The Pigman by Paul Zindel - Book Review

John Conlan and Lorraine Jensen interact as any teenagers who are not overwhelmed by the problems that beset them but deal with them as they come, sometimes not just one at a time. They alternate writing chapters to inject a multiple view of the same situation with pleasing variety. It is not unlike listening to two students eagerly revealing their escapades. The Pigman himself is not so much a character as he is an ideal personified in the body of Angelo Pignati.

But, it is clear that what the Pigman represents is transiently dynamic replaceable by any stimulus which has as its goal the acquisition of self-identity. It was by assisted chance that Lorraine selected the name during their random telephone marathon, but Angelo Pignati became an integral part of the youths'transitions from children to young adults. The Pigman, despite his wry humor indicative of regression to second childhood, issues profound challenges that test the perceptivity of John and Lorraine concerning their values. The combination of young innocence and aged experience fulfills both sets of needs for parental bonding sorely lacking in John and all too weak with Lorraine.

The revelation of the loss of the Pigman's wife only heightens the need for this bond. The importance of honesty in any relationship is brought to light as Lorraine and John struggle with the decision whether or not to reveal to Mr. Pignati the truth about their chance meeting. He, however, is a master psychologist and knows how to extract from the unwary couple their subconscious aspirations. The negative parental images are not fiction; they recreate Paul Zindel's own conflicts in his novel personae reflected not only in this story but also forming the common thread throughout his others.

As is so true to life, the depth of feeling for the Pigman is not realized until the pain they inflict on him is complete, albeit unintentional. It takes his inevitable death to punctuate the severity of their loss. It is not unintentional that similar images, like baboons, are replete throughout Zindel's stories. They are meaningful to him and should be as significant to the readers no matter what their age might be.

Evaluation: Paul Zindel knows children, their problems, and some solutions. He doesn't offer the answers to questions like Where am I going? but opens the child's mind to possibilities that must be answered by the child himself. The story addresses peer problems concerning interpersonal relationships without wallowing in blatant sexuality, family ties, friendship, and death. But, the primary thrust of this story is personal identity at an age when individuality is so difficult to assert.

Recommendation: This story is appropriate for any student who can pick up the book and read with minimal effort. It is more than a tale of misadventure and emotion; it is a commentary on human behavior between family members, peers, and children with adults.

Teaching: The style of this narrative opens avenues for creativity not only for exploring other models based on the alternate writer method but also for answering questions addressed in the plot: Who is YOUR pigman? Where are YOU going? What is important to YOU? Different classes could take the same test the Pigman gave to Lorraine and John with the boatman and the assassin. Variations on that same theme, looking for personal values, may provide incredible insight into the personalities of students and teachers alike.

The Pigman by Paul Zindel - Book Review

Unbelievable Little Kid Does a Trick Shot Video

Video Clips. Duration : 2.93 Mins.

Unbelievable Little Kid Does a Trick Shot Video

Amazing shots from a kid (Titus) between 18 and 24 months old. He began shooting baskets shortly after learning to walk, we started filming some, and then got totally carried away. This is the trick shot video that makes other trick shot videos look like a bunch of old guys who should have something better to do -- like retire, turn up their pacemakers, or join an assisted living facility. Soundtrack is original.

Unbelievable Little Kid Does a Trick Shot Video

Unbelievable Little Kid Does a Trick Shot Video

Unbelievable Little Kid Does a Trick Shot Video

Unbelievable Little Kid Does a Trick Shot Video

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Amazing shots from a kid (Titus) between 18 and 24 months old. He began shooting baskets shortly after learning to walk, we started filming some, and then got totally carried away. This is the trick shot video that makes other trick shot videos look like a bunch of old guys who should have something better to do -- like retire, turn up their pacemakers, or join an assisted living facility. Soundtrack is original.

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Mockingjay

The Pigman by Paul Zindel - Book Review

The Pigman by Paul Zindel - Book Review
The Pigman by Paul Zindel - Book Review

Mockingjay

The Pigman's Legacy by Paul Zindel - Book Review

Welcome back, John and Lorraine, to a more mature adventure in search for identity under the auspices of total truth and unwavering honesty. Angelo Pignati did not die in vain. His resounding effect on John and Lorraine awakened in them deep feelings they ignored because of their youthful naivete. They may have had doubts about their role in the death of the Pigman because they could never be sure that their actions, if different, may have had a more positive result. Such hindsight is rarely beneficial unless one learns from his indiscretions.

Just as the concept of the Pigman may be said to reside in different people in variable circumstances, there could be no doubt that the spirit of Angelo Pignati reincarnated itself in the person of Colonel Glenville, whose apparent poverty was his only company in the face of imminent death. He identified himself as Gus, who was actually his canine companion faithful beyond the end, and probed the hearts and minds of both John and Lorraine (again, alternating as narrators) to elicit from them the essence of their respective IDS. Like Mr. Pignati, the Colonel effectively drove Lorraine and John to the ultimate of their pursuit of identity not only to quash the feelings of doubt about themselves but to form the foundation of their truthful exposition of themselves to each other as well as to their families and peers.

The Colonel's Game of Life had the same goal as Mr. Pignati's Assassin/Boatman challenge, the solidification of moral fiber, goals, and determination of values. It was complex and, understandably, more open-ended and subject to more liberal interpretation. The result was the same: greater insight into the essence of the self.

The unlikely scenario of the Studebaker ride, essential for the mobility required to transport the quartet of Dolly, the Colonel, John, and Lorraine to Atlantic City, smacked of the humor of Bernie [Weekend at Bernie's] as the lively cadaver without the morbidity. The revitalization of the life of the Colonel with Dolly paralleled the birth of the idyllic love of Lorraine for John. As the Colonel re-emerged from death, so also do John and Lorraine encapsulate themselves in love for each other. But, it takes a devastating, emotional tragedy for John to come to grips with his nearly fatal, tragic flaw, which awakens in him the fact that the weaknesses of the parents can materialize with similar vices in the progeny. Forgiveness of the self empowers forgiveness of others.

It would have been romantic for Lorraine to have been able to exert the necessary power over John to save him from himself; but, realistically, someone so entrenched in the mire of his own misconception of self would not allow himself to be so dissuaded. He had to fail in order to realize his own frailty and succeed in finding himself and his feelings for Lorraine, which he had for so long denied. The Colonel had to die poor to allow others to live, and love, from his richness. Somewhere, another Pigman lives, waiting to be discovered by those who are most in need of him and his legacy.

Evaluation: Once again, the alternating narrators style works to make the reading easier for both boys and girls. Both are able to relate more personally and identify with the real problems John and Lorraine feel. The consistency in the natures of both Angelo and the Colonel provides the unity of purpose Zindel expresses through his characters -- to address viable responses to psychological and social problems faced by young adults in a world that draws no clear lines of demarcation. Providing older problems that include travel, drinking, gambling, and personal responsibility expands the scope of the experiences with Angelo Pignati, the forerunner of all Pigmen to come.

Recommendation: This is an indispensable sequel to the first Pigman novel and would satisfy the hunger of an even wider range of students because of the more serious conflicts that are addressed. It can be read to those who are younger just for the sheer adventure without delving into the deeper meanings of the questions that are posed.

Teaching: Undoubtedly, I would teach both as if they were part one and part two of the same book. I would also incorpotrate variations of the items found on the Colonel's Road of Life exercise with creative input from students to provide their own individual roads and rationalizations. I would not hesitate to incorporate as a preview to the texts Zindel's biographical sketch, The Pigman and Me.

The Pigman's Legacy by Paul Zindel - Book Review

"THE NFL : A Bad Lip Reading" — A Bad Lip Reading of the NFL

Tube. Duration : 2.82 Mins.

"THE NFL : A Bad Lip Reading" — A Bad Lip Reading of the NFL

So THAT'S what they were saying... Like on Facebook! www.facebook.com Follow on Twitter! twitter.com

"THE NFL : A Bad Lip Reading" — A Bad Lip Reading of the NFL

"THE NFL : A Bad Lip Reading" — A Bad Lip Reading of the NFL



"THE NFL : A Bad Lip Reading" — A Bad Lip Reading of the NFL

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Mockingjay

The Pigman and Me, by Paul Zindel - Biography

Paul Zindel must have felt compelled by an irresistible force to expound upon a childhood that in a biography reads as well as his novels. Paul and Betty could just as well have been John and Lorraine just as Nonno Frankie became Angelo Pignati. Staten Island becomes as familiar as home just as the streets and avenues score themselves into our memories as the carvings on the desks we saw 280 days of each year in our own schools.

The Pigman and Me, by Paul Zindel - Biography

The Pigman and Me, by Paul Zindel - Biography

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The Pigman and Me, by Paul Zindel - Biography

The Pigman and Me, by Paul Zindel - Biography

Zindel's family problems are reflected mirror-like in those of John and Lorraine, but other less personal problems, like racism and poverty (if they can be considered less personal than family) erupt with the clarity and lucidity of a sucker-punch. The combining of the two families under one roof is unusual but not unheard of just as the depiction of small town residents as zombies is obviously hyperbolic, yet, to some degree, credible.

Nonno Frankie's concern for the life of the apple tree symbolizes the deeper truths that form the foundation for moral behavior and stands majestically as a tribute to the lasting permanence of integrity that transcends the passing changes that overtake children in their pursuit of identity and the meaning of life. His incessant humor revives memories of undying, childish frivolousness so necessary for the bonding of friendships among children. Something has to offset the constant flood of disappointments and hurts that flow from the novelty of growing up in a strange and threatening environment. Nonno's pranks to wake up the zombies were analogous to the antics of John in the classroom, the mischievous behavior that should expected of normal, growing, young adults.

Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction. If I were to include more than twenty Lassies in a story, it would be regarded as beyond belief. But, I did have twenty borzois at one time; so, the prospect is not inconceivable. Paul Zindel's life as described supports the credo that one should write based on experience. But, that does not undermine the potential for exercising extensive creativity that stretches the imagination beyond the threshold of belief through the willing suspension of disbelief. Fiction knows no bounds.

Evaluation: This biography is not essential to understand the novels that grew from Paul Zindel's experiences, but it helps to understand the mind that created the Pigman which itself personifies a universal ideology. The reading level is lower than the novels and far easier to understand. Hence, I see this narrative as a good basis for teaching characterization, setting, and dialogue as well as the idea of biographical sketches. The tone is simple and reader-friendly with enough humor to make the reading a pleasure rather a chore.

Recommendation: For the slow reader, this would be a motivating text to offer tasty tid-bits of the humor, philosophy, adventure, and emotional involvement that are more extensively offered in the novels of Paul Zindel. I would use it even for non-readers as a tool to break the shell of apathy since it would work well as story-telling material. It is not so much an autobigraphy as it is a preparatory statement to give pertinent background to answer inevitable questions.

Teaching: For advanced readers, I would use this as supplemental background information that confirms the tenet that good writing comes from real experiences. For less motivated readers, this text and styles lends itself well to emulation so that minimal success will reap greater rewards.

The Pigman and Me, by Paul Zindel - Biography