Ten Different Perspectives Can Be Quite An Eye Opener

Recommended for grades 6 and up

Just like a camera, an individual should learn to find the many different views there are in life. The novel, Click, begins by introducing Maggie and her brother, Jason—one a pre-teen and the other mid-teens. Their grandfather, Gee, a world famous photographer has just passed away and left Maggie a box with seven shells and Jason autographed photos of famous people (though later it’s Gee’s camera that saves him). These simple items lead Maggie and Jason to discover so much more about their grandfather and themselves.

The brilliance of the novel is in the switching of protagonists from chapter to chapter. The reader travels from North America to Japan, Australia to Russia, France to Ireland—each story finding a connection to the others—always having something to do with Gee or one of his grandchildren. I found myself wondering (almost wishing I could predict) how the character would be connected to the overall scheme of things. The stories themselves are very diverse—adventure, war, coming-of-age, travel, science fiction, and light fantasy.

I will admit that a couple of the stories left me a little put-off, but I’m assuming it’s due to the change in narrative or even the direction that author chose to take. I’m very happy I got to read this book and even more all royalties from the sale of the book will benefit Amnesty International. This book will make for excellent discussion and not only that, it’s great to use as a study in perspective and point of view.

Authors that contributed a chapter to the book are David Almond, Eoin Colfer, Roddy Doyle, Deborah Ellis, Nick Hornby, Margo Lanagan, Gregory Maguire, Ruth Ozeki, Linda Sue Park, are Tim Wynne-Jones.