Ms.Connjane Doe

Ms.ConnJane Doe

E2 Period _____December 9, 2005

Our lives are full of mixed emotions. That is true for everyone—even people that seem happy all the time. Everyone deals with different situations everyday. Sometimes we are happy and other times we are sad. No matter the situation, we usually have someone to talk to, a parent, friend, teacher, or maybe even a counselor. The important thing is that you should never keep your feelings bottled up inside when there is someone to talk to. Finding the one person to confide in helps you to relieve the anger, the unhappiness, and all the other feelings that you have. Through a completely careless action, Michael Mackenzie, the protagonist in Swallowing Stones by Joyce McDonald, sees that the emotions affect his life internally. Even though Swallowing Stones focuses on a tragic accident, you will enjoy it every time you read. It doesn’t skip from one point to the next and it shows that people learn from their mistakes even when they can’t take them back.

Michael Mackenzie is celebrating his 17th birthday on the Fourth of July. Fireworks are going off all around his house and people are having fun. Michael decides to get out his gun that his grandfather had given him and shoots it into the air. The shot ends in a fatal tragedy. Through this tragedy Michael has to live with what he has done. Michael finds that what he has done affects not only himself but also many other people. He has many emotions and he has more to develop each day.

Just like Michael, we never know what can happen just by having fun until we experience the consequences. Joyce McDonald shows us that one simple thing can cause many different emotions in people. We may always have those feelings from doing bad but we always somehow manage to continue on with our life.

This book is a really good book for high school students and adults; it is kind of a mystery that convinces you to think about what you are reading. Swallowing Stones shows that accidents affect people internally and externally, especially when there are other people involved. It makes you think before you do something that you know will catch up with you later on in life.

*NOTE: These Book Reviews are taken from reviews of Swallowing Stones.