Title: The Glass Castle Author: Jeannette Walls
ISBN: 978-0-7432-4754-2
Recommended Grade Level of User: 9th and Up
Publisher: Scribner
Media Type: Book
Copyright: 2005
Genre: Memoir
Reader's Annotation: With non-conformist parents, Jeannette and her siblings are forced to raise themselves. Through it all, the family manages to maintain a strong bond and fierce loyalty showing that there is always a light at the end of every tunnel.
Plot Summary: The Glass Castle is a memoir of an award winning writer and journalist. Walls' story begins as a young girl and follows her life with a particular focus on her childhood. Her father, an alcoholic, and her mother, a free spirit, lack serious parenting skills or, at the very least, a desire to parent. Walls and her parents along with her three siblings move from Phoenix to California and then to West Virginia throughout the course of the book. Each move brings new hardships and experiences. All the while, the children maintain a close bond and enjoy each others' company which helps to explain the absence of pity or sorrow from Walls' writing.
Evaluation: (A+) The author takes a story that is serious and finds humor in it. For example, one might argues that toddlers should not be cooking hot dogs at the stove by themselves, but somehow this scenario works with Walls' narration. Additionally, the author effectively portrays the love within her family despite the hardships she and her siblings faced. Furthermore, Walls does not villanize her parents for their neglect and life choices, which may be surprising for some, and this further reinforces the love and loyalty within the family.
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