The Bottom Line
The underlying message in this story is one of survival as one boy makes dreams his reality. It seems that if you let imagination be your guide and anything is possible.
Pros
- Imagination as the spice of one boys life.
- A wild friendship between boy and beast.
- Fascinating characters that aren't quite real.
Cons
- Adults that are overly critical and cruel.
- Bullying is tolerated, even defended by adults.
Description
- One boys frustrating existance become magical in the blink of an eye.
- When Joe meets Corrina the term "leap of faith" takes on a whole new meaning.
- The key to happiness is being true to yourself even if it means going against your friends.
Guide Review - "Secret Heart" by David Almond
Joe Maloney is utterly alone. His peers don't like him, his mother doesn't understand him and his best friend keeps pushing him to be something he is not. Joe is lost in the world until a mysterious tiger shows him a world filled with more magic and wonder than he ever thought possible. Under a blue tent jsut outside of town is the tigers world - the world of the circus - a world where risk taking is a part of daily life and where nothing is what it seems. When Joe finds the circus he finds himself and learns some important lessons about who he is and about what really matters in life.
Once again David Almond blurs the lines between imagination and reality to bring us a magical story filled with wonder and beauty.
