Emily wrote:

When I first started this book I thought it was very interesting. Throughout the first chapter I could not put the book down because of the suspence. The main character, Brent, tries to kill himself and this happens almost immediately in the story. This happens because he was turned down at a party by the beautiful Brianna. Also at this party, Brent realizes that all the popular kids don't like him and he will never have a chance with Brianna. While trying to commit sucide, Brent accidentaly kills 18 year-old Lea. Brent is instructed to build four whriligigs in the four countries of the United States to keep Lea's spirit alive. While Brent is busy building the whirligigs, he realizes his problems, such as being popular and having Brianna are not very big issues compared to Lea's and what he has learned. Throughout his journey to Maine, California, Washington and Florida, Brent meets many people. These poeple share their life stories with him and Brent realizes there is more to life than being popular and having a beutiful girlfriend. All the people are very unique and different in many ways and teach him all about life.
In the story whirligig, The chapters switch around from Brent's life and making the whirligigs to the places where Brent put the Whirligigs and the people that the Whirligigs affect.

Madeline thought:

I think that this book is really meaningful because of the way that it shows that sometimes you have to be forced into doing things before realizing that they are the right things to do. When Brent sets up the whirligigs in the 4 corners of the United States , he learns that his life really wasn't that bad and that people have it much worse than him. Throughout the book there are short stories where the whirligigs change peoples life. Also, the whirligigs change Brent's life.

3 Stars2: checkbox

Pegster says:

I am just going to write the turning point, because that was our assignment. I am not going to write a whole essay about the book, as Petar did or nothing about the turning point at all, as Josh did. I am JUST going to write the turning point so that Mr. Z will be happy!! So here I go!!

I think the turning point is when Brent talks to the little kids on the beach about the whirligig and he teaches them, too. It is then that he realizes that his actions can affect others' lives not just his.

Valerie writes:

Whirligig is an okay book. I do however think that it is not for me. I like fun comedic books while this was slow, dark, and lacking action. While he is setting up the whirligigs not much happens that is really worth mentioning. I belive that the turning point is when Brent sees the first whirligig spinning. As he watched, "The phrase 'breath of life' traveled through his mind." (page 54) This has changed his character because in the beginning he blieved that "his life was a house that had been burned to the ground." (page 17)Yet, when he sees what he has created, he feels fresh and new and glad that he could do something for someone other than himself.

Petar, gives whirligig 3 stars:

I found this book decent overall. Although the plot was predictable at most points in the book, I liked reading it because of the style of writing rather than the plot itself. I found the chapters about the people in Florida and Washington rather odd because they didn't discuss the whirligig at all, and I did not understand why they were necessary. They just seemed like little excerpts of peoples' lives, which had no connection to the whirligigs that Brent was setting up.
I think the turning point in Brent Bishop's character in this book is when he sees his first whirligig starting to move with the wind. He goes from "why am I doing this?" (p. 52) to "The arms gained speed. His smile widened. The phrase "the breath of life" traveled through his mind. He watched, mesmerized." (p.54) When he thinks of "breath of life" you realize that he has begun to value life, unlike at the start of the book when he tried to kill himself. He realized how important life was at that point, and it seemed that from then on he seemed to be more dedicated to his work. He also seemed to enjoy it more from then on. That was the major turning point in his character because he started to view life positively, as a good thing rather than a bad. When he "stands mesmerized", that is the real point at which me changes. He becomes less selfish and worried about himself and finds other things to take the place of that. He finds joy in the whirligig's sucess because he has all the guilt from killing Lea piled up, and now instead of being selfish and concerned more with himself than anything or anyone else he has accepted this request and is not only fulfilling his promise, but he is taking joy in it. Of course he can go to four places in the US and set up whirligigs, but if he enjoys himself and feels good about doing it then that is when he REALLY changes.
I give this book 3/5 stars. It was rather predictable at times and I couldn't quite grasp how several of the chapters fit in to the plot, but other than that I found the book decent. I would recommend this book to anyone who is fond of books about "rediscovering life", and also to anyone who is a fan of books which discuss deep ideas through a plot with little action and excitement.

Daniel the Spaniel wrote:

I thoughty that this book was an okay book, however the message
was a good one. however there was one Chapter that made
absolutly no sense. That chapter was the one about the kid in
Washington that wanted to listen to the pre-game show of the
Seattle Mariners and had to write a journal entry about his summer
experiences. All in All this book was not very good

anna-banana wrote:

I strongly disliked this book for several reasons. first of all i did not like the way tha the author wrote. i think that he should have
stayed at a more linear timeline for the chapters, i found that
confusing and it took away from the plot. I also belive that a kid
who gets drunk and then tries to kill himself with out thinking
about the other people that he will hurt will not miraculously feel
repentfull and then become a good person. If he just wanted to fit
in he would not have gone around making whirligigs. The chapter
about the little asian boy was extremely racist and i thought it had
no relevance what soever to the rest of the story. I really hated this
book and i would not ever recomend it for somebody.

0 Stars

Josh, 13, wrote:

This book mostly focuses on the journey of a boy named Brent
Bishop. He is trying to make sense of life, especially his own. His
goal is to do what seems impossible by building a new life for
himself. He does not want any connection or memory of his past
life that was turned to ashes with the killing of an innocent girl.
The whirligigs he builds in atonement for his action is for the
mother of the deceased girl, but also for himself. On the buses
travelling to the four corners of the USA, he realizes that he is a
complete mystery to the other travellers and can fashion his own
life and be reborn.

Not enough action for Meh:

This book wasn't really that great... There are a lot of other books
that I've read which are a lot better than this one. This book didn't
have much action, and no real conflict... I like books with a lot
more action. 2 stars

Jojo, age 13 wrote:

I didn't really like this book. There were no outstanding
comflicts, or complications, which made for a rather boring
read. The idea of atonement or penance has been used
innumerable times in literature, and I have read this story quite
often in different words. If I had my way, I wouldn't read this
book at all. Not a great book for people of my age group. There
is a little emotional conflict within Brent, but not very much. In
the end, he is ready to go explorng the US freely, most of his
guilt released. This seems rather unreasonable. If he was that
broken up about Lea's death, then I don't think he would release
her death quite that quickly. If the author had added a little
more excitement to Brent's adventure, maybe the book would
have been a little more interesting. As it is, the book was very
dull, and seemed to drag on for all its shortness. I don't think it
was well targeted to my age group. Many people of my age
prefer more fast paced books. All in all, not a good read.
0 Stars

Dan the man gives whirligig 0 stars:

I thought that this book (whirligig) was a waste of paper. I thought that it was
way too cliche and it was very predictable. Also, i thought that the
time lapses between chapters were too confusing and the author
did not do a very good job of connecting different characters at all.
I actually feel like i lost some IQ points from reading this book. I
don't know why anyone in their right mind would publish such a
terrible excuse for literature.

3 stars so far for Whirligig, Kyle wrote:

I have to read this book for english i just started it and the first
chapter really kept me excited however the second did not i will
keep you updated as i go along i do like it so far so i suggest you
read it and post your own opinion.