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May 31 2020 Covid-19 PH Update

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SSS Contribution Payment Deadline

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SSS Advisory

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June 3 2020 Covid-19 Update

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Asa ang hustisya? Tubag LTO hehe

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Unsa kahay update ani sa Panglao?

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Learning through Radio

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Kalinga holds 1st Health Forum[size=0px]by Geraldine G. Dumallig[/size][size=0px]TABUK CITY, Kalinga ,Jan. 30 2012 (PIA) -- The provincial government here recently held the first Health Forum in the provinbce to create a venue for health officials and local chief executives to meet, discuss and polish the province’s health program towards the achievement of its commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).[/size][size=0px]In his message delivered by Provincial Legal Officer Atty. Kristian Wandag, Governor Jocel Baac underscored the need for the health officials to give focus to MGD’s major goals where they are the lead sector such as the reduction of child mortality, improve maternal health, end the cases of major diseases like malaria, and reducing hunger especially among the poor in the province to achieve 2015 MGD goals.[/size][size=0px]There is a need for a concerted effort to meet the province’s MDG target, he said stressing that this may be in terms of policy, financial support and proper implementation of health programs by the concerned agencies and local government units.[/size][size=0px]With the devolution of the health department, local officials and the concerned agencies need to work as partners, he said.[/size][size=0px]The policy and financial support should be comprehensive to strengthen service delivery, health care financing, health regulations, governance, health human resources, and health information system, he added.[/size][size=0px]Tabuk City Mayor Ferdinand Tubban also gave emphasis on the role and support of local officials in the proper and successful implementation of health programs.[/size][size=0px]Aside from the health officials, the LGU executive and legislative departments should also be aware and knowledgeable of the actual health status, situation and needs of their constituents to be able to formulate the appropriate policies and provide the needed financial support to address effectively their people’s concerns,he pointed out.[/size][size=0px]He commended the hard work and efforts of the health sector for continuously delivering and bringing closer to the people the government’s health services, saying that their role is vital in achieving development and progress since ‘healthy people build strong communities.’[/size][size=0px]During the event, LGU officials, key health representatives and League of Municipality of the Philippines (LMP) Executive Director Li-an De Leon signed a manifesto of commitment on LMP Continuing Program on Health.[/size][size=0px]Kalinga Provincial Health Officer Romulo Gaerlan provided the group a glimpse of the provincial health situation during the event. other topics discussed during the forum include ‘Lokal na pamahalaan tungo sa Kalusugan Pangkalahatan’ by LSuD, CHD-CAR Division Chief Dr, Amelita Pangilinan, while DOH Bureau of Local Health Development, OIC Director Juan Antonio Perez dicussed ‘Kahalagaan ng PIPH/CIPH and AOP implementation’ and ‘Pagpapaayos at pagpapaunlad ng mga pasilidad pangkalusugan sa lokal na pamahalaan.’[/size][size=0px]Perez, represented Asec. Enrique Tayag, the DOH Assistant Secretary for Northern and Central Luzon Area Cluster, during the event. (GGD, PIA-CAR, Kalinga)[/size][/color]

RITM Results Not Recorded by DOH?

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Major PNP reform, accomplishments cited
by Jennilyne C. Role
SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union, Jan. 30 2012 (PIA) â€" Undersecretary for Peace and Order Rico Puno of the Department of Interior and Local Government said on Friday that the Philippine National Police has adopted a new fund distribution scheme where only 15 percent goes to national headquarters and the 85 percent goes to field operating units to ensure an efficient and responsive service to the people.


Puno was guest here during the 21st PNP Anniversary with the theme “PRO 1: May Serbisyong Pagkukusa, Kaibigan ng Mamamayan at Tagapagtanggol ng Karapatan.”


This he said was among the major accomplishments of the PNP, specifically in fiscal reform.


He also cited the zero backlog program launched last year which demonstrated the PNP’s seriousness in implementing disciplinary measures, including the PNP Integrated Transformation Program-Performance Government System.


Puno also cited the 39 percent positive approval ratings of the office of the chief PNP in 2011. He was very optimistic that the rating would be sustained if not surpassed given the present leadership this year.


He said that the police integrated patrol system has helped bring down crime rate in Region 1 wehre index and non-index crimes have decreased and crime solution efficiency has improved.


In 2011, total crimes against persons went down by 30.4 percent and total crimes against person dropped by 17.8 percent compared with that of 2010.


“These positive results can be attributed, in a large measure, to increase PNP operations against riding in tandem criminals,” Puno said.


The PNP, likewise, has made progress in mainstreaming human rights and international humanitarian law in the police organizations.


In Region 1, the Commission on Human Rights â€" Region 1 recorded a considerable drop of 12.5 percent on alleged human rights violation involving PNP personnel. Puno urged uniformed PNP personnel to work more in the implementation of human rights-based policing concepts and approaches to law enforcement.


“I am confident that PRO-1, being the home of the most citizen-friendly and most human rights conscious police personnel would set the pace for other police offices to follow,” Puno disclosed. (JCR-PIA 1 La Union)

Covid-19 Cases in Bohol

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Solar bottle bulbs light up public market in Asturias town
by Fayette C. Riñen
CEBU CITY, January 30 2012 (PIA) -- With the recent installation of over 100 solar bottle bulbs in the major public market in the town of Asturias, electric consumption is seen to go down which means more savings to this northwestern little town.

“We still cannot estimate how much savings can be generated to our municipal government since we just installed the solar bottle bulbs last week. But definitely, it has a significant impact in our power costs,” Mark Supatan, municipal public information officer of Asturias said.

The bulbs are made from recyclable 1.5-liter softdrink bottles of which the bottom part is used and filled with water and chlorine. Salt is added to prevent the water from turning into moss-like appearance, Supatan said.

Solar bottle bulbs are installed in ceilings but the latter has to be holed to properly accommodate the bottle bulbs which then generate power from natural sunlight.

“The solar bulbs provide about five watts of power enough to provide adequate lighting to the public market during daytime. We only use electricity when it becomes dark already,” the municipal info officer declared.

Governor Gwen Garcia issued an executive order last December institutionalizing the use of solar bottle bulbs in all local government units in the province.

“But even before the order from Gov. Garcia came out, we have already implemented the solar bottle bulbs. There are two smaller public markets in far-flung barangays here that have been installed with solar bottle bulbs sometime August or September,” Supatan disclosed.

Supatan said Asturias Mayor Alan Adlawan was keen on using the method after seeing an exhibit at the Cebu Provincial Captiol and immediately had it implemented.

With the high power costs, using alternative method to provide electricity is really essential, Supatan further said. (PIA-Cebu)

12 Angry Men
Introduction

American courtroom film drama, released in 1957, considered a classic of the genre. It marked the feature-film directorial debut of Sidney Lumet.

The film was adapted from a 1954 television play that aired on the series Studio One. It centres on the deliberations of 12 jurors serving on a murder case. Eleven jurors vote for a quick conviction, but one holdout (played by Henry Fonda) painstakingly tries to convince the others that the accused may be innocent, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Lumet, already an experienced theatre and television director, rehearsed his cast for two weeks and then confined them in an actual jury room where virtually the entire film was shot. The claustrophobic setting combined with the combustible personalities of a dynamic cast, including Lee J. Cobb and E.G. Marshall, to create a riveting drama. Although a critical success, the film performed poorly at the box office. In 1997 12 Angry Men was remade as an acclaimed television movie, starring Jack Lemmon and George C. Scott.

Production notes and credits

    * Studio: United Artists
    * Director: Sidney Lumet
    * Producers: Henry Fonda and Reginald Rose
    * Writer: Reginald Rose
    * Music: Kenyon Hopkins
    * Running time: 96 minutes
Cast

    * Henry Fonda (Davis/Juror #8)
    * Martin Balsam (Juror #1)
    * John Fiedler (Juror #2)
    * Lee J. Cobb (Juror #3)
    * E.G. Marshall (Juror #4)
    * Jack Klugman (Juror #5)
    * Ed Begley (Juror #10)


Academy Award nominations

    * Picture
    * Director
    * Screenplay

Lee Pfeiffer

To cite this page:

    * MLA Style:   "12 Angry Men." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite.  Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011.
    * APA Style:   12 Angry Men. (2011). Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite.  Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica.

also called  Eastâ€"West Schism
event that precipitated the final separation between the Eastern Christian churches (led by the patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius) and the Western Church (led by Pope Leo IX). The mutual excommunications by the Pope and the Patriarch that year became a watershed in church history. The excommunications were not lifted until 1965, when Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras, following their historic meeting in Jerusalem in 1964, presided over simultaneous ceremonies that revoked the excommunication decrees.The relation of the Byzantine Church to the Roman may be described as one of growing estrangement from the 5th to the 11th century. In the early church three bishops stood forth prominently, principally from the political eminence of the cities in which they ruledâ€"the bishops of Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch. The transfer of the seat of empire from Rome to Constantinople and the later eclipse of Alexandria and Antioch as battlegrounds of Islam and Christianity promoted the importance of Constantinople. Concurrently, the theological calmness of the West, in contrast to the often violent theological disputes that troubled the Eastern patriarchates, strengthened the position of the Roman popes, who made increasing claims to preeminence. But this preeminence, or rather the Roman idea of what was involved in it, was never acknowledged in the East. To press it upon the Eastern patriarchs was to prepare the way for separation; to insist upon it in times of irritation was to cause a schism.
The theological genius of the East was different from that of the West. The Eastern theology had its roots in Greek philosophy, whereas a great deal of Western theology was based on Roman law. This gave rise to misunderstandings and at last led to two widely separate ways of regarding and defining one important doctrineâ€"the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father or from the Father and the Sonâ€"with the Roman churches, without consulting the East, incorporating the Son into their creed. The Eastern churches also resented the Roman enforcement of clerical celibacy, the limitation of the right of confirmation to the bishop, and the use of unleavened bread in the Eucharist.
Political jealousies and interests intensified the disputes; and at last, after many premonitory symptoms, the final break came in 1054, when Pope Leo IX struck at Michael Cerularius and his followers with an excommunication and when the Patriarch retaliated with a similar excommunication. There had been mutual excommunications before, but they had not resulted in permanent schisms. At the time there seemed possibilities of reconciliation, but the rift grew wider; in particular, the Greeks were bitterly antagonized by such events as the Latin capture of Constantinople in 1204. Western pleas for reunion (on Western terms), such as those at the Council of Lyon (1274) or the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1439), were rejected by the Byzantines. The schism has never been healed.
[size=78%]Source:[/size]

   
• MLA Style:   "1054, Schism of." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite.  Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011.
• APA Style:   1054, Schism of. (2011). Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite.  Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica.                       

NPAs surrender to 34th IB
By Ninfa Iluminda B. Quirante
CATBALOGAN CITY, Samar, January 29, 2012 (PIA)â€"Some eight members of the New People’s Army (NPA), from Barangay Hinagunoyan, Catubig, Northern Samar voluntarily surrendered to 34th Infantry (Reliable) Battalion through the efforts of 83rd Civil Military Operation (CMO) Company, 8CMO Battalion under 1Lt Ian Michael DR Hamid at Barangay Hinagunoyan, Catubig, Northern Samar on January 27, 2012.

A report from Captain Ramil S. Palisoc, CMO Officer of 34th Infantry (Reliable) Battalion, 8th Infantry (STORMTROOPERS) Division, PA, revealed that said NPA rebels and supporters surrendered to the governments troops because they got disappointed in the so-called rebel’s cause that they were fighting for.

Among these were the so-called revolutionary taxes or “butaw” which they exact from the hapless farmers in the far-flung barangays, implementation of swift justice or “Kangaroo courts”, and the existing infighting in the rebel’s organization due to financial matters and sexual abuse of their women-fighters.

These were some of the reasons narrated plus the difficulties they experience as frontline fighters in the hinterlands while most of their cadres and political officers, who receive the collections from the “butaws”, are living in style in the cities and urban areas of Samar.

Hence, they decided to surrender to live a normal life and return to the mainstream society.

Said surrenderees turned over two cal .357 magnum pistols and were identified as Julio N. Lebico @ Tigbao - Yunit Milisya; Eduardo P. Rebato @ Arnie â€" Collector; Noinie R. Pajares @ Kutab - Courier; Rubin C. Pajares @ Tating â€" Courier; Danilo N. Pajares @ Maning â€" Yunit Milisya; Felomino D. Lebico @ Miko â€" Yunit Milisya; Danny L. Retamola @ Islaw â€" former CT member; Florendina S. Celis @ Flor â€" Barangay Organizing Party (BOP) member.

They may avail of the benefits of the Local Social Integration Program (LSIP) of the Province of Northern Samar after processing/validating the necessary documents including immediate financial assistance of ten thousand pesos (P 10,000.00), payment for surrendered firearms and livelihood assistance as prescribed in the LSIP, Provincial Order Nos. 05 & 08 of Northern Samar.

It can be recalled from recent reports that a certain Rolando Albino alyas Sudlot and Virgilio Durin alyas Benny voluntarily surrendered to the 83rd CMO Company under 1Lt. Ian Michael Dr Hamid, Commanding Officer at Barangay Hinagonuyan, Catubig, Northern Samar on November 13, 2011. Said rebel returnees have already availed of the benefits of the Local Social Integration Program of the government and are now in the custody of 34th Infantry (Reliable) Battalion.

Lieutenant Colonel William P. Penafiel Jr, Commanding Officer of 34th IB encouraged the rebels in the hinterlands to lay down their arms and live a normal and peaceful life.

“We will attain a just and lasting peace in the area if we all cooperate and be fully aware of the situation and with that I’m grateful for the continued support of our stakeholders,” LCol William Penafiel said in his message. (NBQ with 34th IB, Phil Army)

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Claveria has 20 hectares cacao plantation
CLAVERIA, Cagayan, Jan. 28 2012 (PIA) -- The Local Government Unit (LGU) of Claveria has 20 hectares cacao plantation as its contribution to the government’s national greening program in coordination with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) region 2.
Mayor Celia Layus said thousands of cacao seedlings were already planted last year. The plants were also integrated with some fruit trees like citrus, mahogany and other species.


Layus also stated that the plantation is linked with community associations that were tapped to manage and ensure the sustainability of the plantation, instead of hiring staff to manage the plantation since the group will be benefited by the project.


“This is in collaboration with DENR and the community associations to maximize the convergence effort of all partner agencies to help in the national greening program, to boost our economy and provide livelihood to the people,” Layus said.


She further stated that for this year, they are planning to also establish plantation of other fruit trees such as Rambutan and Lanzones that can withstand the town’s climate condition.


Claveria has mountainous, hilly as well as coastal zones with fair weather condition conducive for the said fruit- bearing trees.


She also explained that the projects are good source of income to boost the economy of the town as well as to the community. She also assured that the partner associations that are managing the projects will be benefitted. (TCB/OTB/PIA-2)

NAPOLCOM invites applicants thru their on-line exam application sched system[size=0px]TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte, Jan 24 2012 (PIA) -- NAPOLCOM will be implementing the on-line examination application scheduling system immediately, said NAPOLCOM information officer designate Paul E. Cinco. According to him, those who are interested to take the April 29, 2012 PNP Entrance and Promotional Examinations may now apply through the on-line examination application scheduling system for the period February 1-13, 2012.[/size][size=0px]Cinco said that the applicant may log-on to NAPOLCOM’s official website which is www.napolcom.gov.ph and click the ON-LINE EXAMINATION APPLICATION SCHEDULING SYSTEM and fill-up the required data on the displayed form that will come out.[/size][size=0px]When the form has been completely filled-up, just click the SUBMIT word and wait for the CONFIRMATION to appear. If in case the CONFIRMATION does not appear, the applicant is required to repeat the process.[/size][size=0px]NAPOLCOM will be sending a letter of confirmation to the applicant through his or her e-mail address about his or her schedule of appointment for filing.[/size][size=0px]Cinco shared that the scheduled date for the filing of examination applications at the NAPOLCOM regional office will be on February 14 - March 16, 2012. All applicants will also be required to personally appear on the designated date.[/size][size=0px]The applicant must bring the printed on-line confirmation letter together with the required documents which will be used during the evaluation.[/size][size=0px]Those who cannot present the on-line confirmation will automatically be disqualified . (PIA-8)[/size][/color]

GIGA-MAZING ANG SAYA SA GENSAN 52ND CITY CHARTER ANNIVERSARY

In partnership with SMART Communications Inc., the 52nd City Charter Anniversary will be celebrated in more color though the GIGA-mazing ang Saya! online contest. Here’s how you can join:

Qualifications:

- Must be a resident of General Santos City;
- Must be 18 years old and above;
- Must like the Official Facebook Pages of LGU-Gensan and Lgu-Gensan City Economic Management and Cooperative Development Office;
- Must not be a dummy account in Facebook; and
- Participants must use the Official 52nd City Charter Anniversary Facebook Profile Picture Badge/Frame.

Guidelines and Mechanics:

- Open to all creative Henerals, provided you meet the qualifications;
- Entries will not limit to tiktok videos, original videos, poems, song writing, drawings, paintings, selfies, ETC. -The more creative, the better.
- Submission of entries will start from June 08, 2020 12:01AM to June 15, 2020 11:59PM.
- You can submit unlimited entries per day.
- Each entry should use the following hashtags in the status:

#52ndCityCharterAnniversary
#LabanHeneral
#GensanCharterAnniversary
#TuloytuloyAngSaya

3 Lucky winners will be chosen every day starting June 8, 2020 and will end June 15, 2020 who will win freebies and special collectible items from the Tourism Division of CEMCDO and Talk N Text.

On June 15, 2020, 3 Lucky Winners will win the grand prize from Talk N Text:

1st Prize: P1500 worth of load and freebies
2nd Prize: 1000 worth of load and freebies
3rd Prize: 500 worth of load and freebies

**All with collectible items and special freebies from CEMCDO

All you have to do is create an entry that will answer this question:

“Bilang isang disiplinadong Heneral, paano mo nilalabanan ang Covid-19 kahit sa malilit na bagay?”

Please take note to wear Orange/Yellow colored shirt when making a video or show something Orange/Yellow in your artwork.

What are you waiting for, it is very fun and easy!

See you digitally, mga minamahal naming Henerals!
Source: FB Page of LGU Gensan

Where are now bolanon.org and mybohol.com?

Armode Graphics Design
Tamblot Tagbilaran City Bohol (038)544-2993

Sa Anda, naay isda nga ngalan Karaw. I am not sure kung naa pa ni nga isda.

By Aida Agad / PIA
Maguindanao Governor Bai Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu, over the weekend, said that “the provincial relief team has reached far-flung communities, even crossing mountains and rivers, to bring government medical services and relief goods to families affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.”
[/size]“We also climbed mountains to reach communities in the countryside, and now with the help of the Sultan Kudarat provincial government, we reached and will be reaching out to more communities in the coastal areas to bring the goods to affected families,” Governor Sangki-Mangudadatu said.
[/size]LGU Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat during this pandemic time has pooled their resources to reach out to every residents of the outlying areas in the two provinces.
[/size]With the support system established by the couple officials, personnel in-charge of medical and relief distribution in Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat found an easy way to reach out to every residents. Unlike before that the team has to pass areas like Cotabato City and nearby towns of Cotabato province, and taking too much time in travelling to far-flung areas- the coastal towns of Maguindanao like Parang, Buldon, Matanog, Datu Blah Sinsuat, Barira, among others.
[/size]On June 6, Sultan Kudarat’s Floating H[size=1rem]ospital M/V Pax Mers first set sail in Maguindanao province to bring medical equipment and relief goods to Parang town. On board Mindanao’s first floating hospital during the sail were personnel of the Philippine Coast Guard, local officials of Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao and the crew of the Makabagong Maguindanao Medical Team.[/size]
[/size]“Bilang kabahagi ng magandang samahan at partnership ng Maguindanao at Sultan Kudarat Provincial Government, ang dalawang Probinsya ay nangangakong magtutulungan sa lahat ng aspeto ng serbisyo, proyekto, programa at mga adhikaing makakapag-usbong ng kasaganaan, kapanatagan, kapayapaan at kaunlaran sa mga komunidad,” the governor said.
[/size] Sultan Kudarat Governor Suharto Mangudadatu is the Maguindanao governor’s husband. Sultan Kudarat was once a part of the former empire province of Cotabato. It was created as a separate province along with Maguindanao and Cotabato. (AC Agad/PIA 12)

Write your family tree if you belong to Timosa clan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nUC66341lU
Deep Focus Music

Midnight Walk by Richard Griffith


https://soundcloud.com/richardgriffith/midnight-walk?in=yeonkkot/sets/s08

Tubigon, Bohol Map
https://goo.gl/maps/fhNJynsfJmA8YZ888

Social Distancing at LTO Tagbilaran

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By CNN Philippines
LOOK: A truck driver in Cavite who worked hard to save money and buy a cellphone as graduation gift for his son warms the hearts of many.

50-year-old Edwin Bayson of Carmona town says it took him four months to come up with â,±5,600 and get the mobile phone for son Derwin.

“Sobra akong natuwa kasi matagal nang walang cellphone ‘yung anak ko, siguro mga anim na taon na wala talaga siyang cellphone kaya sabi ko noon, “pagiipunan ko anak ko para kahit anong cellphone mabili ko.” Napakasaya ng pakiramdam,” Bayson tells CNN Philippines.

Bayson says Derwin, who finished a two-year applied engineering course, also loves to do video blogs using his friends’ mobile phones.

He adds his son can now use the phone to make and wait for calls as he‘s now looking for work.

Edwin Bayson

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Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday revoked its emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19, the drug championed by U.S. President Donald Trump to stave off the coronavirus, and for an older related medicine.

FILE PHOTO: The drug hydroxychloroquine, pushed by U.S. President Donald Trump and others in recent months as a possible treatment to people infected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is displayed at the Rock Canyon Pharmacy in Provo, Utah, U.S. May 27, 2020. REUTERS/George Frey/File Photo
Based on new evidence, the FDA said it was no longer reasonable to believe that oral formulations of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine may be effective in treating the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

The request to revoke the authorization came from Gary Disbrow, deputy assistant secretary at the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

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Testing reply post.

Magpuyo sa Balay

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Dubai Honors the Philippines

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Luoyg nawong

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Buwad Bangsi

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Piniritong Isda

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odyssey
definition from
Oxford Dictionary of English

odyssey /ˈÉ'dɪsi  /
â–¸ noun a long and eventful or adventurous journey or experience:
his odyssey from military man to politician.
â€" ORIGIN late 19th century : from Odyssey.


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prowess
definition from
Oxford Dictionary of English

prowess /ˈpraʊɪs  /
â–¸ noun [mass noun]
1 skill or expertise in a particular activity or field:
his prowess as a fisherman
her culinary prowess.
2 bravery in battle:
the hereditary nobility had no monopoly of skill and prowess in war.
â€" ORIGIN Middle English (in prowess (SENSE 2)): from Old French proesce, from prou ‘valiant’. Sense 1 dates from the early 20th century.


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esteem
definition from
Oxford Dictionary of English

esteem /ɪˈstiːm  , ɛˈstiːm/
â–¸ noun [mass noun] respect and admiration:
he was held in high esteem by colleagues.
â–¸ verb [with object]
1 respect and admire:
many of these qualities are esteemed by managers.
2 formal consider; deem:
[with two objects] I should esteem it a favour if you could speak to them.
â€" ORIGIN Middle English (as a noun in the sense ‘worth, reputation’): from Old French estime (noun), estimer (verb), from Latin aestimare ‘to estimate’. The verb was originally in the Latin sense, also ‘appraise’ (compare with estimate), used figuratively to mean ‘assess the merit of’. Current senses date from the 16th century.


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Saging Banana

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Book Summaries help you understand books studied in schools and give you insights that make for great book reports. Gain a new perspective by reading about the author, and learn how settings, characters, and themes help make these books acclaimed works of literature. - More books at https://www.abebooks.co.uk/


The Doom Stone   
Published 1995

I

[/t][/t]

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paul Zindel was born in Staten Island, New York, on May 15, 1936. His father abandoned the family when Zindel was still very young, and this desertion may be the source of the many broken families in his writings. His family, dogged by poverty, moved frequently in New York. Zindel was diagnosed with tuberculosis when he was fifteen and was placed in a sanatorium for a year and a half, delaying his graduation from high school by a year. He attended Wagner College, earning a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1958, and eventually a master's in chemistry. After a brief stint as a technical writer, he became a high school chemistry teacher, teaching on Staten Island from 1959 to 1969.

He had already begun writing plays while in college, and his interest in writing combined with his interest in his teenage students led him to write The Pigman (1968), a novel for young adults that was well received and landed on several best-books-for-children lists. Although he published other well-received novels for young adults, it was a play that brought him national stature as an important writer. Produced off-Broadway, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds was a notable success, winning several drama awards and the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for drama. Although generally regarded as a play for adults when it was first produced, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds has since been recommended as a best-of-the-best work for young adults by the American Library Association.

Zindel married on October 25, 1973, and has had two children. He presently lives in New York and has become one of the most admired writers for young adults.

II

[/t][/t]

OVERVIEW

The Doom Stone is one of the best thrillers ever written specifically for young adults. Zindel provides an exceptionally detailed background for the novel's monster, with good explanations of where it came from and how it evolved. These essential details add credibility to the events of the novel and heighten the narrative's tension because the monster is so realistically depicted as a horrible threat. The narrative is fast-paced, filled with suspenseful scenes that make The Doom Stone a gripping novel.

III

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SETTING

The events of The Doom Stone take place in England, in the region around Stonehenge. Stonehenge itself is a monumental complex of gigantic stones accompanied by burial sites. People have speculated about Stonehenge's purpose for many centuries, but no one as yet knows all of its secrets due to the antiquity of its builders and the paucity of historical evidence about them. The culture that built Stonehenge predated the Celtic peoples who lived in Britain in the time of the Romans. Druids have laid claim to it, but the structure predates their religion and culture by hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. Scientists are now fairly sure of where the stones came from, as Zindel explains in The Doom Stone. They even have some evidence for how the enormous stones were transported, although there is still much disagreement over how to interpret the evidence. The most popular current scientific theory is that Stonehenge was constructed so that priests could identify seasonal events such as solstices, which would have helped in timing planting and harvesting crops. Zindel borrows this idea to create his nineteen-year cycle of the moon. Of the many myths based on Stonehenge, Zindel borrows from those that portray the ritual sacrifices held among the stones of Stonehenge, thus evolving his invention of a stone of doom.

IV

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THEMES AND CHARACTERS

He saw its skin, a transparent membrane pulled taut over a huge skull, and within the black sockets below its distended brow two narrow, red, murderous eyes. Where its nose should have been was a ragged, oozing hole. The monster cocked its head as if showing off its neck wound, glared at Jackson as it thrust its twisted fangs out at the window, and began to pound the aircraft with its insect-like extremities.



Thus Jackson Cawley, the protagonist of The Doom Stone, has his first good look at Skull Face, the murderous monster he battles for the rest of the novel. Skull Face is a well-thought-out creature; Zindel even touches on its evolutionary history. It represents a species of hominid (humanlike creatures) previously unknown to science. Its transparent skin and red eyes are the result of having evolved in the sunless underground, and its fangs enable it to eat a wide variety of prey: rodents and small mammals at first, then eventually large game such as cattle, which it hunts primarily at night. It is also intelligent, a quality needed in order to survive in a land dominated by human beings. Even so, ancient peoples figured out ways to combat its threat to life and property, which is one of the secrets of Stonehenge.

Jackson Cawley is a good-looking fifteen-year old from New York who makes an excellent companion for the reader. He is intelligent without showing off, courageous without being stupid, and quick on his feet--necessary traits for anyone who confronts a violent monster capable of tearing him limb from limb. Zindel refrains from describing Jackson all at once, allowing Jackson's character to unfold during the narrative's action. Early on, he is shown to have traits typical of teenage boys: He likes to eat, he loves driving far and wide on a dune buggy, and he enjoys the company of girls. That he is open minded is revealed by his interest in Alma, a girl who lives over a crematorium and who therefore cannot get datesâ€"the boys are spooked by the graveyard and repulsed by having to visit a crematorium in order to see her. Jackson likes Alma and does not allow the peculiar circumstances of her life to put him off.

He is also an assertive person capable of decisive action. When his aunt is incapacitated, he continues her work, figuring out where Skull Face's home is and taking Alma to the darkroom at the crematorium to develop her photographs of the hominids they found. His take-charge attitude is tempered by his ability to make mistakes. These mistakes seem natural, not inspired by stupidity but rather by a lack of understanding of the abilities of Skull Face. This makes Jackson easy to tolerateâ€"perfection would be annoyingâ€"and it allows Skull Face to show off his menacing qualities. For example, Skull Face's great strength enables him to unexpectedly break in on Alma and Jackson, and his ability to anticipate Jackson's moves, allows him to very nearly kill the teenage pair.

The other characters in The Doom Stone are not as fully realized as Jackson, although a few are given individualizing traits. Alma is pretty, sensitive to the needs of her father, and, in spite of feeling afraid most of the time, courageous. She uses her head and hangs tough in situations in which she could be forgiven for giving up. Her research into the Stonehenge legends helps solve some of the mysteries surrounding Skull Face and Stonehenge; she is plucky enough to go out with Jackson to search for Skull Face's home; she does not give way to panic when Skull Face chases her. She is especially appealing for her fear; the story is frightening and most sensible people would be afraid, which makes Alma someone who could represent the average reader in a very suspenseful plot.

Aunt Sarah, otherwise known as Dr. Sarah Cawley, serves primarily as a plot device, although she is well developed for a secondary character. At first, she is the excuse for Jackson to fly from the United States to England. Her work provides Jackson with the opportunity to become involved in the hunt for Skull Face. And her infection with Skull Face's venom shows off one of the creature’s most intimidating attributes, the ability to know what others are thinking, making Skull Face an even more terrifying opponent. It is in her resistance to Skull Face's venom that Aunt Sarah's personality is most fully developed. It is already clear that she is intelligent, perceptive, and strong minded. These traits are displayed in her analyzing what Skull Face was likely to do and in her handling of the military men in the helicopter. When she is hospitalized with her injuries, much of her inner character is revealed. Authors frequently use great stress to strip away the social exterior of a personality in order to show readers what the inner core of that character is like; having one's mind taken over by another being is about as stressful as life gets. Aunt Sarah shows herself able to keep thinking even when Skull Face's influence is strong; her concern for her nephew shows a loving heart; her ability to tell him some of what is happening to her and some of what she has learned by sharing Skull Face's mind shows that she combines a disciplined mind with courage.

V

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LITERARY QUALITIES

The Doom Stone is proof that the written word can still dominate television and motion pictures in the creation of captivating imaginary worlds. Could a film version of The Doom Stone possibly equal the novel's thrills, terror, and suspense? 

The story techniques Zindel uses are familiar, going back almost two centuries to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), but they are masterfully blended by the author's skill, experience, and talent. One technique is to set the extraordinary against the ordinary. That is, Zindel places Skull Face amid familiar types of peopleâ€"soldiers, priests, teenagers; the underground world of Stonehenge is juxtaposed with the world of the heavily-visited tourist site. This technique was used by Mary Shelley, and it may be found in other thrillers; think of a favorite horror movie, perhaps Halloween (1978) or one of its sequels, and how frightening events are set in ordinary neighborhoods or other familiar locations.

Another technique that Zindel employs is action in an exotic locale. Stonehenge itself is a fascinating mystery, and with the proper effects of mist and darkness it becomes not just a tourist trap but a monument built in response to evil beyond modern humanity's experience. Beneath Stonehenge is another exotic world in which a hominid species has evolved; it is frighteningly old and dark, and Jackson and Alma's scramble to escape to daylight is as scary as can beâ€"it is a world to which Skull Face is superbly adapted but for which Jackson and Alma are ill-prepared. For American readers, the setting in England is somewhat exotic, and Zindel emphasizes this with details such as unfamiliar names for highways and the burial mounds scattered across a plain of farms. This exotic quality is further enhanced by the changeable weather that is one moment cold and wet and the next sunny and dry. Authors have long known that audiences love to be transported to unfamiliar places, especially ones in which remarkable events can occur. Homer knew this when he composed the Odyssey about three thousand years ago, endowing his remote islands with witches and one-eyed giants, and Zindel uses this technique to very good effect. One moment his England is exotic but somewhat familiar, with garages, dune buggies, sandwiches, music, and even a girl living over a crematorium, and the next it is dark, with every step taken risking a plunge in the caverns of Skull Face's home.

If there is a misstep in Zindel's technique, it would be sticking to the conventions of horror literature for young adults too closely. It is now standard fare to feature young adults who are at odds with adult establishments such as the military. The logic behind this is fairly straightforward. It is in the nature of adolescents to be rebellious against social restraints, thus an author creates situations in which that natural rebelliousness is justified, making a story more appealing to young readers who will empathize with the insubordinate protagonists. In present day popular fiction, television, and motion pictures, the military is often presented as trying to cover something up, whether it is the landings of creatures from outer space or the creation of doomsday weapons. In The Doom Stone, the military covers up the facts of Skull Face's existence without explanationâ€"as if readers are supposed to accept that the military automatically covers everything up, including the existence of a hominid seen by multitudes of people as it made its way along the heights of a cathedral tower. A much more likely scenario is worldwide broadcasting of the remarkable discovery of a new species that lives underground, and the military's championing itself as the savior of England from a ravening monster. After all, once the monster is dead, what is there left to cover up?

VI

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SOCIAL SENSITIVITY

The Doom Stone has a scene in which a soldier 'knew he was being eaten alive' and features a horrifying monster with no nose and streams of slime pouring out of his face, but taken as a whole The Doom Stone is surprisingly free of descriptions that could prove worrisome to some readers. The early killing of Richards establishes just how horrible Skull Face is; hereafter similar horrifying events are always hauntingly possible. Zindel then develops suspense by playing on this potential for catastrophe, putting his protagonists in situations in which the worst could happen at any moment, but he does not actually show any more terrible devourings or gruesome dismemberings. The possibility for such events is enough to build a considerable amount of suspense.

Zindel's frequent descriptions of the monster who has translucent skin, a hole for a nose, jagged pointed teeth, and streams of saliva and nasal secretions serve to heighten the frightfulness of events, especially when he pursues Alma and Jackson up the scaffolding around a cathedral tower, but readers are likely to place Skull Face among the many other monsters they have been exposed to in books and motion pictures. Those who already relish frightening stories will especially take Skull Face in stride. For those unfamiliar with stories of monstrous beasts, they are in the hands of a master storyteller who will lead them through even the scariest moments. On the other hand, few monsters are given as much depth as Skull Face has, and his complex character makes him not only more memorable than most fictional monsters but also more menacing.

VII

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TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Is Skull Face's death because of the tiles made from the doom stone coincidence or fulfillment of the verses Alma found in an old book on Stonehenge?

2. Why does Zindel end the novel with another Skull Face?

3. Why would the military or police in England want to keep the fact of Skull Face's existence secret?

4. What aspects of his behavior show that Skull Face is intelligent?

5. What scenes are the most suspenseful? What makes them suspenseful?

6. Why do we readers care about what happens to the characters in The Doom Stone?

7. Does The Doom Stone read as though Zindel has actually visited Stonehenge? Could he have seen the shadows that looked like a skull, and could this have inspired the novel?

8. What do American readers learn about England from The Doom Stone?

VIII

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IDEAS FOR REPORTS AND PAPERS

1. What are some of the theories about the original uses for Stonehenge? Which ones have the greatest scientific validity?

2. What are the best scientific explanations for how Stonehenge was built?

3. What are the myths and fairy tales that Stonehenge has inspired?

4. At the novel's end, Alma, Jackson, and Aunt Sarah are to return to Stonehenge in a year's time. Write a short story about what they find and the adventure that awaits them.

5. Aunt Sarah's expertise is used to help solve mysteries. What do real-life physical anthropologists do to help police solve crimes? How do they go about identifying skulls and bones, and what do they learn?

6. The Doom Stone mentions military bases near Stonehenge. What military bases are in the region of Stonehenge? What are the bases for?

7. Zindel says that the moon has a nineteen-year cycle. What is this cycle? How have various cultures used the moon's cycles in their religions and other social practices?

8. What are hominids? What different kinds have there been? Is there any disagreement among scientists over what a hominid is? What would make Skull Face and the little white creatures, hominids?

IX

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RELATED TITLES

The Doom Stone is one of a series of thrillers that Zindel has recently been writing. The others are Loch (1994) and Reef of Death (1998) which, like The Doom Stone, both feature frightful monsters. Just as the plot of The Doom Stone turns on the fate of its monsters so does the plot of Loch turn on the destiny of its plesiosaurs. In Reef of Death the monster fills a secondary role as one among several sources of chills. In Loch, three young people take on a rapacious research expedition bent on capturing the plesiosaurs dead or aliveâ€"more likely dead. In Reef of Death, two young adults and an elderly man take on an illegal mining operation that is disguised as a research ship. The bloody scenes in these novels surpass those in The Doom Stone, providing vivid descriptions of dismemberment and gore. Both Reef of Death and Loch feature strong characterizations and appealing protagonists, as does The Doom Stone. Reef of Death uses a similar plot device to move its main character from America to a foreign land; in the case of Reef of Death, main character PC McPhee goes to Australia to work with his uncle as he has done in previous summers, whereas Jackson goes to England to work with his aunt. Of Loch and Reef of Death, Loch has the greater literary merit, featuring as it does a more complex plot into which the characterizations are seamlessly woven; Reef of Death features a somewhat more common plot, familiar from numerous monster movies. The Doom Stone surpasses the other novels in sheer gripping suspense, although those who enjoyed reading The Doom Stone are likely to enjoy both Loch and Reef of Death.

Contributed by: Kirk H. Beetz

Source: Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults. Copyright by Gale Group, Inc. Reprinted by permission.


Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Book Summaries help you understand books studied in schools and give you insights that make for great book reports. Gain a new perspective by reading about the author, and learn how settings, characters, and themes help make these books acclaimed works of literature.


Loch   
Published 1994 - More books at https://www.abebooks.co.uk/

I

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paul Zindel was born on Staten Island, New York, on May 15, 1936. His father, dogged by poverty and frequent moves in New York, abandoned the family when Zindel was still very young; and this abandonment may be the source of the many broken families in his writings. Zindel was diagnosed with tuberculosis at fifteen and was placed in a sanatorium for a year and a half, which delayed his graduation from high school by a year. He earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Wagner College in 1958 and eventually a master's degree in the same discipline as well. After a brief stint as a technical writer, he taught high school chemistry on Staten Island from 1959 to 1969.

Zindel began writing plays in college, but it was not until his interest in writing merged with his concern for his teenage students that he became fully focused on writing for young people. The Pigman (1968), a novel for young adults, made its way onto several best-books-for-children lists. Although he published other well-received novels for young adults, it was a play that brought him national stature as an important writer. Produced off-Broadway, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds was a notable success, winning several drama awards and the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for drama. Although generally regarded as a play for adults when it was first produced, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds has since been recommended as a best-of-the-best work for young adults by the American Library Association.

Zindel married on October 25, 1973, and has had two children. His family life seems to have been good and may be the source of some of the positive characters in his work. His own childhood experiences seem to have inspired many of the hostile adult figures in his fiction, and may be the source for the portrayal in Loch of Anthony Cavenger, a strange combination of romantic adventurer and mean-spirited skinflint. Sam Perkins, the figure of the father in the novel, is an ineffectual man who too easily submits to his overbearing boss. On the other hand, as Zindel's work has matured over the years, his adult authority figures have become more diverse in their temperaments and have acquired more depth of personality, allowing for the kind of growth Sam Perkins displays when he finally allies himself with his children at the novel's conclusion.

II

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OVERVIEW

Loch is a suspenseful tale of adventure involving lake monsters and the effort to capture them. These lake creatures, elusive survivors from the age of the dinosaurs, are closely related to the ocean-going giant reptiles called plesiosaurs. They are surprisingly intelligent creatures, which may account for how they have managed to evade human beings for thousands of years. The novel tells of how three young people encounter the giant reptiles as they come into violent and deadly conflict with human beings.

III

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SETTING

Lake Alban and its immediate environs form the setting for Loch, where plesiosaurs are trapped almost by accident. They have lived hidden for geologic eras, surrounded by an abundance of food, in the deep waters of Lake Champlain. They get into trouble through their avid pursuit of the salmon that make an annual run from the sea into Lake Champlain and then upstream into the smaller Lake Alban. A family of plesiosaurs follows the salmon into Lake Alban and is trapped by a new salmon grid, a device intended to help the salmon make their way upstream but which blocks the river to Lake Champlain.

The lake itself is a dangerous place since threatening plesiosaurs lurk under its surface; the menace is made clear early in the story when the photographer Erdon is killed by the angry patriarch of the plesiosaur family. An abandoned timber mill along the edge of the lake serves as a haven for the large reptiles. Other settings for the action of the story include docks, piers, and the encampment of the people who have come to capture the monsters of the lake. Amid the tension and menace around the lake are places of peace, including a small pond where Loch, Zaidee, and Sarah learn that a plesiosaur can be both intelligent and friendly.

IV

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THEMES AND CHARACTERS

The novel begins at Scotland's Loch Ness with an event that foreshadows the future. A little boy wanders away from his parents and sees some sheep that are stuck beside the water of the loch. Several sheep are snatched by something in the water. This time the child noticed a great wake, a profound undulation of the water heading for the desperate sheep. Something dark and huge was coming. This event marks the boy for life, and his telling of what he saw earns him the name 'Loch.' Thus Loch is tied into the hunt for the lake monsters by both events and his name.

Loch is next shown to the reader as an adventurous young man flying a hang glider at Lake Alban. It turns out that his father's work has taken Loch to remote areas of the world where he has learned the survival skills he will need as the narrative unfolds. He is accompanied on his adventures by his sister Zaidee, a fifth grader who loves computer games and dislikes Sarah, Loch's on-and-off girlfriend. When she sees Sarah showing off for Erdon and Loch, Zaidee mutters her disgust: 'Puberty must really suck.' Life with Anthony Cavenger, her domineering and often unpleasant father, has taught Sarah a special survival skill: 'Keep the unpleasant parts of life away, always replace them with thoughts of things you want to remember.' This philosophy of coping helps her maintain control of her emotions after the nightmarish death of Erdon.

The adults in Loch are not as bright or as sympathetic as the young people, but they have complexities of their own. Anthony Cavenger leads an undaunted life of adventure and is something of a questing hero who always searches for mysterious life in remote parts of the world, trying to prove that creatures such as plesiosaurs still exist. He owns a magazine empire whose publications feature weird stories about bizarre events and unusual animals; the profits from this business finance his searches for exotic life. These traits of physical daring and indomitable curiosity seem positive on the surface, but Cavenger is actually an avaricious and cruel tightwad whose miserliness in buying supplies allows a young plesiosaur to escape from a net made from inferior materials, even though Sam Perkins had told him that steel netting was required. Had the first netting of a plesiosaur been successful, the terrible events that followed might not have happened. Loch's observation of Cavenger is that, 'He'd slowly coil like a rattlesnake, his eyes growing dead as if he were looking inward at his own pathetic soul.'

Given their dislike of Cavenger, Loch and his sister Zaidee have trouble reconciling themselves to their father's subservient behavior toward him: The bottom line was that Loch's father jumped whenever Cavenger blew his whistle. It seemed to be eating away part of his father's very being. This reflects on the theme of family reconciliation. Even while the intense action of the narrative rushes from one exciting event to another, the relationship of the Perkins family evolves. The children must live with the death of their mother, and their father must deal with the double cruelty of the loss of a wife and the excoriating realization that she was the better parent. The young people realize that the fancy toys their father can buy them from what he makes working for Cavenger are not worth his slow spiritual disintegration. They use the hunt for the plesiosaurs as an opportunity to make this point. Loch says to his father: You saw a fish in the Mariana Trench with lights on its tail. You didn't call it a monstrosityâ€"you said it was like a forbidden glimpse into the secret workroom of God, like it was proof that God wasn't clumsy or had lapses of skill, that everything alive no matter how freaky and frightening had some kind of purpose. Dad, don't you remember that?



Recalling the ideals of scientific research forces Sam Perkins to reassess the worth of his work, and it also helps make credible his decision to leave his job with Cavenger for the sake of his children and the spirit of pure scientific inquiry.

Perhaps the star characters of Loch are the family of plesiosaurs. At first they are mysterious and monstrous: Sarah 'glimpsed the knobby scales of a spine and a pair of monstrous ribbed fins churning the water slowly, powerfully.' The plesiosaurs begin as mindless killers but evolve into intelligent, sympathetic creatures. In what may be an excess of sentimentality, Loch, Zaidee, and Sarah become friends with a baby plesiosaur that has become trapped in a pond near Lake Alban. It likes to play and enjoys being petted. Loch and Zaidee, having grown fond of the animal, name it Wee Beastie. By the time they help Wee Beastie escape from the adults who are hunting it, the picture of the plesiosaurs has shifted from one of voracious monsters that chew people to death to wild animals attempting to survive. Rogue, the huge patriarch of the plesiosaur family becomes a father figure protecting his young from enemies. By the end of the novel, they seem to be soulful characters, typified by how they communicate: 'The sound they made now was like that of a thousand cellos, a series of low, haunting notes that slid upward into an increasingly profound and complicated harmony. The music of the plesiosaurs was penetrating, vibrating the air in a way that could be felt on the skin and in the heart.'

V

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LITERARY QUALITIES

As literature, Loch has much to recommend it, with good dialogue, vivid descriptions, and a fine sense of humor. The descriptions are perhaps the most memorable aspect of the novel. A good example is this sentence, which captures the atmosphere around Lake Alban: 'Over all were the mountains rimming the lake, looming tall like protective, watchful giants.' The descriptions are often charged by the tension of the action, as when doomed Jesse Sanderson goes outside and 'The fog rushed at him as he checked the motorboat and canoe ... .' The anticipation of foreboding through description creates haunting effects in the novel. When a helicopter arrives, 'its shadow falling on them like that of a great, brown wasp,' this ominous description helps to create the atmosphere for the terrifying events to follow.

Loch and Zaidee are bright conversationalists whose dialogue sparkles with wit and irony. Their fondness for puns may linger in the minds of readers with a taste for wordplay. When Loch and Zaidee have a close call with Rogue: Loch turned, staring back with terror to see the creature erupting with a great roar from the water, the thrust from its powerful fins sending it hurtling toward Loch. Loch looked for a weaponâ€"the laptop!â€"grabbed it, and threw it. The beast's teeth snapped closed, exploding the screen and case, which came whizzing back over his head.



Soon after this traumatic scene, Loch finds 'the shattered case of the laptop. He picked the case up and ran his fingers along the jagged edges made by the Rogue's teeth. ... 'This is a megabyte,' he told Zaidee. 'A real megabyte.'' Loch features fast, well-recounted action combined with witty observations by its young protagonists.

VI

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SOCIAL SENSITIVITY

Loch features a family broken by the death of a loving, patient motherâ€"a family that has yet to heal. Sam Perkins has followed money and taken a job in which he must endure the belittling treatment of a self-absorbed boss. His children are not coping well with the situation, even though their father is earning enough money to provide them with luxuries such as hang gliders and laptop computers, and his job provides them with numerous adventures that most people can only dream about. The novel is partly about how the father and his children heal some of their wounds and find a common ground of understanding. Although the novel places the greater burden on the father for the family's difficulties, his behavior is well motivated and easy to sympathize with.

Much more likely to worry adults are the sharply delineated scenes of violent dismemberment, such as when Erdon meets his end early in the narrative: The explosion from the water came quickly. What Erdon saw through the camera's lens was a shining mass of night erupting up toward him, a darkness hitting into him with such force he was airborne. The camera fell from his hands as he glimpsed a pair of huge, horrifying, yellow eyes and a gorge rimmed by jagged, dagger-sized teeth. The horror happened so fastâ€"as if Erdon had been struck by the hood of a racing car, his feet torn from the rope webbingâ€"he had but an instant to feel the impact on his face and chest. He was aware of a brief sensation of being turned, positioned, when a godless, fiery pain crashed simultaneously into his back and groin. Erdon's last conscious thought was the realization that he was being chewed in half.



Soon thereafter, Sarah 'reached for the ignition key, but as her arm and hand went out she felt the warm, thick drops spotting her skin. When she looked at her arm, she knew it was raining blood. Now she could scream.' Sanderson is later attacked at the timber mill while on a pier: 'Instinctively, he kicked his legs, attempting to throw the creatures off. When they finally dropped away, he drew his legs up to his body, reaching down to stop the terrible hurt. He stared in disbelief when he saw the dark and staining rush of blood on the wooden planks. Both of his feet were missing, severed at the ankles.' These and other gruesome deaths are the stuff of nightmares and may prove disturbing to some readers. Older readers who have seen some monster movies may find the grisly scenes merely part of the conventions of the monster-story genre.

VII

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TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1. What are Anthony Cavenger's good traits?

2. Is Sam Perkins a bad father for choosing to work for Anthony Cavenger and earn more money than he would otherwise?

3. Why does Sam Perkins put up with Anthony Cavenger's abuse?

4. Is Loch too gory?

5. Are Loch, Zaidee, and Sarah realistic young people?

6. Is Zindel's explanation for how the huge plesiosaurs remained hidden in Lake Champlain a good one? Could you come up with better ones?

7. What happens now to Sarah with her father dead?

8. Why does Loch end with 'We're a family'? How important is the idea of family to the novel?

9. Is Loch a good title for the novel? Are there more appropriate titles?

10. Are the plesiosaurs the real stars of Loch?

VIII

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IDEAS FOR REPORTS AND PAPERS

1. Cavenger's expedition for capturing the plesiosaurs is not a scientific one. Describe what a properly scientific expedition to study the plesiosaurs would be like.

2. Loch, Zaidee, and Sarah have had earlier adventures that are mentioned in Loch. Choose one of them and write a short story about the adventure. You may need to do some research in order to make sure the setting is accurate.

3. What is a plesiosaur? When did it live? How did it live?

4. What is the history of the Lake Champlain monster? Who first wrote about it? What theories are there about what it is? Be sure to explain some of the reasons for each theory.

5. What is the history of Lake Champlain itself? When and how did it form? What lived around it when it first formed? Who were the first people to live around it? What is it like now?

6. How important are salmon runs to the economy and ecology of the Lake Champlain area? What are people doing to preserve the salmon? What problems do the salmon need to overcome?

7. Describe in detail a salmon grid. What is its purpose? Does it work the way Zindel says it does?

8. What instances exist of people discovering a living animal of a species that was thought to be extinct or a myth?

9. Cavenger publishes weird magazines that feature accounts of strange adventures and unusual creatures. What are some real-life examples of such magazines? Who publishes them? What is their audience? How profitable are they?

10. Scientists study both living animals and the bodies of dead animals. What are the advantages of working with a living subject? What are the advantages of working with the dead body of a subject? What do scientists hope to learn from observing a living animal? What do they hope to learn from studying a dead animal?

IX

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RELATED TITLES

Loch is one of a series of thrillers that Zindel has written. Reef of Death (1998) is of particular interest since it also features an aquatic adventure involving a frightening beast lurking under waves. Unlike Loch, whose plot turns on the fate of the plesiosaurs, Reef of Death focuses on a conflict among humans, with the monster filling a secondary role. In Reef of Death, two young adults and an old man take on a vicious scientist bent on illegally looting some of Australia's natural resources. Its bloody scenes are at least equal to those in Loch, and its protagonists are as appealing. Loch, however, has the greater literary merit, featuring a more complex plot into which the characters are tightly woven. Reef of Death features a somewhat more common plot, familiar from numerous monster movies, but its thrills, chills, and adventure are nonetheless satisfying.

Contributed by: Kirk H. Beetz

Source: Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults. Copyright by Gale Group, Inc. Reprinted by permission.


Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Book Summaries help you understand books studied in schools and give you insights that make for great book reports. Gain a new perspective by reading about the author, and learn how settings, characters, and themes help make these books acclaimed works of literature.


My Darling, My Hamburger - More books at https://www.abebooks.co.uk/ 
Published 1969

I

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paul Zindel was born on May 15, 1936, in Staten Island, New York. When Zindel was very young, his father abandoned the family, reducing Paul, his mother, and his sister to poverty. The Zindels moved frequently, thus remaining perpetual outsiders in the ethnic neighborhoods of Staten Island. Diagnosed with tuberculosis at age fifteen, Zindel was sent to a sanatorium called Stony Wold for a year and a half. Despite these setbacks, Zindel managed to graduate from Port Richmond High School only a year late and went on to Wagner College in Staten Island, New York, where he graduated with a bachelor of science degree in 1958.

Zindel served briefly as a technical writer for a chemical company, but had little interest in the job. He returned to Wagner College, received a master of science degree, and taught chemistry at Totenville High School in Staten Island from 1959 to 1969. Even before Zindel graduated from college, he began to write for the theater; his early work was promising enough to earn him a Ford Foundation grant to sharpen his talent at Houston's Alley Theatre.

Although Zindel still regards himself primarily as a playwright and screenwriter, he has been a critically and commercially successful young adult writer as well. Zindel's play The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, first produced in Houston in 1964, was an immense commercial and critical success, winning an Obie Award for best new American play (1970), a Pulitzer Prize for drama (1971), a New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best American play (1969), and a Drama Disk Award (1970). The play attracted the attention of an editor from Harper and Row, who recognized Zindel's potential for writing about adolescents. Marriage to his wife Bonnie on October 25, 1973, and the birth of two children have furnished Zindel with a collaborator and fresh material for years to come.

His father's decision to abandon the family remains an important early influence on Zindel's fiction. Like the teenagers he writes about, Zindel sees himself as an outsider. Parents and teachers in Zindel's novels generally appear hostile, although adult women fare better than adult men. As a writer, Zindel seems fascinated by the causes of hatred, particularly adolescent self-hate, and his novels usually feature adolescents who recover a positive sense of self. His work also examines those peopleâ€"parents, peers, teachersâ€"who make adolescents doubt themselves. For twenty years, young adults have responded favorably to Zindel's work; despite his age, Zindel seems to be one of them.

II

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OVERVIEW

My Darling, My Hamburger is a novel about adolescent love. The four main charactersâ€"Liz, Sean, Dennis, and Maggieâ€"experience difficulties with their parents, their desires, their expectations of love, and their responsibilities. Dennis and Maggie, like many adolescents, think of themselves as grotesque, and envy Sean and Liz, who, on the surface, seem self-assured. Liz's and Sean's parentsâ€"particularly Liz's stepfather and Sean's fatherâ€"erode their children's ability to love; Dennis's and Maggie's parents are supportive but largely unaware of their children's needs.

Like all of Zindel's novels, My Darling, My Hamburger is told from the teen-agers' perspectives. But unlike The Pigman, which features first-person narration, My Darling, My Hamburger has a third-person omniscient narrator who relates the main characters' thoughts. The novel is both melodramatic and suspenseful, filled with romantic sentiment, adventure, and fast-paced action. Because of the fear and anxiety generated by Liz's pregnancy and abortion, My Darling, My Hamburger contains little of the humor usually found in Zindel's fiction.

III

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SETTING

My Darling, My Hamburger takes place in the 1960s in a waterfront community much like Zindel's own Staten Island, but the setting is never pinpointed. For Liz, Sean, Dennis, and Maggie, all high school seniors, life is measured by the school year. Though the four are friends, Maggie's and Dennis's lower-middle-class backgrounds seem to separate them from Liz and Sean, who come from more socially established middle-class families. The pressures of teachers' and parents' expectations weigh heavily on all four characters.

IV

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THEMES AND CHARACTERS

Maggie Tobin is a plump, somewhat unattractive girl with little self-confidence, particularly in relationships with boys. Her best friend, Liz Carstensen, represents all that Maggie would like to be: attractive, articulate, and confident. But Liz is afraid of and disgusted by her stepfather and has no rapport with her mother, who has submerged her own personality in order to live in peace with her husband. Liz's mother constantly harasses her about dating the right kind of boy, while her stepfather barrages her with a daunting stream of verbal abuse. His excessive concern with Liz's sexual activity arouses suspicion of his own sexual interest in her. Liz's boyfriend, Sean Collins, must also weather parental disapproval. Sean's father is a macho male stereotype who cannot understand a son who prefers creative writing to football. Sean's alienation from his father extends to his relationship with society in general. He sees no good in anyone but Liz, and at various times in the past he has seriously contemplated suicide, even calculating how fast his head would fly off if he shot himself. Sean's buddy Dennis Holowitz is self-conscious, shy, and acutely embarrassed about his personal appearance. In Maggie's words, he is somewhat 'weird-looking ... like an undernourished zucchini.' Dennis also experiences a typical inability to communicate with his parents.

All four teenagers mature sexually and emotionally during their senior year. Maggie and Dennis become a couple, first because Liz and Sean push them into dating, but eventually because they truly like each other. Maggie loses weight, learns to control her wispy hair so that it no longer looks like 'thin fungus,' and begins to think of herself as a normal human being. Dennis's body begins to fill out, and he learns to minimize his ungainly height so that he looks less like a human erector set. His friendship with Maggie encourages his self-confidence. Unfortunately for Dennis and Maggie, their growing relationship ends abruptly because of complications in the more intense relationship between Sean and Liz.

Zindel explores the consequences of premarital sex through Liz and Sean's relationship. When the novel begins, Liz is already fending off Sean's hands and his assertion that sex is natural because 'we love each other, don't we?' Liz's unwillingness to have intercourse temporarily ends their relationship. Parental difficulties further estrange the couple: Liz's mother praises her for realizing that Sean is not good enough for her, while Sean's father intercepts Liz's letter of apology. Seeking to make Sean jealous, Liz deliberately throws herself at the good-looking Rod, who once deserted a girl who was pregnant with his child. Maggie's timely intercession with Sean, Sean's rescue of Liz when Rod nearly rapes her, and Liz's anger with her stepfather's unwarranted accusation of sexual promiscuity lead Liz and Sean to a physical expression of their love.

Two months before graduation Liz becomes pregnant. When Liz first tells Sean, he is shocked, but says that he loves her and is willing to accept his responsibility. All too soon, however, Sean is racked by second thoughts, for he realizes that marriage will ruin his chances for college and a career. Approaching his father under the pretext of inquiring for a friend, Sean receives the advice that he does not, and yet does, want to hear: abortion. Liz cannot confide in her parents any more than Sean can talk honestly with his father, so she goes through with an illegal abortion, arranged for her by the rejected but cynically amused Rod. Maggie breaks an important date with Dennis to be with Liz, and Dennis, who is unaware of the problem, is left feeling ugly, hurt, and unwanted.

All four suffer from the effects of the abortion. When Maggie discovers that Liz is hemorrhaging, she breaks her vow of silence and tells Liz's parents about the abortion. Liz, who would rather die than have her stepfather know, feels that Maggie has betrayed her trust. Thus, in one night, Maggie loses her best friend and her boyfriend. Although Maggie and Dennis finally talk at their graduation, their relationship has changed, and Maggie is left with the realization that maturation involves looking back and seeing former selves as naive or silly. Maggie and Dennis have matured, and their year together has been a part of this process, but their lives will now go in different directions. Sean also graduates, but as Maggie watches him accept his diploma, she sees that the abortion has scarred his life, that he will always remember Liz and his unborn child, and that he will never be able to run away from his past.

Although Zindel stresses that both sexes pay a price for entering into sexual relationships before they are ready, he realistically portrays Liz as bearing the brunt of the consequences. Liz is not at graduation; she is sunk into obscurity with her ineffectual mother and obscene stepfather, paying an enormous price for a mistake she and Sean both made. Both Liz and Sean suffer a loss of personal identity by playing roles created for them by their parents.

V

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LITERARY QUALITIES

For a short novel, My Darling, My Hamburger has a complex narrative perspective. Notes, letters, a short story by Sean, and other bits and pieces in the first-person voice supplement the novel's third-person omniscient narration. Despite this shifting perspective, Zindel maintains a remarkable continuity. The varied points of view efficiently reveal the family and personal problems of each character.

The shifting narrative perspective also helps to set emotional tone for different parts of the novelâ€"generally melodramatic for Liz and Sean's story, and quietly comic for Maggie and Dennis's. What humor exists in My Darling, My Hamburger arises from Maggie's and Dennis's blundering attempts to meet social expectations without sacrificing self-respect. Sean's pain is best revealed by what he says in veiled ways; he voices his grief at the abortion in his short story 'The Circus of Blackness,' in which a boy places a baby's neck in the path of a guillotine. The silence that follows Liz after her abortion almost feels like the death of her personality.

Zindel juxtaposes pieces of narrative in interesting ways, and a symbolic system evolves naturally from repetition in the action. The author's most artful use of juxtaposition is the contrast established by alternating the text of the documentary Primitive Love, which shows the natural sexuality of the Wambesi, with the tortured self-consciousness of Maggie's and Dennis's monologues. Symbols take shape in the consciousness of Sean and Liz. The mail-order astrological prediction that advises Liz to 'pray to the Madonna' and her mother's gift of a Madonna serve as an apparent prophetic curse. Even the structure of toothpicks that Sean mocks oddly describes his own house and his family's ambitions.

VI

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SOCIAL SENSITIVITY

While My Darling, My Hamburger features positive adult characters in Mrs. Tobin and the Holowitzes, the general picture of adults is a brutal one. Mr. Zamborsky, a teacher, is always shouting and blowing a whistle; he seems thoroughly insensitive. The same is true for most other adults in the novel, which features a self-satisfied, callous Mr. Collins, a mother who sacrifices her daughter to her husband, and a stepfather who regards his stepdaughter with brutal and prurient interest. Adolescents may enjoy the adult caricatures in Zindel's writing, while adults may question Zindel's fairness.

The major issues in the novel are abortion and teen-age premarital sex. These issues are controversial, but Zindel avoids profanity and graphic sexuality. The many voices in the narrative broaden its perspective, and the novel does not judge or advocate; it merely describes the moral dilemmas adolescents face while learning about love. Zindel does, however, present Maggie's ethical love of others in a favorable way. Her choices cost her, but one can only admire her for them.

Zindel emphasizes the importance of personal responsibility. While Liz's and Sean's troubles are triggered in part by their parents' attitudes and actions, their difficulties also arise from their desire to abandon responsibility for themselves and others at critical times. Zindel calls for tough decision-making in My Darling, My Hamburger.

Contributed by: Craig Barrow

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Diana Barrow

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Source: Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults. Copyright by Gale Group, Inc. Reprinted by permission.


Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Book Summaries help you understand books studied in schools and give you insights that make for great book reports. Gain a new perspective by reading about the author, and learn how settings, characters, and themes help make these books acclaimed works of literature.

The Pigman
Published 1968

I  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paul Zindel was born on May 15, 1936, in Staten Island, New York. When Zindel was very young, his father abandoned him, his mother, and his sister, reducing his family to poverty. Frequent moves throughout the ethnic neighborhoods of Staten Island made Zindel and his family perpetual outsiders. Furthering the anguish caused by these dislocations, Zindel was diagnosed for tuberculosis at age fifteen and spent a year and a half in a sanatorium called Stony Wold. Despite these setbacks, Zindel managed to graduated from Port Richmond High School only one year late, and he went on to Wagner College in New York, where he graduated with a chemistry degree in 1958.

Zindel worked for a short time as a technical writer before he returned to Wagner, earning a master of science degree. He taught chemistry at a Staten Island high school from 1959 to 1969. Even before Zindel graduated from college, he began to write for the theater; his early work was promising enough to earn him a Ford Foundation grant to sharpen his talent at Houston's Alley Theatre.

Zindel's play The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds won immense commercial and critical success—an Obie for best off-Broadway play (1970), a Pulitzer Prize for drama, a New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best American play (1969-1970), and a Drama Disk Award (1971). Although Zindel regards himself primarily as a playwright and screenwriter, he is a critically and commercially successful young adult writer as well. His marriage on October 25, 1973, and the birth of two children have provided Zindel with a collaborator and fresh material for years to come.

Zindel's fiction seems to reflect his difficult childhood and adolescent experiences, particularly his father's abandonment. Parents and teachers in Zindel's novels generally appear hostile, although adult women are portrayed more sympathetically than adult men. Sympathetic adult male characters such as the Pigman are rare in Zindel's work. The author's novels usually feature adolescents recovering self-love by questioning those people—parents, peers, teachers—who make them doubt themselves. Ultimately the protagonists defend themselves by cauterizing their wounds from rejection and seeking solace elsewhere. For twenty years, adolescents have responded favorably to Zindel's work.

II  OVERVIEW

Zindel's novels, with their mixture of humor, romance, and realism, frequently appeal to young readers. Many adolescents can empathize with John's struggle with his elderly parents and Lorraine's conflict with her twisted mother in The Pigman. The rich artistry of Zindel's best fiction helps train young readers for the complexities of authors such as Joseph Conrad and William Faulkner, and Zindel's self-generated symbol system prepares the way for the fiction of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and other complex symbolic novels. The Pigman thus provides a great bridge to more demanding reading experiences.

III  SETTING

The Pigman takes place in New York City, on Staten Island. John's father works for the Stock Exchange, and his family seems comfortably well off, but Lorraine and her mother live near the poverty level. Mr. Pignati, a retired electrician, can afford to take John and Lorraine on a buying spree, but his house is in disrepair. Little in the novel determines the exact time of the action, but it seems to take place during the early or mid-1960s. Franklin High School, the Baron Park Zoo, the Moravian Cemetery, Beekman's Department Store, and the homes of the major characters in the novel provide sites for the action.

IV  THEMES AND CHARACTERS

John Conlan's father and mother, whom he has dubbed Bore and Hyper respectively, are more than forty years older than John. His mother is a compulsive cleaner, while his father, a former alcoholic with heart trouble, wants John to join him and John's older brother Ken at the Exchange. The Conlans appear worn out as parents and irritated by John's youthful imagination, and they wish he were grown up and out of the house. John, meanwhile, does his best to justify this irritation. John's ambition to become an actor does not meet with his parents' approval, and his flamboyance contrasts with his parents' conformity.

Lorraine Jensen's mother, a nurse who specializes in the care of dying cancer patients, steals from the families she helps and has a morbid fear of men, probably because her former husband abandoned her several years earlier. Lorraine's insecurities stem from Mrs. Jensen's constant nagging and devastating remarks about Lorraine's appearance. Lorraine's interest in writing and psychology arises from an attempt to understand her mother and her own situation.

Norton Kelly, another important character, is John and Lorraine's age. He enjoys thievery and inflicting cruelty on others, probably because he feels rejected himself. Norton and John are both outsiders, but they hate each other. Norton wants to steal from Mr. Pignati and hopes to use John as an informer against the old man. Norton's anger over not being invited to the party at Mr. Pignati's house and his envy of John and Lorraine result in the destruction of Mr. Pignati's pig collection. This act, more than the other destruction caused by the party, damages John and Lorraine's relationship with Mr. Pignati, for Norton destroys the symbol of Mr. Pignati's love for his deceased wife.

Angelo Pignati, a retired widower, is at once a parent and a child to Lorraine and John. He enjoys their company as if he were their child and is eager to roller skate, play games, and tell jokes. At the same time, he substitutes as a parent, opening his home to Lorraine and John and giving them treats their parents deny them. More important, Mr. Pignati trusts them, and he forgives them after the disastrous party.

Mr. Pignati's dual role as parent and child suggests the idea of alienation between adults and children that John voices in his closing narration at the zoo. John realizes that people must choose between the role of parent or child, because the middle ground is extremely precarious. Mr. Pignati trespasses on the role of child and pays with his life; John and Lorraine trespass as well, sidestepping adult responsibility with their careless, childish actions. Thus the child in them dies with Mr. Pignati; they realize that they must assume blame for Mr. Pignati's death, and that it is no longer possible for them to deny responsibility for their own actions. The grim implication of this reality is that Lorraine, John, and Mr. Pignati's best moments occur when all are lying. Eventually, truths start to emerge, despite the characters' efforts to avoid them, and the consequences are all the more painful because these truths have been suppressed for so long.

V  LITERARY QUALITIES

Characterized by fast-paced, melodramatic action and realistic dialogue that tends toward hyperbolic wit, The Pigman cleverly alternates between John's and Lorraine's first-person points of view and develops a natural system of symbols. The narration recounts John and Lorraine's association with Mr. Pignati, who is already dead when their 'memorial epic' begins. Four perspectives actually exist in the novel: those of John and Lorraine, the characters who participate in the novel's events and who do not know what is going to happen; and those of John and Lorraine, the narrators who know about Mr. Pignati's death and speculate on its significance. These varied perspectives allow for dramatic irony because the narrators, and to some extent the reader, know what is going to happen, while the characters do not. Since John and Lorraine the narrators have realized that Mr. Pignati's death is the direct result of their actions, their narration gives the novel's tragic outcome the sense of inevitability that is a hallmark of a strong plot. The contrasts between John's and Lorraine's personalities also enhance the narrative: John, dramatic and flashy, describes action well, and Lorraine, intuitive and analytical, ably assesses its significance. Roles are ultimately reversed, however, when in the final chapter John articulates the significance of the novel. His interpretation is all the more powerful because it reveals an inner self that his vivacity usually hides.

Angelo Pignati serves as the symbolic core of the novel. His name suggests the duality of his personality. He is both pig and angel; his house is messy and cluttered, yet he provides security and warmth. He has chosen the unlikely symbol of a collection of pig figurines to express his love for his wife. The duality of his nature is also evident in his wavering between the roles of child and adult; in this sense, he represents adolescence. His death makes John and Lorraine realize that they cannot play both roles indefinitely, and that it is time for them to become adults.

VI  SOCIAL SENSITIVITY

The Pigman exhibits Zindel's typical negative portrayals of adults. John's parents and Lorraine's mother are uncaring and critical of their sixteen-year-old children. Authority figures and others who might be expected to be helpful—teachers, police officers, nurses—only serve to aggravate John and Lorraine's problems. Adolescents enjoy Zindel's caricatures, and many consider them realistic. Perhaps this anti-establishment attitude reflects a 1960s cultural influence, which encourages antagonism between adolescents and adults.

Despite its caricatures of adults and its pessimistic, melodramatic ending, The Pigman credits the hero and heroine for their mature attempt to determine whom they have injured and how to cover the liability. Following the death of Mr. Pignati, Lorraine and John must become their own parents; they must become adults.

VII  TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1. What is unsatisfying about John's relationship with his parents and Lorraine's with her mother?
2. Lorraine seems more deeply attached to her mother than John does to his parents. What is the basis of Lorraine's relationship with her mother?
3. What do John and Lorraine find attractive about Mr. Pignati?
4. Norton Kelly and John hate each other even before Norton crashes John and Lorraine's party and destroys Mr. Pignati's pig figurines. Why? Why have they associated with each other previously?
5. Sometimes Mr. Pignati is described as a 'baby,' a 'child,' and a 'kid,' while at other times John and Lorraine describe themselves as the Pigman's children. Which, if either, is Mr. Pignati's true role, parent or child?
6. What causes Mr. Pignati's death? What is the significance of his life and death to Lorraine and John?

VIII  IDEAS FOR REPORTS AND PAPERS

1. Report on Zindel's use of symbols in The Pigman. Be sure to consider Mr. Pignati's pig collection and the animals at the zoo, particularly Bobo the baboon.
2. John and Lorraine sometimes narrate the same events. Determine what each tends to observe and judge, and the effect their judgments have on the reader.
3. Mrs. Jensen specializes in the care of the dying but steals from their families. She is abnormally afraid of sexual contact and her relationship to her deceased husband seems to reflect her entire character. Describe her character and explain the reasons for her behavior.
4. The Pigman features puzzles, quizzes, drawings, and newspaper clippings in its text. Determine their function in the novel.
5. Describe what John and Lorraine have learned from their friendship with the Pigman.

IX  RELATED TITLES AND ADAPTATIONS

Zindel wrote a screenplay adapting The Pigman to film. Although Brighton Productions never released the movie, Zindel regarded his screenplay as a success. Zindel's sequel, The Pigman's Legacy, proved less effective than his screenplay. John and Lorraine find another old person to exploit, and the whole plot of The Pigman repeats itself, negating John and Lorraine's development in The Pigman. Closer in spirit to The Pigman are some of Zindel's other novels, such as My Darling, My Hamburger, which explores the complicated and painful relationships among four high school seniors and their parents.

Contributed by: Craig Barrow

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Source: Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults. Copyright by Gale Group, Inc. Reprinted by permission.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Book Summaries help you understand books studied in schools and give you insights that make for great book reports. Gain a new perspective by reading about the author, and learn how settings, characters, and themes help make these books acclaimed works of literature.

Raptor
Published 1998
I  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paul Zindel was born on Staten Island, New York, on May 15, 1936. His father abandoned his family when he was still very young, and this abandonment may explain why he writes so often about broken families. His family moved frequently in New York, dogged by poverty. At fifteen, Zindel was diagnosed with tuberculosis and placed in a sanatorium for a year and a half, delaying his graduation from high school by a year. He attended Wagner College, earning a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1958, and eventually a master's in chemistry as well. After a brief stint as a technical writer, he became a high school chemistry teacher, teaching on Staten Island from 1959 to 1969.

He had already begun writing plays while in college, and his interest in writing combined with his interest in his teenage students to result in The Pigman, a novel for young adults that was well received and ended up on several best-books-for-children lists. Although he published more well-received novels for young adults, it was a play that brought him national stature as an important writer. Produced off-Broadway, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds was a notable success, winning several drama awards and the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for drama. Although generally regarded as a play for adults when it was first produced, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds has since been recommended as a best-of-the-best work for young adults by the American Library Association, and Zindel has become one of the most admired of writers for young adults.

II  OVERVIEW

Zindel is a master of exciting thrillers, and Raptor is among his most breathtaking. The novel begins with a bang: dark caves, something moving around, the suspicion of a practical joke, then eggs, a giant head full of daggerlike teeth, panic, a fall. The novel barely pauses for breath—just long enough for Professor Norak to tell his son Zack to retrieve something. What that something is begins as a mystery for Zack, but it soon turns into a sprinting narrative for Zack and his friend Uta when they discover that not all dinosaurs are extinct and they are not particularly picky about who they eat. An action-filled adventure with suspense and surprises on every page, Raptor is very hard to put down before it reaches its suitably electrifying conclusion.

III  SETTING

The events of Raptor take place in northeastern Utah, a region long famous for its fossils and fossil hunters. The area is remote enough from civilization that helicopters are needed to fly injured people to a hospital, which even then is hours away. Uta describes the region beyond her reservation as vast, complex, and almost impenetrable. Into this region come tourists, interested in seeing the digs of paleontologists as well as purchasing goods from the Utes, such as Spider Grandma. The paleontologists come to hunt for the remains of extinct animals, hoping to find a new species or the fossils of a special animal that will make them famous. Hunters also come to the area, seeking bears, deer, and other game. It is a perilous region, abounding with mountains, rock slides, abandoned mines, and unexplored caves. As Raptor begins, it is about to become even more dangerous.

IV  THEMES AND CHARACTERS

"The upper ridges of her [the mother raptor's] skull were pronounced like a gorilla's—thrusts of brow overhanging hugely swollen and yellow eyes. Her teeth were bared, thick jagged points that meshed perfectly into a hideous smile. A dark band ran from her head down to the tip of her thick, rigid tail." In the dark of night, in an isolated house, this is what Zack and Uta see, the mother of the egg they took to Zack's home. The mother raptor is an important character, not a mindless monster, but someone with personality. She is impatient and lethal; she is also decisive, going after Professor Norak the instant she realizes he is near her nest. She also couples motherly concern for her brood with determination—she tracks her missing egg a long way before finding it in Zack's house. This also shows that she is intelligent—she counted her eggs and had a good enough memory to realize that she was one egg short. In addition, she is very focused on the task at hand; once she has her hatchling, she heads for home, leaving Zack, Uta, and Picasso alive.

Without the mother raptor there would be no story. In addition, there would be no story if Zack, the main character, were not someone who takes the initiative when something needs to be done. Only a vague word from his stricken father is enough to send him on a perilous quest to uncover the mysteries of the living dinosaurs, the "Utahraptors." His friend Uta has a strongly positive view of Zach: "Uta had liked him the second she'd seen his narrow, handsome face last spring. His wolflike eyes had reminded her of photos she'd seen of her own father when he was young." From her point of view, as well as in the view of her uncle, Larry Ghost Coyote, and Spider Grandma, there is much wolf in him, and his dogged pursuit of his quarry even into great danger suggests a wolf on the hunt.

Even so, Zack is not a perfect warrior off to defeat evil. When he seizes the egg his father dropped, his thoughts are of fame and riches. When Honker hatches, it is to him a creature to be exploited, something that will get his father out from under Boneid's thumb and bring wealth to his family. It takes most of the novel for Spider Grandma's admonition to sink in: "All animals are our equals in this world. They have wisdom to share with humans, and you [Zack] should know that." Boneid's rapacious, destructive desire for fame and glory serves as an example of where Zack could be headed in his desire to exploit the Utahraptors, but Zack eventually chooses another path for himself.

His friend Uta is no mere hanger-on—she is the voice of conscience in the novel and a clever, active partner in the adventures. Zindel does not devote much space to descriptions in Raptor, but he paints Uta sharply from Zack's point of view: "He [Zack] recognized Uta, a young Indian girl with dark bronze skin and straight black hair that fell to her waist." She suggests to Zack that it would be best to leave the egg alone and to leave the Utahraptors alone: "That's the first rule about wilderness—leave wildlife alone!" Further, she is a reminder that the Utes lived in the region long before the scientists and miners came, and that they have had generations to learn how to adapt to their environment: "Growing up on my reservation is like one long survival course," she says. This idea is reinforced inside the caves where the Utahraptors make their home. Passages are marked either with flute players and ladders or with threatening images. The flute players and ladders mean safe passage; the threatening images mean dangerous passage. Spider Grandma's remarks imply that the Utes long ago learned of the dangers of the caves and made their marks inside them to help travelers. When Zack ignores the warnings, going against the knowledge of the Utes, he places himself in jeopardy; he is fortunate that levelheaded Uta is close by to save him from his own foolishness.

In this tale of amazing adventure, the villain is almost an afterthought. The Utahraptors provide a plenitude of thrills without the need of a human villain. Even so, Dr. Boneid adds to the difficulties that Zack and Uta face: Boneid is "a death spirit," Zack has heard one of the old Ute Indian workers say about him. "His heart is like death." Dr. Boneid invented his own nickname, "Dr. Bones," because it might appeal to people interested in dinosaurs; he wants to be famous for his work—as well as famous for the work of others that he claims for himself. That includes the discovery of the Utahraptors, an accomplishment more rightfully claimed by Zack's father. To Boneid, paleontology is all about feeding his ego, and his lust for fame overwhelms his academic training and common sense. He will kill every living Utahraptor in order to have a specimen, even if dead, of the only (once) living dinosaur. He is the embodiment of bad science—motivated not by a love of learning or dedication to knowledge, but by an outsized ego.

V  LITERARY QUALITIES

Raptor is a one-darn-thing-after-another tale, told principally in action. The object of such a narrative is to pile exciting or suspenseful events one on top of another, with few pauses for explanations. Thus, the main character, Zack, is swept up in events that propel him into adventures. Even the pause during which Zack and Uta consult Spider Grandma has its adventurous side—Zack eats a fried grub to prove himself a wolf.

This incident highlights another tried-and-true aspect of adventure writing: the exotic locale. Authors have long known that readers love to be transported to unfamiliar places, especially ones where remarkable events can occur. Homer knew this when he composed the Odyssey about three thousand years ago, peopling his remote islands with witches and one-eyed giants, and Zindel uses the technique to very good effect. His main character Zack is used to city life, to movies and hot dogs, and he is very uncomfortable in the environment of Raptor, where neighbors live far apart and none of his familiar amusements are available. Throw in a crazed scientist, giant wolves, a giant catfish, and some man-eating dinosaurs, and his environment becomes otherworldly—a strange and dynamic place where anything can happen.

In that sense, Raptor is a daydream with a plot; it is in the tradition of the adventure tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard. As a daydream, it invites readers to join in its fantasy, to picture themselves as the heroes and heroines of the adventures it describes. Also as a daydream, its events do not have to make much sense or be credible—in fact, incredible escapes from certain death are an advantage to the narrative. Thus, Zack's remarkable recovery from being paralyzed is explicable as a product of the dreamlike story: if he does not recover, the dream ends, and in dreams anyone can recover from anything.

VI  SOCIAL SENSITIVITY

There is much in Raptor that could draw socially sensitive commentary, yet the only objections anyone is likely to make to the novel would come from scientists, who may question the natural history of the Utahraptors. The behavior of the animals seems driven more by the needs of the plot than by instinct. The Utes in the novel are well-drawn people; there is no condescension toward them, and their customs and attitudes are presented matter-of-factly. All in all, a more honest, upfront portrayal of Native Americans would be hard to find in a novel that features sensational events rather than careful scholarship.

In Raptor, Zindel repeats something he does in one of his other thrillers, titled Loch: he portrays animals in need of defense from rapacious explorers who would kill them rather than capture them. In Loch, the millionaire Cavenger hopes to vindicate his years of work in cryptozoology (hidden [crypto] animal science [zoology]), or the study of hidden animals, a term applied to the studies of the Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster, and other creatures thought by mainstream science to be mythical or extinct. In Raptor, Dr. Boneid and Zack both hope to realize fame and riches from the discovery of a still-living species of dinosaur. Zack hopes to reveal a live specimen; Boneid is willing to kill all of the Utahraptors just to have a specimen to show off. Both Cavenger and Boneid are outsized villains, almost insanely determined to have their way, but Cavenger is a much more well-rounded figure. Boneid is a stereotype of the egotistical, cruel academic who is devoted to self-glorification, even if it means taking credit for the work of other people, such as Zack's father. The portrait of Boneid as a naturalist who would kill all the specimens of a newly discovered animal may be somewhat unfair; outsized egos do not necessarily compel researchers to conduct themselves as unprofessionally as Boneid does, but academics may recognize in Boneid the ruthless pursuit of self-promotion that the publish-or-perish environment of universities often stimulates.

More controversial are the actions of Zack and Uta. Their plan to save the Utahraptors involves setting the animals loose in the badlands of northeastern Utah. These are not cute, cuddly creatures, but animals that emerge from their eggs already equipped with big, razorlike teeth and big appetites. Uta says that the beasts would be very hard to find in the rocky, mountainous country, even though they are big. This may be fine for the Utahraptors, but what about other animals and people? The mother raptor chopped up a full-grown mule in seconds! Vacationers, hikers, fossil hunters, rangers, and those who live in the region, such as the Utes, are all at risk, and what the Utahraptors do to captured prey is uncommonly nasty. Furthermore, Boneid is not typical of naturalists. Most would prefer to study the living dinosaurs rather than stuff and mount them. If Zack and Uta were to take advantage of their opportunity to tell researchers of their discovery, authorities would be able to create a scientific plan for the conservation of the animals, but they do not avail themselves of it.

Violence in literature for young readers is a common concern, especially among parents and teachers. At the start of Raptor, Zack's father is badly mauled by a Utahraptor, and the action rarely lets up after that, but although a house is torn up, violence is not visited upon the characters again until the climax, when Boneid is killed along with a huge dinosaur. Indeed, if the pace were slowed, the violence would seem dubious. For instance, Boneid's huge rifle should be able to blow apart even the monster that attacks him, but that would put a crimp in his death scene. Much of the action in Raptor involves gross-out scenes rather than body-mangling violence. Even when Zack is injected with a paralyzing venom, the scene is played more for its bizarre ickiness than for violence; besides, when the plot demands it, he recovers remarkably quickly. Even so, the scenes in the lair of the Utahraptors are nightmarish, and while pleasing to horror story fans, they may be too much for sensitive younger readers.

VII  TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Does the explicit violence of Raptor make it unsuitable for children? Under what age?

2. How well does Zindel show rather than tell what he means?

3. Does the action in Raptor remind you of any movies you have seen? Which ones? How is the action in Raptor reminiscent of the action in the movies?

4. What was the most exciting part of the novel? What made it exciting?

5. How well depicted are the Utes in Raptor? Are they more than stereotypes?

6. Is the novel's plot predictable?

7. Why would Zindel include scenes of goo and slime in Raptor?

8. Why would Zack's father put up with Boneid's abuse?

9. How could the Utahraptors remain hidden from humans for as long as they have? Or have they?

10. Why would Zindel remove both Zack's father and Zack's mother from the plot early in the novel?

11. Zack's eyes seem "wolflike" to Uta; he is said to have the spirit of a wolf. Why is it important to the novel that Zack be wolflike?

VIII  IDEAS FOR REPORTS AND PAPERS

1. What dinosaurs are called raptors? Why are they so named?

2. Where in Utah are dinosaur remains to be found? Where would tourists be able to go to see dinosaur digs?

3. What kinds of dinosaurs have been found in Utah? Have any of them been found anywhere else?

4. What is the history of dinosaur fossil hunting in Utah?

5. If you were to mount an expedition to hunt for dinosaur remains in Utah, what would you need? How would you organize the expedition? Who would you need to join you?

6. Is there such a thing as a Utahraptor? If so, who first identified it? What sets it apart from other dinosaurs? When did it live? How much of Zindel's description of Utahraptors is from science and how much did he make up?

7. Are there mines in northeastern Utah? What has been mined there? Are there mines like the one in Raptor?

8. What dams are in Utah? Which ones are in the region where the action in Raptor takes place? For what are the dams used?

9. What does the interior of a large dam like the one in Raptor usually look like? Is the description in Raptor realistic?

10. What federal laws would cover a newly discovered species such as the living Utahraptors? Would they be protected from hunting? Would Dr. Boneid's activities be legal or illegal?

11. Who are the Utes? Where do they live? Are they accurately depicted in Raptor?

IX  RELATED TITLES

Raptor is one of a series of thrillers that Zindel has written. The others include Loch, Reef of Death, and The Doom Stone. Like Raptor, these novels feature frightful monsters. Like Raptor's plot, the plots of The Doom Stone and Loch turn on the fate of their monsters; in Reef of Death, the monster fills a secondary role as one among several sources of chills. Like Raptor, Loch features dinosaurs, the aquatic plesiosaurs. In Loch, three youngsters take on a rapacious research expedition bent on capturing the plesiosaurs dead or alive—more likely dead. In Reef of Death, two young adults and an elderly man take on an illegal mining operation that is disguised as a research ship. The bloody scenes in Reef of Death and Loch equal those in Raptor, providing vivid descriptions of dismemberment and gore. The Doom Stone is more circumspect about gory scenes, relying on a hideous monster and perilous situations for its scary effects. Loch uses a plot device similar to that in Raptor to place its main character in peril; in Loch, the main character, Loch, accompanies his father on an expedition in search of lake monsters, much as Zack has accompanied his father. Both novels feature expedition leaders who humiliate the boys' fathers; in Loch, the leader is the millionaire publisher Cavenger, a man almost as ruthless as Boneid. Of Loch, Reef of Death, The Doom Stone, and Raptor, Loch has the most complex plot, one into which the characterizations are seamlessly woven; Reef of Death and Raptor feature somewhat more common plots, familiar from numerous monster movies. Of the novels, The Doom Stone and Raptor surpass the others in sheer, gripping suspense, although those who enjoy reading them are likely to enjoy both Loch and Reef of Death as well.

Contributed by: Kirk H. Beetz
Source: Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults. Copyright by Gale Group, Inc. Reprinted by permission.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Book Summaries help you understand books studied in schools and give you insights that make for great book reports. Gain a new perspective by reading about the author, and learn how settings, characters, and themes help make these books acclaimed works of literature.

Rats
Published 2000

I  ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul Zindel was born on Staten Island, New York, on May 15, 1936. His father abandoned his family when he was still very young, and this abandonment may by the source of the many broken families in his writings. His family moved around frequently in New York, dogged by poverty. At fifteen years old, Zindel was diagnosed with tuberculosis and was placed in a sanatorium for a year and a half, delaying his graduation from high school by a year. He attended Wagner College, earning a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1958, and eventually a master's degree in chemistry. After a brief stint as a technical writer, he became a high school chemistry teacher, teaching on Staten Island from 1959 to 1969. Zindel married on October 25, 1973, and has two children. He presently lives in New York and has become one of the most admired writers for young adults. He had already begun writing plays while in college, and his interest in writing combined with his interest in his teenage students resulted in The Pigman, a novel for young adults that was well received and ended up on several best-books-for-children lists. Although he published additional well-received novels for young adults, it was a play that brought him national stature as an important writer. Produced off-Broadway, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds was a notable success, winning several drama awards and the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for drama. Although generally regarded as a play for grownups when it was first produced, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds has since been recommended as a best-of-the-best work for young adults by the American Library Association.

II  OVERVIEW
Rats is a thrilling page-turner with a fast, exciting narrative that makes it hard to put down. In a landfill near New York City, a horde of rats has something that other rats lack—a leader with the cunning of Attila the Hun. When humans cover the mounds of the dump with thick layers of tar, the rats are cut off from their food supply. With their existence threatened, they react with ferocity and a sense of purpose. Zindel says that in real life large packs of rats are known to have leaders and a leadership hierarchy such as that of the rats portrayed in the novel. He works this and other bits of the natural history of rats into his plot, giving it a sense of possibility and making readers believe that the events could really happen. Against the rat horde stand two youngsters, whose knowledge of the behavior of rats is pitted against a clever, ruthless adversary.

III  SETTING

Among the strong points of Rats are the descriptions of its settings. Zindel creates a strong sense of place, as in this passage: The pier stretched out into the Hudson River, thousands of pilings reaching up from the black water like dark fingers clutching the main pier and its extensions. The beginning of the pier was covered with a flow, like dark lava. Sarah stared down from the chopper window at the lights and vast nets of the golf range. Everything was ablaze with floodlights except for the amusement park annex. Its metal-tube roller coaster, Ferris wheel—all the rides—sat in darkness like the skeleton of a leviathan carcass.

As this description shows, creating a feel for a place depends on more than just identifying what can be seen. It requires words chosen for their connotations, so that not only is the place described, but its meaning for the characters observing it—in this case, Sarah and Michael—comes through. Zindel achieves this with metaphorical language such as "pilings reaching up from the black water like dark fingers clutching the main pier." In this description, the commonplace becomes ominous, as if the pilings were alive. The apprehension felt by the youngsters is echoed in the description of the darkened amusement park as a "skeleton of a leviathan carcass." It is not only a vivid way of showing what the amusement park looks like, it is also a reminder of death and the crawling mass that brings it, looking like "a flow, like dark lava."

It is tempting to skip descriptive passages in any book—especially a thriller in which action is an important element—but one would be missing a treat by skipping the descriptive passages in Rats. Anyone who wishes to write fiction could learn much from Zindel's technique. For instance, note how Zindel makes the description of the area in which Sarah and Michael live work for him, advancing his ideas and the narrative: She and Michael started their trek through their sprawling housing development. There was no end to split-level ranch houses lining the east border of the garbage dump. Richmond Estates was the next development to Springville Gardens—and that was all Cape Cod-style homes. The other major housing tract was Holly Farm Homes, the cheapest built of them all, on the south side of the dump. Sarah knew for a fact that the walls of the houses there were paper-thin.

Zindel needs his main characters to be involved in the description, to show the setting as part of their lives. He does this by choosing an everyday activity: Sarah and Michael are selling candy to earn money for the Woodland Bird Sanctuary. This means that they must walk through their neighborhood and nearby neighborhoods—an excellent excuse for a quick description of how the neighborhoods fit together. The passage avoids being forced; instead it seems a natural outcome of something schoolchildren often do. When the rats flow out of their mound and into the neighborhoods, their movements will be easier to follow because of this passage.

In a Globe article "How I Write My Books," Wilkie Collins, author of The Woman in White and The Moonstone, remarked that he thought it the job of an author of fiction to show the romance in everyday life. In Rats, Zindel chooses an everyday American setting. In other thrillers such as Reef of Death and Raptor, the author has sometimes chosen exotic settings for the adventures of his main characters. In Rats, the adventure takes place in a suburb of ranch houses, a city dump, and the edges of New York City. This helps make Sarah and Michael seem like fairly ordinary young people living fairly ordinary lives in a fairly ordinary place. Using a setting common to many readers, Zindel makes his characters' experiences in Rats seem like experiences that Zindel's audience could have also.

Further, his description of settings invites people to reconsider their own surroundings, to see where the mystery and romance may be found in the sights that they have taken for granted. For instance, in one paragraph, Sarah and Michael make their getaway in a motor boat: She threw the throttle wide open. The prop of the outboard screamed as it bit into the water and threw a wake of bubbles and oil out behind the boat. Sarah sat behind the wheel, flicked on the head and safety lights, and steered the boat away from the pier. Michael scooted about after the few rats in the boat with a fishing net. He caught them one by one and dropped them into the black oil-slicked water.

The tone is intense here because Sarah and Michael are barely escaping the rampaging rats, some of which have pursued them right onto their boat. In this intense action, Zindel slips into a description, seamlessly, as if it were only natural to consider the setting for a moment: Strings of lights came on suddenly across the huge mounds of asphalt. Crude streetlights lined the main roads linking the mounds. Sarah slowed the boat. She didn't want to run into any flotsam, planks of wood, or tin cans and bottles—anything that could shatter the cotter pin of the prop. The last of the twilight made the Jersey side of the river surreal. Factory lights burned brightly. Smokestacks coughed forth tremendous white streams of smoke, ghostly fingers reaching high into the blackening sky. The tops of the refinery chimneys shot out flames and ripples of yellow sulfur. Circles of light marked the several platforms that clung to the enormous Staten Island Con Ed plant.

Mentioning the flotsam is an especially effective touch, because it makes the point that Sarah must consider the setting in order to safely navigate her boat. In addition, the setting is eerie, with "ghostly fingers reaching high into the sky." Even further, the description of the setting promotes the themes of the novel. The wood, tin cans, and bottles, as well as the smoke and flames are reminders of the polluted environment that fosters the rats but threatens the habitat of other, some might say more desirable, animals.

IV  THEMES AND CHARACTERS

The main theme of Rats is that of a corrupted environment. Sarah believes that the rebellion of the rats is a logical outcome of people despoiling the land: "People had ruined the water and the land and the air for as far as she could see. Oil-and-grease-covered barges lined a dead black shore. Everything was endangered. Crawling. Dying." Sarah and Michael are shown to be on the right side of the battle over the environment: they sell candy to raise money for a bird sanctuary. Sarah in particular has a strong interest in natural history and wildlife, and Michael's research into wild rats proves essential in the war against the rats from the local dump.

Environmental issues appear in other Zindel novels. For instance, in Loch youngsters try to save some ancient animals from extinction at the hands of adventurers, and in Reef of Death the destruction of Australia's wild lands by unscrupulous international corporations is an important motif. Even so, in Rats the idea of environmental destruction is taken to new extremes. New Jersey and New York are portrayed as areas of poisonous ruin caused by poor disposal of urban wastes, festering with polluted air and water caused by factories and people who live along the Hudson River. In this context, the rats are symbolic: They represent the natural world rebelling against human despoilment of the land and water. Where few other animals can exist, the rats have thrived on garbage. When humans pave over their dump the way the land around them has been paved for homes, schools, and roads, the rats fight back.

This helps to explain the gruesome opening of the novel. Leroy Sabiesiak is a killer of the rats, taking pleasure in shooting them while he is riding his bulldozer. This makes him a representative of all the people who treat the lives of the rats as worthless, as well as representative of the people who intend to encase the dump and its rats in asphalt. In terms of the environmental theme, his death suggests that the poisoning of the land will eventually affect human beings. It also suggests that there are more frightful thrills to come.

Central to the plot are Sarah and Michael Macafee, whose father, Mack, is in charge of the local dump. Sarah is the novel's main character and point-of-view character, meaning most events are seen through her perspective. She is smart, tough, and quick to take action, all good qualities to have for the main character of a thriller. Her brother, Michael, is harder to understand, because he is unusually immature for a ten-year-old. His fifteen-year-old sister spends a lot of time dealing with his childish ways, because their mother is dead and their father works long hours. Near the end of Rats, he insists on pursuing Surfer, his pet rat, in the rat-infested dump, even though common sense says that it would be a wasted effort. His sister, obliged to follow him, nearly dies because of his foolishness. Sarah thinks that he remains immature because of the shock of losing his mother. The young boy also exhibits strange behavior, such as fixating on his pet rat to perhaps compensate for his absent mother. In any case, he is fortunate that his sister is forgiving, courageous, and quick witted.

Surfer is Michael's pet rat or "Michael's friend," as Sarah reminds herself. That something strange is occurring is evidenced by Surfer's behavior. When he and the youngsters watch television, he will change channels with the remote control, settling on shows about nature. When taken outside, he often rushes into the dump. This is one reason why he has been equipped with a transmitter, to help Michael find him after he runs off. Further, he seems to talk to other rats: "He's been making sounds like that a lot lately," Michael says to Sarah. Surfer functions as a spy in the enemy camp of humans, learning about wildlife and humans and telling the landfill rats what he has learned. Although he seemingly saves Sarah's and Michael's lives at one point in Rats, he is vengeful and has Sarah endure a physical examination the way he did when she brought him to school to teach other youngsters about rats. He pays for his vengeance in a nice turn of events involving methane gas and his transmitter.

Other characters in the novel are not particularly well developed. Mack Macafee is a kindly father but a bit befuddled by the rats' behavior. In fact, the only official who seems to apply common sense to the crisis of the invading rats is the local mayor, in a reversal of stereotype common for thrillers. Usually, politicians are villains, but Zindel avoids the stereotype, perhaps because he wants to make the corruption of the environment the fault of everybody, rather than just politicians.

The rest of the characters exist mostly to be victims of the rats. Like Miss Lefkowitz, an English teacher, they are killed and devoured. On the other hand, Mrs. Carson defies the pattern of terrified victims by fighting back, defending her child. Aunt B uses good sense in her handling of the rat invasion. But most characters, like Hippy whose cadaver is devoured in the rats' caves, serve as grisly reminders of the hatred of the rats.

Given that multitudes of people are killed, individually or in mass in New York City, death is an inescapable theme. Although not as important as the main theme of environmental corruption, it is important in how it supports the main theme. Although Rats is a thriller, meant more to entertain then enlighten, the idea that humans polluting the environment will eventually result in the deaths of humans is significant.

V  LITERARY QUALITIES

It takes talent and skill to write truly frightening scenes. The writer has only ink on paper to work with, without sound effects, scary voices, or other advantages a live performance offers. Zindel is one of only a few writers for any age group who can compose prose that actually frightens. For instance, Mrs. Carson and her son Kyle confront a rat in their bathroom. The scene begins with a common human response to a surprise: hesitation. "By the time it was clear that it was a living thing it was too late," Zindel notes. "In a flash, Mrs. Carson's instincts interpreted the movement as beyond the parameters of anything inanimate. Concern, apprehension, and even fright raced electrically through her as the thing swam upward in the bowl." In this brief passage, Zindel accomplishes three things: He foreshadows the thrills to come by mentioning "it was too late"; he ties in his environmental theme by mentioning Mrs. Carson having "instincts," putting her into a violent natural world for which her experiences have left her unprepared; and Zindel places his characters in a vulnerable position likely to be familiar to his readers—using the bathroom.

Further, Mrs. Carson is a mother with a child to protect; this makes her even more vulnerable to the rat than she would otherwise be. She was stunned "as she realized a head with snout and teeth was exploding—erupting!—straight at her." Then, "Mrs. Carson jerked her head back and away, but the large rat had launched itself into the air now. Its body was sleek, with powerful legs and claws digging into the air." Zindel says, "She had a single moment to push Kyle away from the bowl into a pile of laundry and get to her feet." By now, the nature of the threat has been established, and Mrs. Carson's dire situation is plain. She has neither powerful legs nor claws. What can she do? Before she could get to Kyle, the powerful and wet writhing body of the huge rat was half out of the toilet and heading for her. She held Kyle as the rat leaped from the bowl and charged at her. With her free hand she grabbed a broken mop and swung it with full force.

Here, Mrs. Carson has become primeval woman, determined to protect her young, and she does what human beings have done for thousands of years, she tries to compensate for her lack of claws by using a tool, whatever her environment offers: in this case, a broken mop. Earlier passages have made clear what the rats can do when they surprise and overwhelm people, but in Mrs. Carson's case, the human assesses her situation and replaces surprise with an aggressive defense: At first she missed, stroke after stroke, and she settled instead for diverting the dark, snarling mass. It scooted like a shadow, a horrible stalking shadow that closed on her feet. She leaped and stepped to one side faster than she knew, and an innate ability to battle replaced any thought of fleeing. Blood rushed into her head, and her brain pounded as she brought the stick down on top of the rat. Again. And again.

There is a master hand at work in this passage, because it not only contains frightening and captivating action, but also because the author's few words speak volumes about Mrs. Carson. A character about whom little can be known at the start of the scene, Mrs. Carson immediately becomes a fleshed-out figure. Through her behavior, without any explanation from Zindel, Mrs. Carson is shown to be passionate about the welfare of her child, as well as courageous, smart, and quick witted.

Occasionally, Rats seems somewhat mechanical. For instance, Zindel hammers on foreshadowing for creating suspense. That Surfer's collar can spark is mentioned often enough that readers should notice this must be an important detail to remember. Other instances include the "moaning" in the mound, Surfer's penchant for visiting the dump, taking boats across the river—showing that the rats are right by the river, and "the real nightmare was just beginning." These instances of foreshadowing are sometimes awkward enough to affect the style of the narrative because they become a distraction from events, making Rats somewhat inferior to novels such as Raptor and Loch.

VI  SOCIAL SENSITIVITY

Environmental issues frequently appear in Zindel's thrillers. For instance, the destruction of Australia's natural environment is a prominent issue in Reef of Death, in which unscrupulous corporations despoil the land and coastal waters. In Rats human beings have despoiled much—perhaps most—of the land in and near New York City. The landfill in which the rats live has been placed in a bad spot, right next to a community of homes. Its smell is foul and it is infested with vermin. Zindel contrasts this with the Woodland Bird Sanctuary, a place that represents hope for undoing the destruction that people have wrought on the land.

This environmental theme is nicely worked into the plot of Rats so that it appears to be a natural part of the novel. The rats themselves have adapted to the polluted landscape, becoming creatures who can survive where others cannot. Without natural checks on their population, the rats have swarmed through the dump and the city. Zindel has Sarah mention what she has learned about rat behavior in order to underscore the point that the rats are behaving much as they would in the wild. The problem is that the human habitat has become so unbalanced that a single rapacious species of animal can come to dominate its part of the land.

By having the rats turn on humans in a fury of destruction, Zindel makes two points. One is that the natural world can fight back; the other is that a poisoned land will poison human beings as well as animals. The furious rending apart of human beings is a consequence of human carelessness, of many years of ruining the environment to the point that humans become the only available prey. Therefore, when the rats attack and overwhelm human technological defenses such as the fishing boat, they represent the wretched, polluted natural world in conflict with the modern human environment—a spasm of violence doomed by humanity's superior brain and ability to adapt to a corrupted environment in which kill-or-be-killed is the only choice left for animals.

Like other thrillers by Zindel (Loch, Reef of Death, The Doom Stone, and Raptor), Rats has scenes of grotesque violence like this one where Sarah struggles to free herself from Hippy's rotten corpse: As though alive, the bones and flesh of the body followed her, followed her screams and terror, and she felt as if her heart would shatter. She pulled and yanked at the legs and disembodied arms, until finally she was free of it and the snake and the sickening stench of rotting flesh.

Terrifying stuff, the material is perhaps more explicit than some readers would care for, although most teenagers would take this and other such scenes in stride. Rats also has scenes in which people are eaten alive, as well as scenes of dismemberment as the rats swarm through city streets in search of revenge, prey, and a new home. These scenes add to the dramatic intensity of the novel. In addition, these incidents make the rats' efforts to enter Manhattan menacing and suspenseful because their potential for destruction has been made clear. Even so, some parents may wish to read the novel before they decide whether it is suitable for their youngsters. Sensitive younger readers may find the images of rats swarming into automobiles and homes, while devouring people, to be the stuff of nightmares.

VII  TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Does the brutal violence of Rats make it unsuitable for children? In your opinion, what should be the appropriate age for readers of this book?

2. How well does Zindel show what he means as opposed to telling what he means, especially when speculating on the rats' motivations?

3. How intense are the scenes in the rats' caves? Why would Zindel send Sarah and Michael into the caves? Did you enjoy those scenes?

4. Why would Zindel include scenes of goo and slime in Rats?

5. What is the point for having the rat leader examine Sarah the way Surfer was examined?

6. Why would workers at the landfill not realize that they had a serious rat problem, one much worse than usual for a dump?

7. What purpose does the absence of Sarah and Michael's mother serve in the plot of Rats?

8. When does it become apparent that Surfer is up to no good? What are the clues Zindel provides before the scenes in the caves?

9. Mentioning that Surfer's collar can spark is called "foreshadowing" because it sets up the scene in which the mound is blown up. What other instances of foreshadowing are there in Rats?

10. Why do people in Rats underestimate the rats?

11. Why would Michael, supposedly an intelligent youngster, insist on going into the rats' lair to find Surfer?

VIII  IDEAS FOR REPORTS AND PAPERS

1. Real-life rat behavior is mentioned now and again in Rats. How accurate is Zindel's portrayal of rat behavior?

2. What are Norwegian rats? Where are they to be found? Why would people be afraid of them?

3. What is the situation for rats in New York City? Where in the city are they to be found? What problems do they create? Do they do anything beneficial to the city? How successful have efforts been to control them?

4. From Zindel's description of the area along the Hudson River, locate where Sarah and Michael's home should be. Draw a map showing where their house, their aunt's house, and New York City are in relation to each other.

5. How polluted is the Hudson River area near New York City? Who or what is doing the polluting? What are the pollutants?

6. Sarah's research into the natural history of rats says that Malaysia has large packs of rats like those described in Rats. Look up the real-life accounts of the Malaysian rats. Is Sarah accurate in her depiction of their social structure?

7. What actually happens to old dumps when they have outlived their usefulness? Are any paved over like the dump in Rats? Would the people in Rats have had alternatives to paving over and sealing their dump?

8. Do fishing boats such as the Parsifal actually exist? If so, how do they function? If not, what sort of boats would come close to being like the Parsifal?

9. What bird or wildlife sanctuaries are there on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River? What animals are to be found in them? Is there a place like the Woodland Bird Sanctuary?

IX  RELATED TITLES

Rats is one of a series of thrillers that Zindel has recently written. The others, so far, are Loch, Reef of Death, The Doom Stone, and Raptor. These novels feature frightful monsters, but Rats finds its chills in a common animal. Like the plot of Rats, the plots of The Doom Stone, Loch, and Raptor turn on the fates of their monsters; in Reef of Death, the monster fills a secondary role as one among several sources of chills. In Loch, three youngsters defy a rapacious research expedition bent on capturing the plesiosaurs dead or alive—more likely dead. In Reef of Death, two young adults and an elderly man confront an illegal mining operation that is disguised as a research ship. The bloody scenes in Reef of Death, Loch, and Raptor equal or exceed those in Rats, providing vivid descriptions of dismemberment and gore. The Doom Stone is more circumspect about gory scenes, relying on a hideous monster and perilous situations for its scares. Of Loch, Reef of Death, The Doom Stone, Raptor, and Rats, Loch has the most complex plot, one into which the characterizations are seamlessly woven. Reef of Death and Raptor feature somewhat more common plots, familiar from numerous monster movies. Of the novels, The Doom Stone and Raptor surpass the others in sheer, gripping suspense, although those who enjoyed reading them are likely to enjoy Loch, Reef of Death, and Rats as well.

Contributed by: Kirk H. Beetz
Source: Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults. Copyright by Gale Group, Inc. Reprinted by permission.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Book Summaries help you understand books studied in schools and give you insights that make for great book reports. Gain a new perspective by reading about the author, and learn how settings, characters, and themes help make these books acclaimed works of literature.
Reef of Death by Paul Zindel
Published 1998

I  ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul Zindel was born in Staten Island, New York, on May 15, 1936. His father abandoned the family when Zindel was still very young, and this desertion may be the source of the many broken families in his writings. His family, dogged by poverty, moved frequently in New York. Zindel was diagnosed with tuberculosis when he was 15 and was placed in a sanatorium for a year and a half, delaying his graduation from high school by a year. He attended Wagner College, earning a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1958, and eventually a master's in chemistry. After a brief stint as a technical writer, he became a high school chemistry teacher, teaching on Staten Island from 1959 to 1969.

He had already begun writing plays while in college, and his interest in writing combined with his interest in his teenage students led him to write The Pigman (1968), a novel for young adults that was well received and ended up on several best-books-for-children lists. Although he published other well-received novels for young adults, it was a play that brought him national stature as an important writer. Produced off-Broadway, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds was a notable success, winning several drama awards and the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for drama. Although generally regarded as a play for adults when it was first produced, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds has since been recommended as a best-of-the-best work for young adults by the American Library Association.

II  OVERVIEW

Reef of Death is a fast-paced adventure populated by mysterious friends and deadly enemies who confront each other in an exotic location. Teenaged PC McPhee thinks he is in for the usual summer of adventure while working for his Uncle Cliff on another one of the uncle's nutty, doomed schemes to get rich, but he is quickly immersed in a frightful life-or-death battle against an array of forces, human and inhuman: greed, a crazed and homicidal scientist, evil magic, and horrifying monsters of the deep. Danger is found at every turn, and not all of PC's companions will survive their encounter with the reef of death.

III  SETTING

The action takes place along a remote area of Australian coast where the adjacent waters are filled with ancient coral reefs and a rain forest covers the area inland. The region, though far from population centers, is being developed for tourism. The coastal ocean is treacherous, and swimmers among the reefs need to be aware of the change in tides because they risk being dashed on rocks or reefs if they are in the water at the wrong time. The setting of Reef of Death abounds in more singular hazards such as a giant fish that will eat people alive and a mysterious freighter that may be illegally mining minerals in the reefs.

IV  THEMES AND CHARACTERS

It is a time-honored convention of the action-and-adventure tale that what the main characters fear the most as the story begins will be what they must face and defeat as the plot progresses. Reef of Death is no exception to this hallowed principle of increasing physical fear through psychological terror. PC McPhee (Peter Collins McPhee) has a 'deep-seated fear,' 'the fear of being eaten alive.' Readers may be certain that being eaten alive is a probable fate that will confront our hero. Reef of Death thus features a huge, mysterious fish that lives near a reef, one that answers an 'EEEEEEE. EEEE.' sound in the water by rising from the depths to gobble up swimmers.

PC is an adventurous American teenager who during his summers has helped his intriguing Uncle Cliff with various get-rich-quick schemes in different parts of the world. Thirty-eight-year-old Uncle Cliff is a man who has faced life's injustices with grace and fortitude, but his purpose in Reef of Death is to act as a plot device. How does one transfer a teenage boy from the United States to Australia without his parents coming along to restrict his actions? You have an eccentric uncle invite the youth to Australia. Soon after PC arrives down under, Uncle Cliff is eliminated with ruthless convenience so as to leave the young protagonist without family help when exposed to hideous danger. This provides readers with a hero of about their own age who will always be at the center of the action, even if it is hard on Uncle Cliff.

When PC comes on the scene, Uncle Cliff is helping Maruul, an Aborigine teenager, find the hidden treasure of her tribe. The 16-year-old beauty has already experienced the mistreatment of her tribe by those who want its land, the kidnapping of her tribe's shaman, and the return in a box to her village of what seems to be the shaman's still-warm heart. She has also seen, as if these traumas were not enough, her brother Arnhem devoured alive, although she has blotted this last horror out of her memory. The inevitable strong attraction between handsome PC and lovely Maruul offers a cleansing counterpoint to the brutal events in the novel. Their relationship reflects the enduring worth of other relationships bound by love and family, and provides a solid thematic context for PC's renewed dedication to his family at the end of the novel.

PC and Maruul are joined in their adventure by Wally Wallygong, who represents that popular paradox in storytelling, the wise fool. Such a figure is traditionally eccentric in behavior, manner, and speech, and though he tends to be funny, sometimes in perplexing and peculiar ways, he also is often craftier than most people and possessed of great wisdom. Wallygong befriends PC and Maruul. Wallygong's ability to laugh in the face of great peril makes him a very appealing, even endearing, figure, and his humorous remarks lighten what could be a bleak narrative. The vile Dr. Ecenbarger is also a familiar figure in action-and-adventure storytelling. She is the crazed scientist whose life of evil is driven by greed and lust to cause pain. Her phony laboratory on her freighter fools the coast guard officers who visit it, but PC, Maruul, and Wallygong realize that is just a sham since none of the 'scientists' are actually doing any research. She is their rival for the great slab of fiery opal that is the hidden treasure of the Morga tribe, and her elaborate traps and dog-headed guards are the obstacles the adventurers must overcome. As so often happens to the prime adversary in tales of adventure, she becomes a victim of her own cruelty.

The plot is usually the main attraction in adventure novels, but in Reef of Death themes serve to bind events together and to give readers a consistent perspective on events. The principal theme here is that of the exploitation of national resources for the sake of greed. The adventure would never take place without this theme; the illegal exploitation of the reef is what motivates the killings of Arnhem and Uncle Cliff, and the illegal exploitation of Aboriginal lands is what motivates Maruul to search for her tribe's treasure. It is important to note that Zindel has his characters frequently speak throughout the novel about corporate thievery and the loss of resources that belong to Australia as a whole. These remarks and observations help ground events in a particular context which enables readers to measure both characters and deeds against this theme of illegal exploitation. Evil characters tend to be very exploitative, whereas good ones tend to be very giving. Good characters understand the morality of acquisition; if it does not belong to them they should not take it. This explains why Maruul takes only enough opal to help her tribe and leaves all the rest, as well as why neither PC nor Wallygong take advantage of the situation to lift some opal for themselves. This simple but profoundly important principle is nicely illustrated in Reef of Death.

V  LITERARY QUALITIES

Reef of Death is similar to the adventure tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard in that it can be considered a daydream with a plot. As a daydream, it invites readers to participate in its fantasy by picturing themselves as the heroes and heroines of the adventures it describes. Also as a daydream, the events of the novel do not have to be rational, logical, or credible—in fact incredible escapes from certain death are an advantage to the narrative. Thus, as an example, Maruul saves the fatally poisoned PC by shocking him with electric eels! Would this work in real life? Probably not. But the point of this episode is that Maruul's solution is amazing and ingenious, and it was even foreshadowed by an earlier explanation of how the eels were electric.

The novel may be full of implausibilities and extraordinary characters, but it is nonetheless well constructed. The structure is tightly organized, with the main plot of the search for the treasure of the Morga tribe neatly tied to subplots such as Dr. Ecenbarger's exploiting of Australian natural resources. The language is also distinguished, offering an excellent prose style and vivid scenes, as when PC, Maruul, and Wally see the opal slab for the first time: 'There was an explosion of light and color. Reds, golds, blues, orange. A vast wall of stone that seemed to be burning. Stone aflame. Pulsing. Dazzling. Blinding.'

VI  SOCIAL SENSITIVITY

Some Australians may be put off by Zindel's uncomplimentary portrait of the state of affairs in their homeland. Maruul seeks the treasure of her people because they are about to be cheated out of their land, and she makes this sound like a common occurrence in Australia, a nation portrayed as being owned by corporations. 'The Aboriginal lands are being stolen from us!' she declares. When PC notes that the mysterious freighter is drilling, which would be illegal, Maruul remarks, 'Probably paid off some politician, like everyone else does in this country.' Throughout Reef of Death there is a profound distrust of the Australian government and its representatives.

This distrust of the Australian government is tied to a broader suspicion of corporations in general. PC declares:

There aren't any more countries in the world, you know. There are only corporations with two kinds of people; the ad guys and the Dr. Ecenbargers, the ones who call the shots on the whole scam. They're the mutations—monsters who'd cut our noses off and try to kill us for a buck. There are Ecenbargers all over the place now!

These remarks go unchallenged and are reinforced by events within the novel.

Reef of Death features intense, bloody scenes of violence and torture. In the introductory passages of the novel, Maruul's brother Arnhem is attacked by a monstrous fish that has been mysteriously summoned to eat him. He is savagely bitten, 'The taste of blood filled his mouth. In his final second alive, he saw a long, red eel bursting out of his waist.' This is followed by Maruul's observations:

Maruul screamed. She saw Arnhem's intestines and legs fall away from him. A shudder racked her body and she began to choke uncontrollably. It had to be a dream, an impossible nightmare! The creature dove to follow the sinking limbs. It snapped at them as the girl saw Arnhem's torso float up to the surface, saw the white flash of spine and the circle of shredded, raw flesh.

This is grim and grisly and may be more than a sensitive young reader can handle. The novel also features innovative torture scenes that are even more intense than the bloody ones of sudden violence such as the fish's attack. In the most detailed description of torture, a man has his head locked into a box full of water with a respirator over his mouth so that he can breathe. A spider crab is released into the box and it tears out clumps of the man's hair, tears off his ears and eats them, tears at his lips, and so on, eating his face alive. Enough said. The scene illustrates just how very evil Dr. Ecenbarger is, although it follows the somewhat superfluous convention of the insane-leader story, in which the crazed mastermind torments an ineffective underling as a lesson in terror to his other followers. It never makes any sense in the countless motion pictures that have such scenes, and it makes no more sense here—especially since Ecenbarger already uses a very effective system of terror based on weird mysticism created by the Aboriginal shaman. Ecenbarger, though, takes so much pleasure in inflicting pain that she is plainly insane—and insane actions do not have to make sense. However, this undercuts Zindel's attacks on ruthless corporations, since the cruelties inflicted by Ecenbarger are not the result of cold-hearted corporate planning but are instead the result of one aberrant human being's madness.

VII  TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1. What was the most exciting part of the novel? What made it exciting?

2. Are any of the novel's characters stereotypes?

3. Is the novel's plot full of surprises, or is it predictable?

4. Is Reef of Death too gory?

5. Reef of Death ends with 'He would go home for a while, enjoy them—and show them what a real family should be.' What is meant by this? Is it well motivated?

6. What are arukas? Who are the arukas in Reef of Death? What makes them arukas?

7. One chapter is titled 'Toward the Dreaming.' What does 'toward the dreaming' mean? Why is it important?

8. Does Uncle Cliff's demise early in the novel surprise you? Why would Zindel kill him off so early?

9. Do you agree with PC that the world is controlled by corporations? Do they supersede the world's countries as PC asserts?

10. What is important about the paintings on the opal slab?

VIII  IDEAS FOR REPORTS AND PAPERS

1. What are Australia's laws regarding who may own Aboriginal lands? How are the rights of Aboriginal tribes protected?

2. What are mining operations off the coast of Australia like? What do they mine?

3. What are Australia's biggest corporations? What businesses are they in?

4. Where in Australia are rain forests found? What plants and animals are found in them?

5. How important is tourism to Australia's economy? How big a part of tourism is devoted to water sports?

6. What are opals? What kinds of opals are there? Where are they found? What are they used for?

7. What are the safety precautions scuba divers must take when diving near reefs?

8. Maruul's tribe has a shaman. What is the shaman's role in the affairs of an Aboriginal tribe? Does the role vary significantly from tribe to tribe?

9. Compare Dr. Ecenbarger to other mad scientists in novels and motion pictures. Is she a typical mad scientist character?

10. What species of fish live along the coast of Australia? Which are dangerous?

11. Have Aborigines recorded some of their history with paintings like those on the opal slab? If so, what are the paintings like? What do they record?

12. Part of the mystery of the treasure in Reef of Death is a riddle passed down through generations until Maruul puts it to use. How important is the oral tradition to Aboriginal culture? Does the oral tradition include rhymes or songs? What does the oral tradition record?

IX  RELATED TITLES

Reef of Death is one of a series of thrillers that Zindel has recently been writing, and of particular interest to readers of this book is Loch (1994), another primarily aquatic adventure involving frightening beasts lurking underwater. The plot of Loch deals not with conflict among humans as does much of Reef of Death but rather turns on the fate of plesiosaurs, hungry survivors of the dinosaur ages. In Reef of Death the monster fills a secondary role as one among several sources of chills. In Loch, three young people take on a rapacious research expedition bent on capturing the plesiosaurs dead or alive—more likely dead. Its bloody scenes are at least equal to those in Reef of Death, and its protagonists are as appealing. Loch has the greater literary merit of the two novels, featuring as it does a more complex plot into which the characterizations are fully integrated; Reef of Death has a somewhat more common plot that is familiar from numerous monster movies.

Contributed by: Kirk H. Beetz
Source: Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults. Copyright by Gale Group, Inc. Reprinted by permission.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Book Summaries help you understand books studied in schools and give you insights that make for great book reports. Gain a new perspective by reading about the author, and learn how settings, characters, and themes help make these books acclaimed works of literature.

To Take a Dare
Published 1982
I  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Crescent Dragonwagon: Yes, her name is real. First married to Crispin Dragonwagon in 1970, the author retained this pen name following their divorce. A prolific author, Dragonwagon produces adult fiction and nonfiction as well as children's works. Born November 25, 1952, in New York City with two authors for parents, she grew up in a household where writing was a normal part of life. Her mother, Charlotte Zolotow, has authored many children's books. Dragonwagon left school at age sixteen but an intense self-designed reading program helped her educate herself in a manner like that of her heroine, Chrysta, in To Take a Dare. The book reflects some of the author's own experiences in the 'hippie' lifestyle of the 1970s. She describes her collaboration with author Paul Zindel in most complimentary terms. Although the majority of the writing is her own, Dragonwagon credits Zindel with helping motivate her to continue the project, even when she became discouraged. To Take a Dare deals with adult themes and language, and it is one of the works she describes as borderline adult/young adult books.

Presently married to Ned Shank, Dragonwagon divides her time between their bed-and-breakfast establishment in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and Atlanta, where her husband is employed. She has combined her talent as a writer with that as a cook, publishing her own cookbooks. Her message to young writers is, to borrow a popular phrase from today: Just do it.

Dragonwagon continues to write and believes the desire to create is more important than any natural talent. Her everyday experiences are often processed into her stories, a method that has proved extremely successful for her.

Paul Zindel is well known not only for his children's stories but for the plays he has written. He won the Pulitzer Prize among other awards for a drama with the trademark Zindel unusual title: The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (first produced in 1964, although the award came much later). To Take a Dare is not the only work in which he has shared authorship. He wrote a book with his wife, Bonnie Zindel, titled A Star for the Latecomer.

Zindel was born in New York, and abandoned by his father at an early age. Raised in poverty and a broken home, he feels close to people of similar backgrounds, including minority groups. His family raised dogs to help pay the bills. A bout with tuberculosis interrupted his high school career and he entered a New York sanatorium for a year and a half. Able to graduate from high school later, he attended Wagner College in New York, where he later also received a master's degree in education.

His jobs include technical writer and high school chemistry teacher, as well as creative writer. His successful play caught the attention of a publishing house that asked him to write books for young people. Many of his books for teenagers have the same tone as J. D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye (1951), which remains very popular. His experience as a teacher helps him find his plots and characters.
Zindel's characters are always intelligent with a good sense of humor, but generally are miserable due to a collection of parents who represent everything 'bad,' from drugs and drunkenness to near idiocy. Consequently, even when their intentions are good, the young people generally fall into trouble. For years, his plots have entertained young readers who seem to respond well to his humor and his portrayal of 'rotten' parents.

II  OVERVIEW
The development of Chrissie Perretti is well worth following. She transforms from sweet innocent Chrissie, to Chrissie the Punk Queen, to Chrysta the runaway. Her problems with bizarre parents, adventures on the road, and final relationships in Excelsior Springs, Arkansas, are described with detail and vigor. But it is not all fun and adventure, as Chrysta faces separation from her one true friend, copes with being in love, deals with the separation from her parents, and learns that she can never have children due to an early case of gonorrhea. In keeping with the troublesome themes of the book, its ending is not that of a fairy tale, but nonetheless is worth the long trip from Benton, Illinois, to Excelsior Springs where Chrysta finally finds her home.

The best way to establish the tone and attitude of this book is to supply a quick summary of the first few chapters: At twelve-and-a-half years, Christine Perretti lives a miserable life with her hugely overweight mother and obsessively religious father in Benton, Illinois. She is the only girl with a 36 C bra in middle school, and her maturity is a fact her parents tend to ignore; her mother makes a rather bewildered attempt to explain the facts of life to Chrissie, her 'little girl.' Chrissie describes the day she became a teenager: 'On my thirteenth birthday my father called me a slut once too often, my dog was hit by a car, and I lost my virginity—what was left of it.' Most communication with her parents ends, other than her father's constant accusations.

Sexually very active, but caring for none of the boys with whom she has sex, Chrissie develops gonorrhea. She lies about her age during a physical examination and gets prescription medication to treat the venereal disease, but her father discovers the pills and takes them away. He doles them out one at a time so Chrissie must come to him and listen to his daily abuse in order to receive her treatment. After three days, she can stand it no longer, and she runs away, without completing her antibiotic treatments. She remains on the road, drifting from town to town, until she is sixteen, when she discovers Excelsior Springs, Arkansas, and the chance to have a better existence. As part of her search for a new identity, she changes her name to Chrysta, and begins a new life.

A staunch representative of the 'realistic' school of literature, this novel reveals the possibilities for ugliness in life. The problems its heroine faces would discourage the most optimistic of people. Yet the book's message is one of optimism and possibility in the face of isolation and defeat. Chrysta's hardships are not stressed as much as her spirit and determination to find the peace constantly eluding her. She reminds herself that she is not a 'bad' person, blaming most of her problems on her parents. This attitude motivates her through the worst situations as she manages to retain some trust for fellow human beings.

Although most readers cannot identify with the personal situations in which Chrysta finds herself, they will likely feel familiar with her reactions and attitudes. There are no 'easy outs' in this book, which has its share of losers as well as winners. Chrysta's failure to reform the incorrigible twelve-year-old-boy, Dare, darkens the novel's conclusion. Even though depressing at times, To Take a Dare encourages its readers to take control of their lives and overcome less-than-positive pasts.

III  SETTING
Chrysta's story begins in Benton, Illinois, where she is an unusual twelve-year-old. Her well-developed body causes problems at school and home, so she associates anger and distrust with Benton. She leaves Illinois to hitchhike around the West as a runaway, encountering various adventures in New Mexico and California, and meeting her first best friend. Finally ending up in Arkansas by mistake when her means of transportation breaks down, Chrysta feels a certain aura about the town, 'vibes' that tell her Excelsior Springs is a good place to live. With the many 'artsy' young people around, the tourist center seems warm and inviting, providing not only employment, but friendship. Most of the novel's action takes place here as Chrysta tries to find what she has never experienced before—a true home.

IV  THEMES AND CHARACTERS

A variety of characters influence Chrysta Perretti as she fights for her own identity. She desires a happy life but her obese mother, overly religious and restrictive father, and her own body all seem intent upon betraying her. Her overly developed figure leads to trouble. Unloved at home, Chrissie becomes involved in sex for attention at school and turns to drugs and alcohol to support her low self-esteem. Her image as 'punk queen,' complete with overdone makeup and high-heeled shoes, brings her notice, but little satisfaction. Independent and bright, she knows things are not right in her life, and desires freedom from her parents' oppression.

When Chrissie contracts a venereal disease, her father's reaction finally spurs her into action, and on her thirteenth birthday, she runs away. Adopting a new identity with a new name, Chrysta, she continues her avid reading habit and exists as best she can, her mature looks and independent nature helping her find jobs and places to stay. As she tells her story, she realizes she has never experienced true love, and this leaves a big hole in her life. Meeting Lissa, her first true friend, helps her understand about caring for others; but it is Luke, the Arkansas musician, who really strikes a chord within Chrysta.

Her optimistic attitude never completely diminishes, and Chrysta remains true to her 'quest' for peace and love. Her relationships in Excelsior Springs are all very important, especially with the young Dare with whom she closely identifies. Even when circumstances seem the worst and she finds she can have no children due to her early promiscuity, Chrysta finds the strength from herself and those around her to persevere. More than anything else, she is a survivor, and she refuses to give up on herself.

Chrysta's best friend, Lissa, provides the support Chrysta has never had. A tiny, foul-mouthed runaway herself, Lissa is wise to the ways of the road and men. The two girls travel toward New Orleans together, and Chrysta discovers, with Lissa's support, that she does not have to sleep with men. Unwillingly, Lissa leaves Chrysta behind in Excelsior Springs, but she later returns from New Orleans during Chrysta's illness. Their friendship is for a lifetime, and, ever practical, Lissa helps Chrysta in her search for happiness. She encourages her to accept the caring Excelsior Springs bunch: Nettie, Tess, Hoot, Susan, Cleota, and Joanie.

Joanie, owner of the Yeller House where Chrysta lives in Excelsior Springs, is supportive and trustworthy. Although she can never take Lissa's place, Chrysta finds her a valuable friend. It is Joanie who first suggests that Chrysta search for employment at the General's Palace Hotel.

Chrysta's first experience with the hotel crew is memorable. Her very unfavorable first impression of Luke and his crazy Aunt Nettie soon changes as she comes to know the kitchen gang. Luke is an orphan, attends the nearby university, and has worked in the kitchen for years. Eventually, he and Chrysta must confess their feelings for one another, first expressed through some of the music Luke writes. But before that happens, there is kitchen business to tend to.

If truth be told, Luke actually manages the hotel kitchen, although that job officially belongs to the villainous Howie. Manipulative and dishonest, Howie almost ruins Chrysta's stint as an employee of the hotel. With the help of the kitchen crew; Hugh Dewling, the hotel owner; and Howie's uncle, Chrysta finally learns the truth about Howie. Wealthy, cigar-smoking Hugh places his trust in her, and for the first time she feels she may have a bright future. Her fortunes seem to change and her natural loving nature causes her to want to care for Dare.

Although his parents are still alive, Dare is 'orphaned' by the drug culture. His no-good junkie father phones every now and then, but basically farms Dare out to anyone who will take him. At sixteen, Chrysta sees herself in the rebellious, stubborn twelve-year-old boy. Her attempts to help Dare are thwarted when his violent side eventually emerges. Dare is an example of someone who cannot see beyond his troubles to envision a new life or identity, as Chrysta can.

Accompanying the theme of identity in this novel is that of hope and trust. Even after years of distrust and disappointment, Chrysta hangs on to the little self-esteem she is allowed, eventually nourishing it into a promising future. Although filled with discouraging events, the novel ultimately is a story of hope and accomplishment in the face of failure, embodied by Chrysta and Luke.
V  LITERARY QUALITIES

The first-person narration of Chrysta adds to the novel's attractiveness. Her changing attitudes are easy to follow, and her interpretation of events is vital to understanding her development as a person. This story is written on the level where it takes place—that of the stark reality of the street. Profanity, drug usage, nudity, promiscuity, and the threat of rape are openly presented. Because Dragonwagon has been involved in some of these situations in her past, the descriptions and narration have a very authentic quality.
VI  SOCIAL SENSITIVITY

The very qualities which probably attract young readers to this book may cause an instructor or parent to pause before recommending it. The main character's involvement with indiscriminate sex at the age of thirteen, her contracting of gonorrhea, her father's attitude toward her, drug and alcohol usage, abundant profanity among the young people, communal nude bathing, and an attempted rape are described and openly discussed. The twelve-year-old Dare reads Hustler and begs alcohol and cigarettes from the locals of Excelsior Springs. Chrysta's first meeting with Lissa is over the need for a tampon, and the two girls discuss the men they have slept with, in a very general way. As runaways, they are constantly threatened by truly dangerous situations. Lissa describes an incident in which some men played Russian roulette with a gun at her head, and Chrysta is narrowly rescued from Howie's intended rape. The fact that they do escape harm may be satisfying to the reader, but is arguably unrealistic. Chrysta's explains her 'luck' by saying, 'And I never got ripped off, I never got raped, I never got busted as a runaway, I never got down to my last dollar ... and I was never hungry for more than a day or two.' At one point, Chrysta thinks to herself, 'I mean I was a drop out and I'd done O.K.'

Chrysta's ability to find work to support herself instead of turning to the streets is easily explained by her looking much older than she already is. A runaway at the early age of thirteen, she manages to support herself and to save money for travel; although she often depends upon men for her existence, sometimes trading sex for a place to stay. The unreality of her adventuresome survival is something most adults will question, along with her ability to educate herself through reading books. Although there is not a completely happy ending to the novel, this uneducated, untrained (other than on-the-job) sixteen year old ends up as assistant manager of a resort kitchen, enrolled in a management program paid for by her wealthy boss, engaged to a psychology college student, completely free of drug or alcohol addiction, and ready to finally enjoy the good life.

In defense of the authors, they do attempt to balance this situation. Chrysta's improperly treated gonorrhea eventually puts her in the hospital where a partial hysterectomy leaves her sterile, cheating her from having the children she so badly desires. Her relationship with Luke is not completely smooth—they both must face up to the problems her past will bring them. Her relationship with Dare illustrates the fact that not all such stories have happy endings. And she does only partially reconcile with her parents at the book's end.

Some readers may find it offensive that the only character with a pronounced Southern dialect is Howie, the kitchen manager with a criminal mentality who plans to rape Chrysta. This is particularly notable when the action takes place in an Arkansas community, where many of the people should have Southern accents.
The book is recommended by the publishers for ages twelve and above. Award-winning and inspirational, Dragonwagon's and Zindel's story also possesses a frankness that might not be suitable for all students.

VII  TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Throughout the book, Chrysta chooses several methods to confront her problems. Name a few and discuss their success or failure.
2. Which of the various characters in the book have the greatest influence on Chrysta and why?
3. What do the various settings in this book add to its action?
4. Do you feel Chrysta has reached the end of her road at the story's close? Why or why not?
5. Is Chrysta a likable character? Discuss her personality traits as positive or negative.
6. Chrysta and Luke discuss 'playing parts.' Mention the different parts that several of the characters in the book play.
7. The book could have ended with Chapter 21. Lissa even remarks at the beginning of Chapter 22, 'Chrysta lived happily ever after.' Why did the book not end at this point?

VIII  IDEAS FOR REPORTS AND PAPERS

1. Discuss the double meaning of the book's title and apply it to several different events in the story.
2. An initiation story is one in which a certain event, or series of events, change a young person forever. Think of Chrysta in this way, discussing both her exterior and interior changes. Which one event do you think affected her the most?
3. Compare and contrast the following characters from this book: Chrysta and Dare, Donny Figeroa and Luke, Lissa and Joanie.
4. Is the book's ending a positive one in your opinion? Why or why not? Note special passages that foreshadow your conclusion.
5. Throughout the book, various songs and works of literature are mentioned, and the arts are a very important part of life in Excelsior Springs. In what way does this provide a type of framework for the story?
6. Compare Luke's life story to Chrysta's. Is it realistic that they would end up together?

Contributed by: Ginger R. Brackett
The University of Kansas
Source: Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults. Copyright by Gale Group, Inc. Reprinted by permission.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

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In Bohol - Tagbilaran Bay

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Healthcare Workers Affected by Covid-19

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Milk Tea Nutritional Facts

Covid 19 Cases in the Philippines

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Words of Gov Art Yap

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Gov. Yap commends PEMA under Ae

Gov. Art Yap commended the Provincial Emergency Management Administration (PEMA), under the leadership of former provincial administrator Ae Damalerio, for shepherding Bohol during the critical first two months of the Covid era.

The governor appreciated the many accomplishments of Damalerio's leadership in the PEMA.

This, as PEMA transitioned to Bohol Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF).

First of all, Damalerio led the process of establishing the PEMA which oversees the entire crisis management in prevention of NCov-19.

The governor also appreciated that Damalerio had effectively led PEMA in carrying out various executive orders to intensify the safety of the people.

The Security and Public Safety Cluster of PEMA has continued to institute and strengthen security measures to maintain public peace and safety and has been in strict implementation of all executive orders.

PEMA had put together the Offshore Boholanos Coordinating Team (OBCT) which is tasked to specially respond to the stranded Bol-anons all over the country.

Although confronted with initial challenges, the PEMA remains on top of the situation in successfully bring home and facilitate the return of our OFWs who have undergone mandatory quarantine, and more are still coming.

PEMA tapped the PDRRMO as its external secretariat and serves as the fulcrum for all local government unit coordination and the process of travel clearances and continues to be PEMA's external secretariat.

The PEMA has also formulated emergency response trainings and orientations for all municipal health officers (MHOs) and disaster risk reduction and management officers (DRRMOs) in preparation for contact tracing and calibrated lockdown procedure.

The TWG cluster of PEMA, under the leadership of Dr. Yul Lopez and private medical consultants, have laid down their emergency response plan, including the preparation of Gallares Hospital as Bohol's Covid-19 medical facility.

PEMA's Emergency Communications Cluster has continued to be available 24 hours in response to emergencies and updates to PEMA Internal Secretariat with Reyna Deloso and Flor Labor. (PRIMER)

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Ephesians 1
 1  Si Pablo, apostol ni Cristo Jesus pinaagi sa kabubut-on sa Dios, alang sa mga balaan nga anaa sa Efeso ug sa mga matinumanon diha kang Cristo Jesus.

 2  Ang gracia kaninyo ug ang pakigdait nga gikan sa Dios nga atong Amahan, ug sa Ginoong Jesucristo.

 3  Dalayegon ang Dios ug ang Amahan sa atong Ginoong Jesucristo, nga nagpanalangin kanato sa tanang panalangin nga espirituhanon sa mga langitnong dapit diha kang Cristo:

 4  Ingon nga siya nagpili kanato diha kaniya, sa wala pa ang pagtukod sa kalibutan, aron kita mahimong balaan, ug walay ikasaway sa iyang atubangan diha sa gugma:

 5  Sa iyang gipili kita nga daan aron mahimong inangkon nga mga anak pinaagi kang Jesucristo ngadto sa iyang kaugalingon, sumala sa kahimut-an sa iyang kabubut-on,

 6  Alang sa pagdayeg sa himaya sa iyang gracia nga sa-walay-bayad gihatag niya kanato diha sa Hinigugma:

 7  Nga kaniya anaa ang atong katub-sanan pinaagi sa iyang dugo, ang pasaylo sa atong mga paglapas, sumala sa pagkadato sa iyang gracia,

 8  Nga iyang gipadagaya alang kanato sa bug-os nga kinaadman ug salabutan,

 9  Nga iyang gipaila kanato ang tinago sa iyang kabubut-on, sumala sa iyang kahamut-an, nga iyang gituyo diha kaniya,

 10  Alang sa usa ka hugna sa kahup-nganan sa mga panahon sa pagtigum sa tanan nga mga butang diha kang Cristo, niadtong mga butang sa mga langit ug ang mga butang sa yuta; diha kaniya, nagaingon ako,

 11  Nga diha usab nahimo kita nga usa ka kabilin, sa gipili kitang daan sumala sa tuyo ni Cristo nga nagabuhat sa tanan nga mga butang, sumala sa pagbulot-an sa iyang kabubut-on;

 12  Aron kita mahimo nga alang sa pagdayeg sa iyang himaya, nga kaniadto milaum kita kang Cristo:

 13  Nga kaniya usab, sa pagkadungog ninyo sa pulong sa kamatuoran, sa Maayong Balita sa inyong kaluwasan, nga kaniya usab, sa mingtoo kamo, gipatikan kamo sa Espiritu Santo sa saad:

 14  Nga mao ang pagsalig sa atong kabilin alang sa katubsanan sa iyang kaugalingon nga naangkon, ngadto sa pagdayeg sa iyang himaya.

 15  Tungod niini, ako usab, sa pagkadungog sa inyong pagtoo sa Ginoong Jesus, nga anaa kaninyo ug sa gugma nga inyong gipakita sa tanan nga mga balaan,

 16  Wala ako mag-undang sa pagpasalamat tungod kaninyo, nga gilakip ko kamo sa akong mga pag-ampo;

 17  Aron ang Dios sa atong Ginoong Jesucristo, ang Amahan sa himaya, magahatag kaninyo sa Espiritu sa kaalam ug sa bugna sa pag-ila kaniya;

 18  Sa maiwagan ang mga mata sa inyong kasingkasing, aron inyong hibaloan kong unsa ang inyong paglaum sa iyang pagtawag, ug kong unsa ang mga pagkadato sa himaya sa iyang kabilin diha sa mga balaan.

 19  Ug kong unsa kadtong labaw gayud nga pagkadaku sa iyang gahum, alang kanato nga mingtoo, sumala sa buhat sa kusog sa iyang gahum,

 20  Nga iyang gibuhat diha kang Cristo, sa pagbanhaw kaniya gikan sa mga minatay, ug nagpalingkod kaniya sa iyang toong kamot didto sa mga dapit nga langitnon,

 21  Sa ibabaw sa tanang pamunoan, ug pagbulot-an, ug gahum, ug kaginohoan ug sa tanan nga ngalan nga ginanganlan, dili lamang niining panahona sa kalibutan karon, kondili usab niadtong umalabut:

 22  Ug gipasakup niya ang tanan nga mga butang sa ilalum sa iyang mga tiil, ug gihatag siya aron mahimong ulo ibabaw sa tanang mga butang sa iglesia,

 23  Nga mao ang lawas niya, ang kahupnganan niya, nga nagapuno sa tanan diha sa tanan.



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Opening of Classes Puts Children's Lives at Risk

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6 Million Coronavirus Cases as of May 31 2020

Covid-19 cases in the Philippines May 30 2020

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Bohol eyes 2 power barges
to deliver 64 MW of power
By Philippine Information Agency

TAGBILARAN CITY, July 13, 2017 (PIA)--It is all up to the local negotiators now to pull in time for Bohol to get its much needed power: this time from the power barges.

Disregarding its impacts to the environment, Bohol officials have to turn a blind eye to oil-fired and diesel powered generators just to get power back to houses.

For the ongoing trials, repair, replacement and reconfiguration of its lines, transmission company National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has worked 24/7 to make sure they can immediately transmit power as soon as it is available, NGCP Visayas spokesperson Betty Martinez stated in her NGCP update July 12.

Moreover, NGCP through its Assistant Technical Officer Gil Listano in a press conference Wednesday has said their transmission lines are all ready to transmit power, which is not there yet.

The Energy Development Corporation (EDC) is operating the geothermal power plants in Leyte, but these could not supply the needed power yet as they are still running tests to get some 40 megawatts (MW) of power salvaged from the July 6 earthquake damaged plants to Ormoc for distribution to Samar, Leyte and Bohol.

To date, no power from the damaged Kananga plants has succeeded in passing through due to still some undetermined technical problems in the plants, according to EDC.

EDC, once they can rerun the turbines at the Kananga power plants and prove the plant can still operate, would be giving out 40MW, which could be shared by Samar, Leyte and Bohol.
If this runs, an additional 10 to 15 MW would boost the local sources in Bohol, but this still is far from half of Bohol's peak load requirement.

A bypass line to allow Samar, Leyte and Bohol to share in the excess power from Cebu-Negros-Panay grid has proven to be inoperable now with five of the six transformers down, the remaining one in fact may have technical problem when the earthquake damaged its insulators, according to NGCP's Martinez.

While NGCP is now on the process of hauling its standby transformers from Cebu to temporarilly replace the busted Ormoc transformers, the transfer of the giant transformers, according to Listano, would take until July 31.

NGCP Corporate spokesperson Atty. Cynthia Alabanza, however hinted that the move is still dependent on the excess supply from CNP with Cebu currently experiencing low power supply too.

Here, the NGCP admits, the fastest and most doable would be power barges, but the transmission facility company said they are not privy as to the power barge negotiations.

Power barges are now privately owned and its owners would only call the NGCP to string the lines from the barge to the nearest transmission lines to energize areas suffering from power problems, according to Listano.   

In an interview Thursday, Bohol Governor Edgar Chatto has hinted Bohol's intent to bring in two power barges.

Power barges, all with four units of generators producing 8 mega watts of power, could deliver 32 MW of immediate power.

Chatto hinted that one of the power barges, owned by Trans Asia Power, is now in Ilo-ilo, one that would take between 3 days to one week to arrive in Bohol. This, he said is set to be moored in Catagbacan, Loon. 

He also said there is another barge which has committed to get to Bohol would come from Davao or General Santos, as revealed by city councilor Eliezer Borja in a radio interview.

This could be Salcon Power's 32 MW power barge 104, now getting refurbished at the Holcim Compound in Ilang, Davao.
This, the governor said would take three weeks before getting towed to arrive in Bohol and is set to be moored at the Cortes power barge mooring.   

As soon as the barges arrive, it would not be long for the NGCP to string the lines and tap the floating power generators to the local 69KV lines for distribution companies to step down to 220 volts for the consumers' homes.

Short of saying, from July 13, the earliest time for Bohol to get 50% of its peak demand supply is 3 days to a week, and when another barge arrives in three weeks, it would be not until August 3 when power would be sufficient to restore full power in Bohol.

That too is considering Bohol would not be late in getting these barges while both Samar and Leyte have also intended to pull at least one for their island needs, according to NGCP. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

PHOTO: Coming in to supply Bohol's much needed power are two power barges, both capable of generating 32 MWs, on the agreement that Boholanos pay only for the actual use of the floating power facility. (foto from bworldonline)

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CEBU
The City of CebuCebu, the metropolis of the Visayan Islands, is the oldest European city in the Philippines and one of the oldest occidental settlements in the East. Discovered and temporarily occupied by Magellan in 1521, it became a permanent Spanish possession in 1565, having thus almost exactly the same age as the other Spanish settlement, St. Augustine, in Florida. It is situated about midway of the east coast of the island of the same name. The island itself is practically coextensive with the Province of Cebu, of which the city is the capital. The province has the largest population of any in the Archipelago and is one of the most thickly inhabited. The city has a good harbor, protected by the Island of Mactan, and the scene which unfolds itself from the moment of entering the channel, between this Island and that of Cebu proper is a very busy one. There are good harbor facilities, and seagoing vessels of large draft are able to tie up along the docks.

Cebu is a fascinating mixture of old and new and contains a considerable number of places of special interest. The waterfront is busy with the various activities arising from [66]the city's position as one of the chief centers of the Islands' hemp trade. Here is a good opportunity to see the finest grades of this important staple, of which the Philippines have practically a monopoly.

Places of Historic InterestMost of the places of historic interest are within a short distance of this point. Calle Colon, the oldest street in the Islands, is in this city. On the main plaza is a small building housing a large hollow cross. This contains within it another cross, which, according to the most probable story, is the original one erected to mark the spot where Magellan and his companions gathered for the first mass on Philippine soil. But a short distance away is the old triangular Fort San Pedro, standing approximately on the site of Magellan's fortifications; and in the same neighborhood stands the Augustinian church and convent. Here the sacristan will show to visitors the curious image known as the "Holy Child of Cebu." It is agreed by historians that this is the one which was given by Magellan in 1521 to the temporarily converted wife of the rajah of Cebu, and recovered forty years later after the landing of Legaspi.

An automobile road through the Province of Cebu gives a pleasing succession of views of the sea through arcades of coconut palms that fringe the long narrow island of Cebu; a second road cuts across its backbone, giving finer views still.

Source: Philippine Islands book published in 1923

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If you are pregnant, nursing, trying to conceive, taking any medications, or have a medical condition, please consult your healthcare practitioner before using this product.
Keep out of the reach of children


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Ingredients
Serving Size: 2 Capsules

Servings Per Container: 60

Amount Per Serving:

Pistacia lentiscus (Resin) 1 g

Other Ingredients: Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, microcrystalline cellulose, magnesium stearate, silicon dioxide.

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Ingredients
Serving Size: 2 Capsules

Servings Per Container: 60

Amount Per Serving:

Pistacia lentiscus (Resin) 1 g

Other Ingredients: Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, microcrystalline cellulose, magnesium stearate, silicon dioxide.

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Suggested usage
As a dietary supplement, 1 or 2 capsules two times daily between meals, or as directed by a healthcare practitioner.

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Chios Gum Mastic is the resinous material obtained from the Pistacia lentiscus tree, grown on the island of Chios in Greece, where it has traditionally been used as a healthy food for the gastrointestinal tract.

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Buy Vegetarian Capsule by Allergy Research Group: Mastica Chios Gum
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Buy Zinc Chelate Supplement by Douglas Laboratories
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Buy Biscolata Snack Mood with Milk Chocolate Online
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Buy Biscolata Nirvana Snacks Online


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Nutritious Biscolata Food



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[The perfect everyday laptop is now even faster, with up to 11.5 hours battery life.¹ Choose from rich colors,² two durable keyboard finishes, and 13.5- or 15-inch touchscreens

DOST REGION 2 DIRECTOR TRUMPETS S AND T INITIATED AMIDST COVID 19 CRISIS

TUGUEGARAO CITY -- Department of Science and Technology Region 02 (DOST-RO2) Director Sancho A. Mabborang takes pride in the initiatives of their agency in combatting the health crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic in his recent radio interview here.

Interviewed over Bombo Radyo Tuguegarao last April 28, Mabborang trumpeted the efforts of DOST in ensuring the continuous production by their micro-, small and medium enterprises (MSME)-beneficiaries particularly those engaged in essential products and services.

Among these MSMEs are those producing Immuno-booster food, drinks and related products including Turmeric powder, Calamansi Juice, and Banana Chips that are purchased by some local government units (LGUs) for distribution to frontliners in various areas.

To support the MSMEs, DOST-RO2, despite the Enhanced Community Quarantine, released Php41 million of its Innovation Fund this April to 43 MSMEs under its banner program, Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP).

Maborang said the fund support will sustain their SETUP beneficiaries that also benefits their workers and their suppliers of raw materials,  especially in this time of the pandemic. As further support for its SETUP beneficiaries, DOST has also deferred the payment of their loans from April to June this year.

In addition, he said DOST-RO2 is also working with the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Agriculture on the "KADIWA ng Ani at Kita" program which enables the MSMEs to display their products for promotion and marketing.

Furthermore, the DOST Regional Director also highlighted the benefits of the OneSTore.ph program they developed, an e-commerce platform that helps market products of MSMEs for free. Despite the temporary suspension of some logistics companies, he said the self-enabled MSMEs are still able to deliver their products to their customers.

In the search for the cure for COVID-19, Maborang said DOST is now  conducting clinical trials on virgin coconut oil (VCO) that is believe to have anti-viral and anti-microbial properties that can help deter the spread of the current pandemic contagion.

He likewise cited the continuous production of 70% alcohol at their  DOST-Isabela State University (ISU) facility, and the utilization of their Hybrid Electric Road Train (HERT) and E-trikes that provide free transportation for front liners in Cauayan City and Tuguegarao City, respectively.

"Asahan niyo po na ang ahensya ng Agham at Teknolohiya ay tuluy-tuloy ang trabaho kahit na ECQ at GCQ man tayo, di tayo titigil para humanap ng solusyon, lalo na ngayong napakarami nating problema," (Please be assured that DOST continues its work, and despite the ECQ and DCQ  we will not stop to fine solutions to our current problems), he said.

DOST REGION 2 DIRECTOR TRUMPETS S&T INITIATED AMIDST COVID-19 CRISIS

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Psalms 83
 1  Oh Dios, ayaw pagpakahilum: Ayaw pagpakahilum, ug ayaw paghunong, Oh Dios.

 2  Kay, ania karon, ang imong mga kaaway nagahimo ug usa ka kaguliyang; Ug sila nga nanagdumot kanimo mingpatuyhakaw sa ulo.

 3  Batok sa imong katawohan nanaghimo sila sa pagtambag nga malimbongon, Ug sa tingub nanagsabut-sabut sila sa pagpakitambag batok sa imong mga gitagoan.

 4  Nanag-ingon sila: Umari kamo, ug putlon ta sila gikan sa pagkanasud; Aron dili na handumon ang ngalan nga Israel.

 5  Kay sa tingub nanagsabut sila pag-usa sa usa ka kabubut-on; Batok kanimo sila nanagbuhat ug pakigsaad:

 6  Ang mga balong-balong sa mga Edomhanon ug sa mga Ismaelhanon; Sa Moab, ug sa mga Agarhanon;

 7  Sa Gebal ug sa Ammon ug sa Amalek; Sa Filistia uban sa mga pumoluyo sa Tiro:

 8  Ingon usab ang Asiria miipon kanila; Sila mingtabang sa mga anak ni Lot. (Selah)

 9  Buhata kanila ang ingon sa gibuhat mo ngadto sa Madian, Ingon sa kang Sisara, ingon sa kang Jabin, didto sa suba sa Cison;

 10  Nga nangamatay didto sa Endor, Nga nangahimong pundok sa kinalibang alang sa yuta.

 11  Himoa ang ilang mga harianon nga ingon kang Oreb ug kang Seeb; Oo, ang tanan nilang mga principe nga sama kang Seba ug kang Zalmuna;

 12  Nga nanag-ingon: Panag-iyahon ta sa atong kaugalingon Ang mga puloy-anan sa Dios.

 13  Oh Dios ko, himoa sila sama sa abug sa alimpulos; Ingon sa mga tuod sa balili sa atubangan sa hangin.

 14  Ingon sa kalayo nga nagasunog sa kalasangan, Ug ingon sa siga nga nagasunog sa kabukiran,

 15  Busa lutosa sila pinaagi sa imong unos, Ug lisanga sila pinaagi sa imong bagyo.

 16  Pun-a ang ilang mga nawong sa kalibog, Aron managpangita sila sa imong ngalan, Oh Jehova.

 17  Ibutang sila sa kaulawan ug kagubtanan sa pagkaluya sa walay katapusan; Oo, liboga sila ug pasagdi nga mangamatay;

 18  Aron sila makaila nga ikaw lamang, kansang ngalan mao si Jehova, Ikaw lamang ang Hataas Uyamut ibabaw sa tibook nga yuta.



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Psalms 82
 1  Ang Dios nagatindog sa katilingban sa Dios; Sa taliwala sa mga dios nagahukom siya.

 2  Hangtud anus-a ba magahukom kamo nga walay katul-id, Ug palabihon ang pagkatawo sa mga dautan? (Selah)

 3  Labani ang kabus ug ang mga ilo: Buhata ang justicia sa mga sinakit ug sa makalolooy.

 4  Tabangan mo ang mga kabus ug ang mga hangul: Luwasa sila gikan sa mga kamot sa dautan.

 5  Sila wala manghibalo, ni makasabut sila; Magalakaw sila ngadto ug nganhi sa kangitngitan: Ang tanang mga patukoranan sa yuta nangauyog.

 6  Ako miingon: Kamo mao ang mga dios, Ug kamong tanan mga anak sa Hataas Uyamut.

 7  Apan bisan pa niini kamo mangamatay sama sa mga tawo, Ug mangapukan sama sa usa sa mga principe.

 8  Tumindog ka, Oh Dios, hukmi ang yuta; Kay ikaw magapanunod sa tanang mga nasud.



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Psalms 81
 1  Pag-awit sa makusog ngadto sa Dios nga atong kusog: Sa Dios ni Jacob managsinggit kamo ug usa ka kagahub sa kalipay.

 2  Pagpatugbaw ug usa ka awit, ug dad-a nganhi ang gagmayng tambor, Ang mananoy nga alpa uban ang salterio.

 3  Huypa ang trompeta sa bagong bulan, Sa bulan nga takdul, sa atong adlaw sa fiesta.

 4  Kay kini maoy usa ka kabalaoran alang sa Israel, Unsa ka tulomanon sa Dios ni Jacob.

 5  Iyang gitudlo kini kang Jose alang sa pagpamatuod, Sa diha nga migula siya gikan sa yuta sa Egipto, Diin hibatian ko ang usa ka sinultihan nga wala ko masabut.

 6  Gikuha ko ang iyang abaga gikan sa palas-anon: Ang iyang mga kamot gipagawas gikan sa alat.

 7  Sa kasamok ikaw misangpit, ug ako nagluwas kanimo; Gitubag ko ikaw sa dapit nga natago sa dalugdog; Nasulayan ko ikaw didto sa katubigan sa Meriba. (Selah)

 8  Patalinghug, Oh akong katawohan, ug ako magapamatuod kanimo: Oh Israel, kong ikaw magapatalinghug unta kanako!

 9  Dili ka magbaton ug lain nga dios diha kanimo; Ni magsimba ka sa bisan unsang dumuloong nga dios.

 10  Ako mao si Jehova nga imong Dios, Nga nagkuha kanimo gikan sa yuta sa Egipto: Ngangha pagdaku ang imong baba, ug pagapun-on ko kini.

 11  Apan ang akong katawohan wala magpatalinghug sa akong tingog; Ug ang Israel dili buot kanako.

 12  Busa gipasagdan ko sila sa kagahi sa ilang kasingkasing, Aron sila managlakaw sa ilang kaugalingong mga tambag.

 13  Oh, nga magpatalinghug lamang unta ang akong katawohan kanako, Aron ang Israel maglakaw unta sa akong mga dalan!

 14  Sa madali akong pagalaglagon ang ilang mga kaaway, Ug mosumbalik ang akong kamot batok sa ilang mga kabatok.

 15  Ang mga magdudumot kang Jehova managpasakup unta kaniya: Apan ang panahon nila magapadayon sa walay katapusan.

 16  Siya magpakaon usab kanila sa labing matambok sa trigo; Ug sa dugos nga gikan sa bato pagatagbawon ko ikaw



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OFW 'Quarantine Certificates'
now available online: STG RO

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, May 22, 2020 (PIA) —Expect a deluge of Boholano Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), seafarers and returning Filipino and Boholano tourists coming home anytime soon, as the Sub Task Group for the Repatriation of OFWs (STG RO) has turned to a faster method to hasten the repatriation program.
A sub group of the Inter Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the STG RO composed by the Bureau of Quarantines (BOQ) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has decided to publish the Quarantine Certificates issued to returning OFWs from abroad who have completed the mandatory facility-based quarantine.

The Department of National Defense, PCG, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), and the BOQ agreed on the online release of Quarantine Clearance for the OFW, Filipino seafarers, and returning Filipinos who have tested negative in their recent Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test, May 20, 2020.

This is in the hope that OFWs who are cleared of the viral diseases can readily rejoin their families as per agreed protocols.

According to Department of Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Singh-Vergiere, during a town hall meeting with the Presidential Communications Operations Office Friday, that the government is keen on the RT PCR as this would be a more reliable test as this can determine the presence of the virus in asymptomatic patients.

Real time RT-PCR is a nuclear-derived method for detecting the presence of specific genetic material from any pathogen, including a virus.
The readily available Rapid Antibody Test, she explained, can only be used after the patient has exhibited symptoms of about 7 days.
As of May 21, 2020, about 14,669 overseas Filipino have been issued clearance to return home to their provinces and towns, STG RO said.
But owing to the travel restrictions and the inconveniences of lining up to claim the clearances, the STG has put up the clearance online.

Through STG RO Advisory Number 052020-001, dated May 31, the repatriation agencies had published the Quarantine certificates in the PCG websites (www.coastguard.gov.ph) and facebook page (@Philippine Coast Guard), and where OFWs concerned may download and print or screenshot their respective BOC-PCG quarantine Certificates as evidence of their health condition when returning to their respective home communities.
The same website also published the OFW's Philippine Red Cross RT-PCR test laboratory report and a Master List of the OFWs qualified by the STG to return home.

The Advisory, signed by Admiral Joel S Garcia PCG, also said all LGUS, Local Health Offices, Regional task Forces of the National task Force COVID-19, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police Units and personnel manning checkpoints and other government units and private entities concerned are informed and enjoined to extend assistance to the qualified OFWs returning to their come communities.

And as a security measure, the STG said the authenticity of the online generated Quarantine Certificates may be counter-checked through the master List of qualified OFWs as published in the PCG website and facebook accounts.

Or, concerns relative to the authenticity of the Quarantine Certificates can be vetted by email to : stg.repat.ofw@coastguard.gov.ph or pcgcomcen@coastguard.gov.ph and its hotline numbers 0917-8424980, 0917842824, 09188038353 and 0998-589-3982. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)

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OFW 'Quarantine Certificates'
now available online: STG RO

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, May 22, 2020 (PIA) —Expect a deluge of Boholano Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), seafarers and returning Filipino and Boholano tourists coming home anytime soon, as the Sub Task Group for the Repatriation of OFWs (STG RO) has turned to a faster method to hasten the repatriation program.
A sub group of the Inter Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the STG RO composed by the Bureau of Quarantines (BOQ) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has decided to publish the Quarantine Certificates issued to returning OFWs from abroad who have completed the mandatory facility-based quarantine.

The Department of National Defense, PCG, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), and the BOQ agreed on the online release of Quarantine Clearance for the OFW, Filipino seafarers, and returning Filipinos who have tested negative in their recent Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test, May 20, 2020.

This is in the hope that OFWs who are cleared of the viral diseases can readily rejoin their families as per agreed protocols.

According to Department of Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Singh-Vergiere, during a town hall meeting with the Presidential Communications Operations Office Friday, that the government is keen on the RT PCR as this would be a more reliable test as this can determine the presence of the virus in asymptomatic patients.

Real time RT-PCR is a nuclear-derived method for detecting the presence of specific genetic material from any pathogen, including a virus.
The readily available Rapid Antibody Test, she explained, can only be used after the patient has exhibited symptoms of about 7 days.
As of May 21, 2020, about 14,669 overseas Filipino have been issued clearance to return home to their provinces and towns, STG RO said.
But owing to the travel restrictions and the inconveniences of lining up to claim the clearances, the STG has put up the clearance online.

Through STG RO Advisory Number 052020-001, dated May 31, the repatriation agencies had published the Quarantine certificates in the PCG websites (www.coastguard.gov.ph) and facebook page (@Philippine Coast Guard), and where OFWs concerned may download and print or screenshot their respective BOC-PCG quarantine Certificates as evidence of their health condition when returning to their respective home communities.
The same website also published the OFW's Philippine Red Cross RT-PCR test laboratory report and a Master List of the OFWs qualified by the STG to return home.

The Advisory, signed by Admiral Joel S Garcia PCG, also said all LGUS, Local Health Offices, Regional task Forces of the National task Force COVID-19, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police Units and personnel manning checkpoints and other government units and private entities concerned are informed and enjoined to extend assistance to the qualified OFWs returning to their come communities.

And as a security measure, the STG said the authenticity of the online generated Quarantine Certificates may be counter-checked through the master List of qualified OFWs as published in the PCG website and facebook accounts.

Or, concerns relative to the authenticity of the Quarantine Certificates can be vetted by email to : stg.repat.ofw@coastguard.gov.ph or pcgcomcen@coastguard.gov.ph and its hotline numbers 0917-8424980, 0917842824, 09188038353 and 0998-589-3982. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)

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OFW 'Quarantine Certificates'
now available online: STG RO

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, May 22, 2020 (PIA) —Expect a deluge of Boholano Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), seafarers and returning Filipino and Boholano tourists coming home anytime soon, as the Sub Task Group for the Repatriation of OFWs (STG RO) has turned to a faster method to hasten the repatriation program.
A sub group of the Inter Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the STG RO composed by the Bureau of Quarantines (BOQ) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has decided to publish the Quarantine Certificates issued to returning OFWs from abroad who have completed the mandatory facility-based quarantine.

The Department of National Defense, PCG, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), and the BOQ agreed on the online release of Quarantine Clearance for the OFW, Filipino seafarers, and returning Filipinos who have tested negative in their recent Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test, May 20, 2020.

This is in the hope that OFWs who are cleared of the viral diseases can readily rejoin their families as per agreed protocols.

According to Department of Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Singh-Vergiere, during a town hall meeting with the Presidential Communications Operations Office Friday, that the government is keen on the RT PCR as this would be a more reliable test as this can determine the presence of the virus in asymptomatic patients.

Real time RT-PCR is a nuclear-derived method for detecting the presence of specific genetic material from any pathogen, including a virus.
The readily available Rapid Antibody Test, she explained, can only be used after the patient has exhibited symptoms of about 7 days.
As of May 21, 2020, about 14,669 overseas Filipino have been issued clearance to return home to their provinces and towns, STG RO said.
But owing to the travel restrictions and the inconveniences of lining up to claim the clearances, the STG has put up the clearance online.

Through STG RO Advisory Number 052020-001, dated May 31, the repatriation agencies had published the Quarantine certificates in the PCG websites (www.coastguard.gov.ph) and facebook page (@Philippine Coast Guard), and where OFWs concerned may download and print or screenshot their respective BOC-PCG quarantine Certificates as evidence of their health condition when returning to their respective home communities.
The same website also published the OFW's Philippine Red Cross RT-PCR test laboratory report and a Master List of the OFWs qualified by the STG to return home.

The Advisory, signed by Admiral Joel S Garcia PCG, also said all LGUS, Local Health Offices, Regional task Forces of the National task Force COVID-19, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police Units and personnel manning checkpoints and other government units and private entities concerned are informed and enjoined to extend assistance to the qualified OFWs returning to their come communities.

And as a security measure, the STG said the authenticity of the online generated Quarantine Certificates may be counter-checked through the master List of qualified OFWs as published in the PCG website and facebook accounts.

Or, concerns relative to the authenticity of the Quarantine Certificates can be vetted by email to : stg.repat.ofw@coastguard.gov.ph or pcgcomcen@coastguard.gov.ph and its hotline numbers 0917-8424980, 0917842824, 09188038353 and 0998-589-3982. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)

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OFW 'Quarantine Certificates'
now available online: STG RO

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, May 22, 2020 (PIA) —Expect a deluge of Boholano Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), seafarers and returning Filipino and Boholano tourists coming home anytime soon, as the Sub Task Group for the Repatriation of OFWs (STG RO) has turned to a faster method to hasten the repatriation program.
A sub group of the Inter Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the STG RO composed by the Bureau of Quarantines (BOQ) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has decided to publish the Quarantine Certificates issued to returning OFWs from abroad who have completed the mandatory facility-based quarantine.

The Department of National Defense, PCG, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), and the BOQ agreed on the online release of Quarantine Clearance for the OFW, Filipino seafarers, and returning Filipinos who have tested negative in their recent Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test, May 20, 2020.

This is in the hope that OFWs who are cleared of the viral diseases can readily rejoin their families as per agreed protocols.

According to Department of Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Singh-Vergiere, during a town hall meeting with the Presidential Communications Operations Office Friday, that the government is keen on the RT PCR as this would be a more reliable test as this can determine the presence of the virus in asymptomatic patients.

Real time RT-PCR is a nuclear-derived method for detecting the presence of specific genetic material from any pathogen, including a virus.
The readily available Rapid Antibody Test, she explained, can only be used after the patient has exhibited symptoms of about 7 days.
As of May 21, 2020, about 14,669 overseas Filipino have been issued clearance to return home to their provinces and towns, STG RO said.
But owing to the travel restrictions and the inconveniences of lining up to claim the clearances, the STG has put up the clearance online.

Through STG RO Advisory Number 052020-001, dated May 31, the repatriation agencies had published the Quarantine certificates in the PCG websites (www.coastguard.gov.ph) and facebook page (@Philippine Coast Guard), and where OFWs concerned may download and print or screenshot their respective BOC-PCG quarantine Certificates as evidence of their health condition when returning to their respective home communities.
The same website also published the OFW's Philippine Red Cross RT-PCR test laboratory report and a Master List of the OFWs qualified by the STG to return home.

The Advisory, signed by Admiral Joel S Garcia PCG, also said all LGUS, Local Health Offices, Regional task Forces of the National task Force COVID-19, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police Units and personnel manning checkpoints and other government units and private entities concerned are informed and enjoined to extend assistance to the qualified OFWs returning to their come communities.

And as a security measure, the STG said the authenticity of the online generated Quarantine Certificates may be counter-checked through the master List of qualified OFWs as published in the PCG website and facebook accounts.

Or, concerns relative to the authenticity of the Quarantine Certificates can be vetted by email to : stg.repat.ofw@coastguard.gov.ph or pcgcomcen@coastguard.gov.ph and its hotline numbers 0917-8424980, 0917842824, 09188038353 and 0998-589-3982. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)

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OFW 'Quarantine Certificates'
now available online: STG RO

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, May 22, 2020 (PIA) —Expect a deluge of Boholano Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), seafarers and returning Filipino and Boholano tourists coming home anytime soon, as the Sub Task Group for the Repatriation of OFWs (STG RO) has turned to a faster method to hasten the repatriation program.
A sub group of the Inter Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the STG RO composed by the Bureau of Quarantines (BOQ) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has decided to publish the Quarantine Certificates issued to returning OFWs from abroad who have completed the mandatory facility-based quarantine.

The Department of National Defense, PCG, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), and the BOQ agreed on the online release of Quarantine Clearance for the OFW, Filipino seafarers, and returning Filipinos who have tested negative in their recent Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test, May 20, 2020.

This is in the hope that OFWs who are cleared of the viral diseases can readily rejoin their families as per agreed protocols.

According to Department of Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Singh-Vergiere, during a town hall meeting with the Presidential Communications Operations Office Friday, that the government is keen on the RT PCR as this would be a more reliable test as this can determine the presence of the virus in asymptomatic patients.

Real time RT-PCR is a nuclear-derived method for detecting the presence of specific genetic material from any pathogen, including a virus.
The readily available Rapid Antibody Test, she explained, can only be used after the patient has exhibited symptoms of about 7 days.
As of May 21, 2020, about 14,669 overseas Filipino have been issued clearance to return home to their provinces and towns, STG RO said.
But owing to the travel restrictions and the inconveniences of lining up to claim the clearances, the STG has put up the clearance online.

Through STG RO Advisory Number 052020-001, dated May 31, the repatriation agencies had published the Quarantine certificates in the PCG websites (www.coastguard.gov.ph) and facebook page (@Philippine Coast Guard), and where OFWs concerned may download and print or screenshot their respective BOC-PCG quarantine Certificates as evidence of their health condition when returning to their respective home communities.
The same website also published the OFW's Philippine Red Cross RT-PCR test laboratory report and a Master List of the OFWs qualified by the STG to return home.

The Advisory, signed by Admiral Joel S Garcia PCG, also said all LGUS, Local Health Offices, Regional task Forces of the National task Force COVID-19, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police Units and personnel manning checkpoints and other government units and private entities concerned are informed and enjoined to extend assistance to the qualified OFWs returning to their come communities.

And as a security measure, the STG said the authenticity of the online generated Quarantine Certificates may be counter-checked through the master List of qualified OFWs as published in the PCG website and facebook accounts.

Or, concerns relative to the authenticity of the Quarantine Certificates can be vetted by email to : stg.repat.ofw@coastguard.gov.ph or pcgcomcen@coastguard.gov.ph and its hotline numbers 0917-8424980, 0917842824, 09188038353 and 0998-589-3982. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)

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PH STILL ON 1​ST WAVE OF SUSTAINED COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION

Press Release / 21 May 2020 

In today's ​Beat COVID-19 Virtual Presser ​ , Dr. Beverly Lorraine Ho, the Director of the Health Promotion and Communication Service (HPCS) of the Department of Health (DOH) clarified that the Philippines is still on its first major wave of sustained community transmission in the COVID-19 pandemic. Director Ho represented the Department today as DOH officials attended the House of Representatives Committee on Health's briefing on the current COVID-19 situation.

"​Kung matatandaan ninyo po - local community transmission happened nung nagsimula tayong mag-report ng cases sa mga kababayan nating na walang exposure sa mga positive cases o kaya'y walang travel history," said Dir. Ho. 

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque explained that both interpretations about the country being in the first and second wave are factually correct. We are presently in the first wave when we consider sustained community transmission; and in the second wave when we take into account the first three (3) imported cases in January. The DOH and the rest of the Executive branch are aligned that the Philippines is presently experiencing the first waveof sustained community transmission.

Dir. Ho also reiterated that it is this wave that had peaked on March 31 when the highest number of positive cases in a day was recorded at 538. Since then, the number of cases has declined to around 220 cases per day -- one indicator why DOH declared that we have started to flatten the curve.  

"We hope this does not in any way distract us from what we really need to do to change the course of this pandemic permanently," Dir. Ho noted. "The power to change the course of this pandemic lies in all of us - how flat the curve is and how long it will remain so nakasalalay yun sa atin, to you and me and how good we are keeping in with the minimum public health standards," she added.

"​Kumbaga sa grade ​sa ​ classroom, perfect ​ba tayo sa ating ​ homework -- a​ng paghugas ng kamay, ​ physical distancing, wearing masks, regular disinfection. And when you have cough or any symptoms, make sure you practice cough etiquette and keep yourself isolated because, remember, the most efficient spreaders are those who are experiencing symptoms," Dir. Ho emphasized.  

Foods that Make You Gain or Lose Weight

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New York City Yellow Taxi

Covid-19 effect on top tourist destinations in the world.