Barry: I know that something else on your mind and the minds of most people when the book came out was the VietnamWar. And now, of course, we deal with the Iraq war and the Afghan war. What sort of parallels you see between the wars going on now and Vietnam, and what, if anything, has really changed?
Lois: Well, this presented an interesting situation. When I learned that I was going to update these books, I thought this particular one was going to be a hard book to deal with because I needed Barry to go out onto the athletics field where a war demonstration was going on so that the sound of the gunshot would be lost in the explosions of the demonstration. How was I going to do that since that war was way in the past? And then I suddenly realized we now had another war just like it. That no matter where we are in history, we’re probably going to have a war, and all you have to do is change the name of the war and you’ve got the same story.
I see very few differences between then and now—these are unpopular wars that many people feel we should not be or should not have been involved in, and there have been demonstrations in both cases. Here it transferred automatically into another war, and that’s pretty a horrible thing to think about—that maybe twenty years from now if the book is still in existence and is again updated there’ll be another war that can be substituted.
Barry: Now, the book ends before we can learn what will happen to the main characters for covering up the hit-and-run, and I assume that was intentional on your part. You wanted to end the book there—and I don’t want to ask youwhat you imagined happened afterward because I think that’s something interesting for readers to imagine themselves—but I’m curious, what was your reason?
Lois: There’s a natural cutoff point for every story, and Ithought we reached it. It’s when you know that Julie’s going to survive and the questions have been answered as to why things happened. I felt the book came to closure there, and to go on spinning along for another few chapters, adding things on, would be an anticlimax to say the least.
I’ve done that with all my books. I’ve ended the story as soon after the climax as I could, because I’ve seen too many books written by authors who just don’t know when to stop. They just keep going and going. I think maybe those authors were told that they had to have so many words in the manuscript and realized they were missing a couple of thousand so they kept filling up pages until they used up their wordage.
Barry: I want to talk just a little bit about the updating of the book and I want to pull out just a single example that really struck me. Helen’s blue pantsuit from the original book becomes just blue pants and a blouse with a chunky, crystal necklace, and it was really amazing to me how completely that changed the image of her that I had in my mind. Not just physically. Not just what she looked like, but the way she carried herself. The way she spoke. The way she acted. And it’s just amazing how a few words can completely change something like that. As a writer, what sort of scares me is that words are so easy to manipulate. But I’m wondering—what’s it like to know that just by tweaking a detail here and there, your original intent can be changed so much?
Lois: It was an interesting process to go through. Back when that book was originally written in 1973, women of all ages were wearing these shiny, polyester pantsuits. I realized that today no eighteen-year-old girl would be seen dead wearing one of those, so I looked at what they were wearing on television—what the news girls were wearing—and I thought OK, that’s what Helen’s going to wear. So I just changed it a bit, although I left it the same color. Yes, it did make her different, but not that terribly different. She’s still the same person, but certainly we wouldn’t have wanted her gliding into the studio in one of those tacky polyester things.
Barry: One thing I found very interesting had to do with a sort of gender politics. There’s a point where the character Barry has been talking to Helen, and he doesn’t want to be in a deep relationship with her, and he’s brushing her off. The text reads, “It was the first response he could think of and even to his own ears the statement had sounded ridiculous. All married women worked, at least until they had babies. Would Helen expect to have children? Yes, she probably would. A screaming, puking infant as quickly as possible.”
Now, I know in the original he tells her that he doesn’t want his wife to work and immediately even he feels like an idiot for saying it. That sort of dogma is portrayed as very old-school, very anachronistic, even in 1973. So now it’s been updated and replaced by this fear of being tied down with kids. Could you talk a little bit about perceived sex roles when you wrote the book in the 1970s and also now?
Lois: Well, back in the ’70s I think the majority of the women were stay-at-home housewives and the women’s movement was just coming into effect. It was much more logical to say, “No wife of mine will ever work.” Today that sounds utterly ridiculous, because certainly the large majority of married women do work.
But the bottom line in both editions of this book is that Barry did not want to get married. He didn’t want to be tied down. He didn’t want to mess up the nice career that was probably lying ahead for him and all the fun he was planning to have before he settled down. He was lying to Helen. He was just grabbing at any excuse toavoid her demands, which I think many men would do today aswell.
However, today young people have the option to simply live together and marriage is less of an issue. Back in the ’70s that would have been impossible. Nobody would have ever conceived of living with someone they weren’t married to. For that reason, that excuse sounded even more farfetched when I read it this time. So I clarified it for the readers by inserting some of Barry’s true feelings. He did not want to be tied down, a young husband with screaming children at the age of twenty.
Barry: That certainly worked. Another thing that was updated was the language, by which I mean swearing. In the original book you used “damn” and “hell” here and there. The new edition has phrases like “pissed off” and “shitty” in it. How much did you think about language when you originally wrote the book? Obviously, the sky’s the limit with young adult literature now, but at the time, how much did you think about it?
Lois: I was very careful of it, and I’m still very careful of it. You’re caught in a bind here. Do you have your characters talk the way kids really talk? Or do you have them talk the way adults want them to talk? Parents are in a very strong position as far as getting books banned in schools.
I’ve had my books ripped out of school libraries and classrooms by censors. By that, I mean literally. In one instance, five men in business suits charged into an English teacher’s classroom and tore copies of the book out of the hands of students, leaving the teacher in hysterics. I’ve had books get challenged and banned all over the place. To some parents, there’s nothing worse than having what they consider a “bad word” in a book, even if their kids and their kids’ friends use that word all the time. What writer wants to get strung up by the fingernails for using a word that wasn’t absolutely necessary to use?
At the same time, you want your dialogue to be natural. I’ve found this a very difficult challenge at every stage of my career. This book was getting challenged back when I first wrote it because I had used the word “damn” in it. My best compromise has been to hit a medium mark. In this edition, I used a few words that sound a little crude, even to me, but that’s the way kids do talk, especially when adults aren’t around. The other thing is that teenage slang changes constantly. For books that live on and on, as we hope our young adult books will, through generation after generation, just one word of slang can date a book and make it sound old-fashioned.
Barry: Were you tempted at all to take this opportunity to fix anything other than the updating of references for the purpose of making the books more modern?
Lois: Yes, I could see some things that I wished I hadn’t done. Now that I’m reading and updating the books, I’m reading the books back-to-back. So I’m reading a book that I wrote in the 1970s and comparing it to a book I w
rote in the 1990s, and I realize that I have repeated certain wording that I had forgotten all about, because when you’ve written fifty books it’s hard to remember exactly how you’ve described things.
I would say something in some lovely manner and twenty years later would say it in exactly the same lovely manner. I had “sunlight sparkling on water forming pagan coins of light” in two different books. Okay, so there were fifteen years in between the times I wrote the books. It’s beautiful, beautiful imagery but, my goodness, what if the same people read one book and immediately read the next book? They won’t have fifteen years in between. It’ll seem like I’m just repeating myself. So I catch things like that and try to make sure they didn’t happen too often.
Barry: Were there things you saw and told yourself, No, hands off. Unless it’s updating I’m not going to touch it?
Lois: Oh, I changed everything I wanted to change. I grabbed this opportunity. I’m actually having a wonderful time with this updating. It’s like getting a renewed chance at life. To be given the chance to give my characters cell phones and computers and digital cameras is like rebearing my own children and providing them with wings.
Barry: Your books have been very popular for a very long time. Why do you think young readers like suspense novels?
Lois: Today’s young readers have become conditioned by television. They tend to have short attention spans and are used to switching channels if there’s a lull in the action. Suspense novels come closer to fulfilling their expectations of instant entertainment than most other genres. In other types of novels there can be long stretches of time in which the reader just has to sit there and wade through descriptions of scenery and analyze situations, waiting for something to occur. But suspense novels have a lot of action and there’s the constant question of what is going to happen next. That’s what causes the reader to keep turning pages.
It’s a gimmick that I have learned, and I think most writers of young adult books have learned, because of television. That’s how television works. You have a dramatic scene right at the beginning of the show that hooks the viewer, and then, if you have to, you go into flashbacks to show what led up to it. That’s what readers are used to now. And, I have to admit, I’ve gotten used to it myself. I’m obsessed by suspense novels.
Barry: I agree. Something else I think worked well was your sort of casual treatment of underage drinking and marijuana use. You don’t make a big deal about it. It’s just something the kids are doing. At the time that the books were originally published, how was that received?
Lois: It was received very badly by a number of people who thought that if you mention something in a book, you’re encouraging young people to do it. I would never want to encourage young people to do drugs or to drink, but they’re doing it anyway, and it’s very hard to write a contemporary book that ignores that fact. I could not very well have my kids going to a party where the parents are out of town and throw this big bash and have them all sitting around drinking soda pop and playing charades. It’s just…I couldn’t! It wouldn’t be realistic.
Barry Lyga is the author of several novels for teens, including the acclaimed The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl, its sequel, Goth Girl Rising, and the award-winning Boy Toy. He is also the author of the upcoming thriller series I Hunt Killers, about the son of a notorious serial killer who must use the skills taught to him by his father to track down a murderer.
READER DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
By Lois Duncan
Prepared by Jeremy Cesarec
1. Early in the book, Julie’s mom tells her, “I’ve never seensuch a change in anybody” (p. 2). Her suspicion that something serious has happened turns out to be right. Do you think parents sometimes have special insight? Isthere someone in your life who is unusually perceptive?
2. After Julie first reads the fateful note, she tries to stay calm and convince herself it’s just a bad dream. Have you ever wished that a really bad experience was actually a nightmare? Why do you think people do that?
3. The friends put a lot of trust in each other when they make the pact—and Barry surely has the most to lose if someone finds out the truth. If you were in Barry’s place, would you trust your friends to keep such a serious secret? Are some of your friends more trustworthy than others? Are you good at keeping secrets?
4. When Barry first finds out about Julie’s note, he suggests that the girls are overreacting. When he gets a little nervous, he even says to himself, “I’m as uptight as those crazy girls” (p. 21). Do the girls seem to be acting crazy to you, or are they being reasonable considering the circumstances? Do you find Barry’s remark to be sexist?
5. Each of the kids has a different idea of what to do after the accident happens, but Barry is the most persuasive. What is it about Barry that makes him such a leader? Do you know people like him?
6. After the accident, Julie argues that “It’s not what we want to do. It’s what we have to do. It’s the law” (p. 49). Do you agree that when something is the right (or legal) thing to do, you have to do it? Why or whynot?
7. Barry, Julie, Ray and Helen all seem to have specific expectations from their families that influence their thoughts and behavior. Which of them is most influenced by family pressures? Explain.
8. One theme that comes up throughout the book is the idea of “student unrest,” protests and friction about war. Have you ever been involved in any protests? Do you think civil disobedience is powerful and effective?
9. A lot of different elements led to Daniel’s death. Do you think Barry is most responsible? Is Daniel’s mom responsible in some way for not picking him up from his friend’s house? Can more than one person be responsible for a tragic event? Why do you think this?
10. There’s a saying that “The eyes are the window to the soul.” The author makes a point of commenting several times on how Julie’s eyes have seemed to change since the accident. Why do eyes reveal so much about a person?
For a complete Reader’s Guide, visit www.lb-teens.com.
LOIS DUNCAN
Lois Duncan is the author of over fifty books, ranging from children’s picture books to poetry to adult non-fiction, but isbest known for her young adult suspense novels, which have received Young Readers Awards in sixteen states and three foreign countries. In 1992, Lois was presented the Margaret A. Edwards Award by the School Library Journal and the ALA Young Adult Library Services Association for “a distinguished body of adolescent literature.” In 2009, she received the St. Katharine Drexel Award, given by the Catholic Library Association “to recognize an outstanding contribution by an individual to the growth of high school and young adult librarianship and literature.”
Lois was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Sarasota, Florida. She knew from early childhood that she wanted to be a writer. She submitted her first story to a magazine at age ten and became published at thirteen. Throughout her high school years she wrote regularly for young people’s publications, particularly Seventeen.
As an adult, Lois moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she taught magazine writing for the Journalism Department at the University of New Mexico and continued to write for magazines. Over three hundred of her articles and stories appeared in such publications as Ladies’ Home Journal, Redbook, McCall’s, Good Housekeeping, and Reader’s Digest, and for many years she was a contributing editor for Woman’s Day.
Six of her novels—SUMMER OF FEAR, KILLING MR. GRIFFIN, GALLOWS HILL, RANSOM, DON’T LOOK BEHIND YOU and STRANGER WITH MY FACE—were made-for-TV movies. I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER and HOTEL FOR DOGS were box office hits.
Although young people are most familiar with Lois Duncan’s fictional suspense novels, adults may know her best as the author of WHO KILLED MY DAUGHTER?, the true story of the murder of Kaitlyn Arquette, the youngest of Lois’ children. Kait’s heartbreaking story has been featured on such TV shows as Unsolved Mysteries, Good Morning America, Larry King Live, Sally Jessy Raphael and Inside E
dition. A full account of the family’s ongoing personal investigation of this still-unsolved homicide can be found on the Internet at http://kaitarquette.arquettes.com.
Lois and her husband, Don Arquette, currently live in Sarasota, Florida. They are the parents of five children.
You can visit Lois at http://loisduncan.arquettes.com.
Table of Contents
Front Cover Page
Welcome Page
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Q&A with the Author
Reader Discussion Question
Lois Duncan
Copyright
Copyright
Also by Lois Duncan:
KILLING MR. GRIFFIN
DON’T LOOK BEHIND YOU
Copyright © 1978 by Lois Duncan
Reader Discussion Questions and Author Q&A copyright © 2010 Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.