Don't Call Me Ishmael

Last updated

Don't Call Me Ishmael
Don't Call Me Ishmael cover.jpg
First edition cover
Author Michael Gerard Bauer
Illustrator Michael Gerard Bauer
Cover artistJoe Bauer (Australian edition)
Country Australia
LanguageEnglish
SeriesIshmael
Release number
1st in series
Genre Young adult fiction
PublisherScholastic (Australia)
HarperTeen (USA)
Publication date
2006
Media typePrint
Pages277 pg.
ISBN 1-86291-666-7 (Australia)
0-06-134834-1 (USA)
OCLC 156423000
Followed by Ishmael and the Return of the Dugongs  

Don't Call Me Ishmael is a young adult novel by Australian author Michael Gerard Bauer. It is about Ishmael Leseur, a 15-year-old boy, and his experiences in Year Nine of school. It won the 2008 award for children's literature at Writers' Week, Australia's oldest writers' festival. [1] It was short-listed for the Children's Book Council of Australia's Book of the Year award in the older reader category in 2007. [2] In April 2018, Don't Call Me Ishmael: The Musical by Fin Nicol-Taylor and Christopher Thomson, was premiered in Brisbane. [3]

Contents

Plot

His Year Nine teacher, Miss Tarango, tells the whole class about the name Ishmael coming from Moby-Dick, which gives Barry and his friends more names to tease Ishmael with. Ishmael later intervenes when he sees Barry and his friends tease a boy who joins Ishmael's year level. A new boy called James Scobie becomes a target for bullying because of his appearance. However, James responds to the bully's taunts with humour. He tells the class that he is fearless because he had a brain tumour that damaged the part of his brain that feels fear. Barry is the only person that does not believe James. About a week later, Barry puts a lot of insects and spiders in James's desk, but James is not frightened. During a rugby match against Churchill, James's fearlessness changes the course of the game with a speech that invokes courage.

Ishmael, Scobie, a hilarious, outgoing and independent boy called Orazio Zorzotto, an overweight, sci-fi geek called Bill Kingsley and a very smart nerd Ignatius Prindabel participate in debating. Ishmael only joins because he feels sorry for James (and because James promises to not make him speak onstage). However, Ishmael is forced to debate due to Bill being sick and then later because James has a checkup about his brain tumour. The team does not win, missing out by just one point, however they are still incredibly happy to have gone that far. Barry and his friends mock Bill about his weight by destroying his debating certificate, angering Ishmael as well. Kelly Faulkner, a girl Ishmael starts to fall in love with (for a fair reason) at the debating workshop, thanks Ishmael because she is the sister of the Year Four boy that Ishmael helped to "save" from Barry. On the last day of school at the 'end-of-year extravaganza thingy', Ishmael invents a prayer that will humiliate Barry. However, he eventually decides not to say his prayer, because he does not want to humiliate Barry's innocent parents, ruin the ceremony for the people who worked to make it or become the person Barry was. Ishmael then receives a letter from Kelly. He runs out on to the school's oval, completely ecstatic and bursting with happiness, and reads the letter, which says that she has invited him to her friend's party. He finally realizes that his life is not as bad as he once have believed.

Dedication

The book is dedicated "To Greg, Keith and Anne, because it's all about friendship, love and laughter ... and because I took your threats seriously."

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eid al-Adha</span> Islamic holiday on the tenth day of Dhu al-Hijjah

This article is about the Islamic holiday. For the language, see Azha language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Companies Committed to Kids</span> Canadian non-profit organization

Companies Committed to Kids was a Canadian non-profit organization based in Toronto, founded in 1990 by former chief executive officer Sunni Boot and former president of the Global Television Network David Mintz as a contributive production-wide body dedicated to launching campaigns and expressing the significance of their public service announcements to target children between the ages of eight and 12. It produced over 30 announcements, covering topics such as drug abuse, conformity, self-esteem, and bullying. Each PSA ends with the logo of the organization. Usually, the commercials partnered up with Health Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicide of Ryan Halligan</span> Suicide of an American bullied boy

Ryan Patrick Halligan was an American student who died by suicide at the age of 13 after being bullied by his classmates in person and cyber-bullying online. According to the Associated Press, Halligan was repeatedly sent homophobic instant messages, and was "threatened, taunted and insulted incessantly".

<i>Rules</i> (novel) Debut novel by author Cynthia Lord

Rules is the debut novel by author Cynthia Lord. Released by Scholastic, Inc. in 2006, it was a Newbery Honor book in 2007. It is a Sunshine State Young Readers book for 2008–2009 and won A 2007 Schneider Family Book Award. In 2009 it also won the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award.

<i>Nineteen Minutes</i> 2007 novel by Jodi Picoult

Nineteen Minutes (2007) is the fourteenth novel by the American author Jodi Picoult. It was Picoult's first book to debut at #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. This novel follows the unfolding of a school shooting, including the events leading up to the incident and the aftermath of the incident. This book is from Josie's point of view because Peter dies before the ending.

<i>Bad Girls</i> (Wilson novel) 1996 novel by Jacqueline Wilson

Bad Girls is a children's novel published in 1996, written by English author Jacqueline Wilson and illustrated by Nick Sharratt. The book revolves around a ten-year-old girl called Mandy being bullied by three girls called Kim, Sarah and Melanie. She later befriends a wayward teenage girl called Tanya who is in foster care and battling her own personal demons.

<i>Men of Stone</i> Book by Gayle Friesen

Men of Stone is a novel written by Gayle Friesen that was first published in 2000. It was the second book that was written by Friesen.

<i>Black Joy</i> (film) 1977 film directed by Anthony Simmons

Black Joy is a 1977 British film directed by Anthony Simmons. The story of an immigrant country boy in Brixton, London. It was entered into the 1977 Cannes Film Festival.

<i>A Long Way Gone</i> 2007 memoir by Ishmael Beah

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier is a 2007 memoir written by Ishmael Beah, an author from Sierra Leone. The book is a firsthand account of Beah's time as a child soldier during the Sierra Leone Civil War in the 1990s. The book describes the change from Beah being an innocent child to being corrupted by war and its effects. The book received positive reception and won several awards. However, some news outlets and historians have claimed parts of the novel do not correlate with historical events and could be inaccurate.

Ishmael and the Return of the Dugongs is a fiction book by Michael Gerard Bauer, released in 2007. It is the first sequel to Don't Call Me Ishmael. Ishmael and the Return of the Dugongs won the "Book Council of Australia: Junior Judges Award" in 2007.

Cheryl Gray (<i>Coronation Street</i>) Soap opera character

Cheryl Gray is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Holly Quin-Ankrah. She debuted on-screen during the episode airing 9 April 2010. Originally introduced as a love interest for an existing character, Cheryl has been involved in storylines involving lapdancing and domestic abuse since her inception. Cheryl's age was tweaked to accommodate the much younger Quin-Ankrah's real age. In May 2011, it was announced the producers had decided not to renew Quin-Ankrah's contract. She departed on-screen on 18 November 2011.

<i>Undone</i> (short story collection) 1993 collection of short stories by Paul Jennings

Undone is the seventh in a series of collections of short stories by Australian author Paul Jennings. It was first released in 1993 and was the first book in the series not to have any short stories be adapted into an episode of Round the Twist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lola Pearce</span> UK soap opera character created 2011

Lola Pearce-Brown is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Danielle Harold. She was introduced as the granddaughter of Billy Mitchell and Julie Perkins, and an extension to the already established Mitchell family. Lola made her first appearance on 12 July 2011. Her storylines have mainly focused on her relationship with her family, a teenage pregnancy after a one-night stand with her third cousin once removed Ben Mitchell, fighting to keep newborn daughter Lexi out of care, her friendships with Abi Branning, Dexter Hartman and later Frankie Lewis, relationships with Peter Beale and Jay Brown, improving her situation by becoming a hairdresser, having an abortion after becoming pregnant by Jay, and being diagnosed with a glioblastoma brain tumour which resulted in her death.

<i>Cyberbully</i> (2011 film) 2011 television film directed by Charles Binamé

Cyberbully is a teen drama television film that premiered on ABC Family on July 17, 2011. The channel collaborated with Seventeen magazine to make the film, stating that they hoped it would "delete digital drama" in a press release. The film tells the story of a teenage girl who is bullied online. The film was released on DVD on February 7, 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Kenny (singer)</span> Musical artist

William Francis Kenny Jr. was an American vocalist with a wide vocal range spanning four octaves. Often regarded as one of the most influential high-tenor singers of all time, Kenny was noted for his "bell-like" vocal clarity and impeccable diction. Although he is most famous for his role as lead tenor with the Ink Spots, Kenny also led a successful solo career after disbanding the Ink Spots in 1954. Throughout the 1950s and 60s Kenny recorded, toured the world and appeared on many popular variety television shows. In 1966 Kenny became the star and host of his own musical variety show The Bill Kenny Show which aired on CBC. In 1989, 11 years after his death, Bill Kenny was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Kenny is often noted as being the "godfather" of R&B tenor vocalists.

<i>The Fat Boy Chronicles</i> 2010 American film

The Fat Boy Chronicles is a film about Jimmy Winterpock, an obese high-school student who deals with bullying and trying to lose weight. The film is inspired by a true story about an obese 9th grader in Cincinnati and a novel and film were released in 2010 as a major motion picture, and was later released on Netflix. The movie received mixed reviews, with users on Rotten Tomatoes giving the movie a 49% "Rotten" rating.

"Right Here" is a song recorded by Canadian singer and songwriter Justin Bieber featuring fellow Canadian singer and rapper Drake, released on February 5, 2013 as the fourth single from the former's third studio album Believe (2012). It was written by the artists alongside Eric Bellinger, and producer Hit-Boy. A lyric video was posted onto Bieber's YouTube channel in February 2013, and he performed the song live as part of his worldwide Believe Tour in 2012-13.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esther Bloom</span> UK soap opera character (launched 2011)

Esther Bloom is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by actor Jazmine Franks. The character made her first on-screen appearance on 18 January 2011. Franks had previously auditioned for roles in the show. She did not think that she had secured the part of Esther and concentrated on her studies until she was informed. As an open lesbian, Esther is comfortable with her sexuality. Since her inception she has shared a friendship with the character Ruby Button but has long been subjected to her "bitchy" comments. She is characterised as having a "selfless consideration for others" despite being a "proverbial punchbag" for many characters. Esther found confidence when she decided to pursue a fashion career. Franks has said that upon doing so Esther's style also changed.

The suicide of Tyrone Unsworth occurred on 22 November 2016, in Brisbane, Australia. Unsworth, a 13-year-old boy, died by suicide after years of bullying motivated by his homosexuality. His death garnered considerable national attention in Australia, as well as international attention.

Rainbow Fish is a children's animated television series, produced in 1999. It was adapted from the book of the same name; however, the television series does not follow the plot of the book; rather it takes the character and the setting and creates a new story with them. Some characters were added and others embellished for the purposes of the show. In the series, the place where the fish live is called Neptune Bay. The fish attend "The School of Fish". There is a shipwreck called "Shipwreck Park" in the series that resembles the wreck of the RMS Titanic. It was produced by Decode Entertainment, EM.TV and Sony Wonder.

References

  1. God, the Coetzee effect and the Carey gang, The Sydney Morning Herald.
  2. Fertile field for young minds, Adelaide Now.
  3. "Don't Call Me Ishmael". Archived from the original on 17 April 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.