Meanwhile...

Cute set of Calvin & Hobbes kinds of imaginary adventures, and a bit of a meta thing going on to support them, but.... "Meanwhile" changes not just the scene but the characters... it does *not* work the way Raymond wanted it to. This bothers me now, and it would have bothered me a *lot* when I was the target age for this book.

I loved this book because I think any child would be able to relate to it. Kids hate when their parents scold them. Since in the story, Raymond travels to different settings and story lines, I think it is a fun book. I can definitely relate to Raymond not wanting to be where he is in real life, and imagining he is on an adventure. I think the theme is to not take real life for granted, since at the end of the book Raymond misses his home.

While reading an exciting comic book and ignoring his mother yelling at him to come downstairs, Raymond notices how comic books use the word MEANWHILE inside a box with three dots after it to change the scene of a story. So he wonders what would happen if he wrote his own MEANWHILE -- on the wall behind his bed. Raymond immediately finds himself on a pirate ship. Unfortunately he has to walk the plank, but manages to insist that he needs to write a letter to his mother as his last request before dying. A quick scribble of MEANWHILE lands him out West, dodging bullets. He then saves himself from sure death at the claws of a mountain lion by scratching MEANWHILE on a rock with a rusty bullet. In outer space he again finds himself in a show more sticky situation and saves himself by writing with his backpack-autopower-vaporwriter. Raymond keeps jumping from dangerous scene to dangerous scene until he finally thinks to shout out THE END!!! show less

The thing I liked best about this book were the illustrations. They were laid out in the style of a comic, and considering the main character, Raymond, was described as moving throughout different storylines (wild west, pirate ship, outer space,) they definitely added to the dynamic feel of the book. Another thing I liked about this book was it’s out of the box thinking style. The main character realized that he was in a book, and uses words such as “meanwhile” and “the end” to further the plot of the story whenever he ran into mortal peril. For example, when Raymond was stuck on a pirate ship and forced to walk the plank, he made one last request- to write a letter to his mother. When given parchment and ink to do so, he show more wrote “meanwhile…” on the scroll, and was instantly transported to the wild west. This is the kind of book that fosters creative thinking in children, and I think this is the main idea the book was trying to get across. show less

In this exciting graphic novel/comic book like story, the main character Raymond is desperately trying to avoid the calls of his mother while he is laying on his bed. That's when he discovers the power of writing his own story using the word "Meanwhile" to change his location. By writing the word "Meanwhile" on any surface, Raymond transports himself to various action-packed adventures that leaves him in quite a pickle!

This is a humorous and fun read. The graphic novel/comic book style of story may be much more enticing for reluctant readers. The story is fast-paced with creative and entertaining illustrations that bring humor into the story. The word "Meanwhile", a transition word, can also be taught using this book as a creative way show more to introduce transition words. Students can also use this book as a springboard for creative writing and using the word "Meanwhile" to shift scenes in their own adventure stories.
Awards:
Keystone to Reading Book Award for Intermediate (1999)

Award Descriptions:
Keystone to Reading Book Award for Intermediate: The Keystone to Reading Book Awards has two divisions, Elementary and Secondary.
The book needs to have been published within the last year. At least two reading educators read and rate the book, and then the committee reviews those books with ratings of 8 and above on a 10 point scale.

APA Citation:
Feiffer, J. (1997). Meanwhile--. New York, N.Y.: HarperCollins. show less

This book is about a kid that is reading his comic book and it really into it when his mother calls him. He ignores her and hopes that she'll forget about him. He realizes in his comics when you want to change scenes or locations it says "meanwhile". So he "meanwhile"'s himself through different places, such as, a pirate ship, a cowboy chase, and space. He eventually is chased and harrassed in all of his "maenwhile"'s and snaps out of his fantasy. He is glad to help his mother because in his "meanwhile"'s he was almost captured or killed by sharks, cowboys and martians. This book shows a little boys imagination running wild and taking him to different places.

I would use this book in the classroom as an example of a way to write your own story. It is a great example of how far your imagination can take you while sharing the lesson that the grass isn't always greener on the other side.