Don't call me Ishmael!
Don't call me Ishmael! is a youth novel by the Australian author Michael Gerard Bauer . The original Don't Call Me Ishmael! was published in 2006, the German translation in 2008. The 300-page novel depicts the experiences of a ninth grader.
action
14-year-old Ismaellesenur was named after the first-person narrator from Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick . Ishmael hates his name and believes he has "Ishmael Reading Syndrome", which makes a normal life impossible.
At his school, St. Daniel's Boys College, his classmate Barry Bagsley harassed him because of his name. Ishmael accepts this without defending herself. His situation only improves when he becomes friends with his new classmate James Scobie, who successfully defends himself against Barry with words. Scobie claims not to be afraid. Barry tests this out by placing insects and spiders in Scobie's desk. When Scobie remains calm when they show up, his recognition at school increases. Scobie further cemented his reputation by leading the school's otherwise unsuccessful rugby team to victory with a rousing speech.
Scobie founds a debating club and convinces Ishmael to join. Ishmael doesn't like talking in front of other people, but should take over the written preparation for the other group members. Other members of the club are the extroverted Razza, the science fiction and fantasy fan Bill and the highly intelligent Ignatius. The club competes with great success against other schools in competitive verbal disputes . Ismael has to stand in as a substitute in the last round and fails when he competes in a direct speech duel against Kelly Faulkner, with whom he is secretly in love. Nevertheless, the team made it to the semifinals, where they had to do without Scobie, as the doctors suspected a successor to the brain tumor "a shadow" in him. Despite good performance, also by Ismael, the team is eliminated.
After Ismael Kelly supported Faulkner's little brother against Barry without knowing who he was helping, Kelly thanks him and the two start talking. Kelly convinces Ismael to read the novel Moby Dick . After reading the book, Ishmael thinks he realizes that he bears no resemblance to Captain Ahab.
Since Scobie no longer goes to school due to his illness, Barry has been harassing classmates again, especially Bill. When Barry smeared Bill's certificate for successful participation in the debating club, Ismael decides to take revenge on Barry. Ishmael is scheduled to give a speech at the traditional end-of-school event. At the end of his draft speech, he built a prayer that would humiliate Barry in front of his parents and the whole school. Barry receives a copy of this draft and becomes terrified during Ishmael's speech. At the end of his speech, Ismael spares Barry so as not to ruin his parents and the rest of the people. When Barry threatens consequences for the next school year after the event, Ismael withstands him with words and remains calm.
Ismael learns that Scobie's suspicion of a brain tumor has not been confirmed. Kelly invites Ishmael to a party and gives him her phone number.
main characters
Ishmael Readur
The 14-year-old narrator and protagonist is good at dealing with the written language, but he is very afraid of speaking in front of people. He is low on self-confidence and feels inferior to his successful family members. Ismael is in love with Kelly Faulkner, whom he knows from a debate workshop. His friends are the members of his debating club, most notably James Scobie and Orazio Zorzotto. Ismael suffers from the behavior of his classmate Barry Bagsley, by whom he is bullied. He explains his behavior with his self-invented behavior disorder, the Ismael Reading Syndrome.
James Scobie
James Scobie, 14 years old, was operated on for a brain tumor and claims that he has not been able to feel fear since then. He's small and always makes funny grimaces. Because of his intelligence and courage, he asserts himself at school against the bullying Barry Bagsley. He's also a very good friend to Ishmael and a great help to him at the Debating Club.
Orazio Zorzotto
Orazio Zorzotto, usually called Razza, is an excellent drummer. He considers himself a love expert and, without being asked, gives Ismael tips on how he can win over Kelly Faulkner, the girl of his dreams. He gives himself several nicknames such as Razzman or Big Z. Occasionally he is also affected by Barry's bullying, but, unlike Ismael, does not allow it to get to him. As the novel progresses, he and Ishmael become good friends.
Bill Kingsley
Bill Kingsley is overweight and interested only in science fiction and fantasy . Ismael assumes that he has escapist tendencies because Bill likes to escape into fantastic worlds in his mind. Razza once called Bill “still water that is not deep, but shallow”.
Bill believes that fantastic literature has a use for human problems, and he has taken this position successfully in the debating contest, surprising everyone. He is unable to defend himself against Barry's bullying at all, suffers greatly from it, but does not want to seek help.
Ignatius Prindabel
Ignatius Prindabel is tall, skinny and has a stooped gait. He is fascinated by science, especially math and history. He is in the debating club with Ismael, Scobie, Razza and Bill, but only for the purpose of developing more “social and interactive skills”. He often talks about things that others do not understand. Nevertheless, in the end all five will be a good team.
Barry Bagsley
Barry Bagsley is a bit older than the other grade 9 students. His predilection is to bully other teenagers. His specialty is twisting names or adding swear words to them. Most of the classmates quietly endure this behavior, a few join him. Because of his behavior, Barry regularly gets into trouble with the teachers and the school administration. Scobie poses a problem for Barry because he is not intimidated.
subjects
The novel deals primarily with the topic of " bullying ". The people in the book deal with this problem very differently. Ishmael endures the humiliations for most of the storyline, while Scobie uses the power of language to defend himself. In the further course, Ismael also learns this skill through the debating club.
By referring to the classic novel Moby Dick and the example of Ahab, it is shown that revenge cannot be a sensible solution. The title of the book is a reverse of the first sentence of the novel Moby Dick : "Call me Ishmael."
Successful reasoning is another topic of the book. Several examples are used to clearly demonstrate how to counter a conflicting position and represent your own point of view.
reception
The novel received consistently positive reviews. He was nominated for the Children's Book of the Year Award 2007 . The novel won the Children's Peace Literature Award 2007 and the South Australian Festival Award for Children's Literature 2008.
"A small dramaturgical masterpiece that transports a serious topic to where it belongs: into the hearts of the readers."
“A highly comical youth novel. It's hard to imagine finding such a wonderful victory of language over violence in a German book for young people. "
Sequels
The novel had two sequels:
- Ishmael and the Manatee Appearance: Hardcover (2009); Paperback (2010)
- Ishmael. Everything is ready: Hardcover (2012); Paperback (2013)
expenditure
Hardback edition:
- Michael Gerard Bauer: Don't call me Ishmael! Carl Hanser , 2008, ISBN 978-3-446-23037-8 (English: Don't Call Me Ishmael . Translated by Ute Mihr).
Paperback:
- Michael Gerard Bauer: Don't call me Ishmael! dtv , 2009, ISBN 978-3-423-62435-0 (English: Don't Call Me Ishmael . Translated by Ute Mihr).
Radio play :
- Don't call me Ishmael! (The Ismael Trilogy), editing: Andreas Sauter, director: Nicole Paulsen, production: SWR , 2015
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated December 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Nomination for the Children's Book of the Year Award 2007
- ↑ https://www.psychology.org.au/about/awards/childrens/ Winning the Children's Peace Literature Award 2007
- ↑ http://www.literaryawards.com.au/adelaidefestival.html Won the South Australian Festival Award for Children's Literature 2008
