Books for gifted children from Royal Fireworks Press, publishers for the gifted education curriculum.

Life in Caves

Novel

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Eighth-grader Mario lives with his mother and father in a trailer on the outskirts of a small town in rural New Jersey. The three have very little interaction and pass each other like ships in the night. Mario doesn’t move in his school’s social circles either, and until Rusty moves into town, Mario doesnt have a real friend. Rusty rejects a relationship with his adoptive Japanese parents, although his mother tries to forge one. Rusty will soon have to move to Tokyo, unless he does some-thing drastic—disappear.

Mario and Rusty resolve to hide out, live in Mario’s secret cave for a while. Anna McDonnaugh lives in a cave in the for-est of the state park, too. She lives with raccoons. She symbolizes isolation and loneliness. Fluorine, a sweet girl who also does not fit in socially, tries to befriend her with a cup of tea, but is rejected. She shares the cave with Mario and Rusty for a time. However, Mario can’t develop a normal interactive relationship with Fluorine and becomes jealous that Rusty can.

Mario returns from the cave to retrieve Rusty’s violin. Rusty’s mother is warm to him and concerned, and her feelings transcend the language barrier. Mario now is sure that Rusty doesn’t appreciate what he’s got. As Mario’s home situation worsens, he begins to see that his emotional solitude is not normal; he also perceives the emotional isolation of those around him. They all live in personal versions of physical and emotional caves. At least Fluorine tried to reach out. He would reach out too.

The novel closes with Mario in Anna’s now-abandoned cave, where he has found broken pieces of Fluorine’s teapot. Fluorine’s gesture of friendship must have meant something to Anna, after all. Mario falls asleep. The reader feels that with his awakening he will exit the cave and move on to more honest and open relationships.

Glenn Alan Cheny resides in Connecticut.

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