Book report

Title of book : Step by Wicked Step

Author : Anne Fine
Reviewed by : Jacinta Goh, SM Ra!ah "ndah
The novel, Step by Wicked Step, written by Anne Fine i! about the !tru##le! that
children have to #o throu#h when adult! !eparate, divorce, or pa!! away$ The pain that
each character e%perience i! vividly narrated with an hone!t voice in the novel$
The character! pre!ented in the novel are intere!tin# and appealin# to the reader!,
e!pecially teena#er!$ There i! Richad who lived &any, &any year! a#o in 'ld (arwick
(all$ (i! painful e%perience in the cruel hand! of hi! !tepfather, Reverend )old!tone, and
the teacher! of Mordan#er School a! a youn# boy touche! our heart!$ Then, there i!
)laudia who feel! lo!t in the tu#*of*war between her father who ha! a &i!tre!! and her
&other$ +e%t, we read about )olin who i! a drea&er, yearnin# for the &an who will love
hi& better than hi! real dad$ We al!o read about Ralph who find! a difficult to keep track of
the &any !tepfather!, !tep&other!, !tepbrother!, !tep!i!ter!, half*brother!, and half*
!i!ter!$ (i! life i! indeed a &uddle$ There i! al!o Robbo who trie! hard to be a &ediator in
hi! fa&ily,! heated ar#u&ent!$ -a!t but not lea!t, we learn about .i%ie who ha! to put up
with her !tep!i!ter! when her father re&arrie! after divorcin# .i%ie,! &other$
Anne Fine,! narration of event! i! full of !u!pen!e and !he keep! the reader!
#ue!!in# by holdin# !o&ethin# back while tellin# the !tory of the children,! live!$
So&e of the word! and phra!e! in the !tory are /uaint and not relevant to our
life!tyle! a! we do not encounter certain thin#! and pheno&ena in our country$ We need a
dictionary to find the &eanin# of 0holdall!,, 0ruck!ack!,, 0turret!,, and 0tower roo&, in the fir!t
chapter!$ The lan#ua#e found in the followin# chapter, however, i! ea!y to read and
captivatin#$ There are plenty of de!criptive word! to capture our i&a#ination$ .hra!e!
!uch a! 0the twi!ted fin#er! of tre!!, the 1a##ed !tone tower,, 0the old, ruined chapel,, 0the
!tran#e !hadow!,, and 0eerie fi#ure! in white #own!, help to create a vivid picture of a
haunted hou!e$ Thi! create! a forebodin# &ood to the !tory$
Anne Fine ha! &ana#e to effectively pre!ent the the&e of love and !eparation$ A!
we read throu#h the pa#e! of the book, we are able to feel the !ufferin# of the character!
in the novel$ We under!tand why )olin drea&! in cla!! and Ralph i! alway! confu!ed with
na&e! and date!$
Finally, there are a few i&portant le!!on! that can be learnt fro& thi! book$ Mainly,
adult! need to learn to con!ider and think of their children,! feelin#! before &akin#
deci!ion! that would chan#e their off!prin#!, live! tre&endou!ly$
Althou#h the novel can !o&eti&e! be co&plicated becau!e of the &ultitude of
character! in each chapter, the &ain !tory i! clear and &eanin#ful$
" would definitely encoura#e &y friend! to read thi! &odern novel$
Written by,
jacinta
2JA)"+TA G'(3
4 Me#ah
SM Ra!ah Jaya

A))"56+T A-'+G JA-A+ SA(A7AT, )(6RAS
5ear Mada&,
" a& Annie -iew fro& SM Ra8ak$ Thi! report i! written to record the happenin#! of
the accident that happened on 9:
th
February 9:;9 at ;$;4 p$&$ " wa! !tandin# at the
!chool #ate, waitin# for &y parent! to pick &e up fro& !chool$
Suddenly, " !aw a red .roton Wa1a 2licence nu&ber: W7A 9:9:3 ra& into a blue ri!
&otorcycle 2licence nu&ber: 7<) ;::=3$ The accident happened becau!e the Wa1a had
been !peedin# and could not !top in the ti&e when the traffic li#ht! at the 1unction oppo!ite
the !chool turned red$ A! a re!ult, the driver of the Wa1a had to !werve to the !ide and he
then lo!t control of the car$ "t knocked down the &otorbike be!ide it, to#ether with the rider$
The i&pact cru!hed the back of the &otorbike, plun#in# the rider a few &eter! away
fro& the bike$ "t wa! fortunate that he wa! not run over by pa!!in# car!$
At that &o&ent, all the !tudent! and pa!!er!*by were too !tunned to &ove$ 'ut of
the blue, a few &en appeared to help the &otorcycli!t$ They carefully &oved the
uncon!ciou! &an to the !afer !ide of the road$ +ot too lon# after that, three &an e&er#ed
out of the Wa1a$ The driver, a &an in hi! &id =:,!, looked da8ed$ (e !uffered !o&e cut!
and brui!e! on hi! face$ The other two &an appeared unhar&ed$
At that ti&e, Mr (a&ad, our di!cipline teacher, ru!hed to the !cene of the accident
and /uickly called the a&bulance$ (e al!o told the crowd to !tand back and to #ive the
victi&! !o&e !pace$ So&eone had called the police earlier and two police car! arrived
after !o&eti&e$
The a&bulance al!o arrived not too lon# after$ The para&edic! treated the driver
and hi! pa!!en#er! wherea! the &otorcycli!t wa! /uickly !ent to the ho!pital$ The police,
on the other hand, took down !tate&ent! fro& the driver, pa!!en#er!, and tho!e who
witne!!ed the accident$
The crowd di!per!ed at about >$>: p$&$, after the police had taken everyone,!
!tate&ent!$
Reported by,
annie
Annie -iew
4), SM Ra8ak, )hera!