotional.

R ISING A CTION Rising Action - Shawn was born with brain damage and is not a normal child but he is still a human. His struggles to help himself and speak out for himself this is important because he could never tell his dad he felt no pain.

C LIMAX Shawn’s father comes in and relieves the babysitter of her job and said that we will watch his son for the rest of the night that she could go home.

F ALLING A CTION The babysitter leaves Shawn there with his father not aware what’s on Syd. Mind. After the baby sitter walks out Syd. And his son Shawn is all alone.

R ESOLUTION The stories doesn’t really have a ending. Shawn and his father are alone in Shawn's room and his father is talking about ending his pain and how much he loves him and hates to see him suffer. Shawn begins to have a seizure and he has one of his out of body experiences and the book ends with him saying he wasn’t worried about what his father was going to do that he was free!

S UMMARY

Shawn is a normal teenage boy. He likes girls, he likes music and television. However, there is one thing about him that's special: he is physically incapable of movement. He can't move his legs, arms, mouth, eyes, toes or anything. He can't move at all. He sits there drooling in his wheelchair. The world looks at him as mentally retarded, simply because he looks different and can't speak or move. On the contrary, he is more intelligent than most people. He understands everything that is said about him, but no one knows.

S UMMARY CONTINUES No one knows him for who he is and no one even knows that he can think. Shawn is noticing something weird about his father. He's making weird comments such as, “I want to put you out of your pain”, and "What is the purpose of your life? Shawn is certain his father is going to kill him. But Shawn can't tell anyone or even fight back.

S UMMARY C ONTINUES The book portrays a boys everyday struggle through life to succeed in something he fails in everyday. It shows hope is something that keeps us going everyday through the horrible thing we call life. We can’t choose how we are born but we can choose how we are and how we act. The book also shows that everybody deals with everything in different ways not everyone copes with their feelings or struggles throughout life the same way.

W ORK C ITED "About Terry Trueman." TerryTrueman.com. Web. 18 Feb "Awards, Honors and Credits." TerryTrueman.com. Web. 18 Feb Google.com. Web. 18 Feb Trueman, Terry. Stuck in Neutral. New York, NY: HarperCollinsPublishers, Print.