Steel Trapp: The
Academy - Review
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Publisher's Summary:
Pearson, Ridley. (2010). Steel
Trapp: The Academy. New York, NY: Disney Hyperion
Books. ISBN 978-1-4231-1532-8 . Publisher age 10-12.
Litland.com age recommended: 14+
Publisher's Description: Steven "Steel" Steel has
been placed in an East Coast boarding school for gifted
kids by his FBI agent father. He soon discovers that
there’s a clubby element of the faculty and upper
classmen that is very secretive and protective. To his
surprise, his friend Kaileigh arrives to board at the
school and it isn’t long before the two realize that
this is not your normal boarding school. It seems a
select few students are recruited, while still minors,
to serve as special "translators" for the US Government.
People—including diplomats and dignitaries—will say
things around kids that they wouldn't otherwise dare
speak outside of embassies. The willing student "agent"
takes a semester abroad and ends up spying for his
country. But there are dark elements at play at the
school. Foreign agents may have penetrated the school's
secrecy and may have sleepers in place: kids spying on
future kid spies. There is conspiracy and competition
among the elite faculty that threatens security. As
Steel and Kaileigh are recruited for their first test
run of trying to break a ring of pickpockets in a
Boston hotel—things go impossibly wrong. Betrayal and
conspiracy cloud what should have been a straightforward
assignment. And all too soon, their very lives are in
danger.
Respect for self and others: This
includes integrity (adherence to a code of
conduct or value system), honesty vs. manipulation or
lying, compassion, caring for others (characters not
focused on getting their way no matter what) self
respect--main character does not let others
denigrate him or her; use of self control and
self-discipline ; taking charge of own behaviour;
fairness to others (such as taking turns and
avoiding the blame game). Reader should ask themselves
“How does the protagonist depict their peers?” “Would
you want others to treat you this way? Should everyone
act this way?” This includes true friendships
that do not involve regular lying, deceit or
manipulation; considering consequences of actions
prior to acting; owning up to responsibility once
an action has been taken.
Steel, the protagonist in
this story, demonstrates good character throughout. He
approaches his work with honesty, even worrying about
stealing near the end of the adventure. His reason for
investigating the secret activities on campus are based
upon his concern that a plot is being hatched that could
harm the school or community; he is selflessly
interested in protecting humanity. Throughout the story,
he demonstrates wisdom and choices made through a desire
to accomplish good, and is not brought down by
Kaileigh’s own weakness and constant self-preservation
first attitude. We cringe when Kaileigh mishandles the
first interrogation by Randolph and are relieved that
Steel responds wisely.
Kaileigh’s character is
disappointingly lacking in ethical strength and wisdom;
it would have been more powerful had this duo of
protagonists faced ethical challenges and equally
overcame them, both growing in moral character and
wisdom. She also has less self-discipline than Steel and
is stereotypically more reactive or exhibiting less
self-control, which seems to mirror the poor images of
female protagonists fed to children in other forms of
entertainment (as seen in cable TV, movies, gaming). Her
character’s purpose seems foremost to be to create
sexual tension with Steel; thus an opportunity was
missed to create a meaningful character of depth in
whom readers could see themselves succeeding through
virtuous behaviour and growing through moral
challenges.
The two protagonists do
also recognize strengths in peers. Rather than
glorifying Penny’s hacking escapades, it is pointed out
as “...pretty cool. Just that he could do something like
that”. The illegal act is not glorified but, rather,
the boy’s strengths are appreciated and put to use.
“Seeing his predicament
as opportunity instead of challenge” demonstrates the
subtle way in which the author has created a protagonist
(Steel) who is optimistic and collaborative.
As their friendship
transforms to a relationship, Kaileigh responds with
stereotypical “flighty” female behaviour. Steel, rather
that react to it, attempts to understand it.
Portrayal of Authority
figures: The positive portrayal of parents, teachers, police officers and other “good” authority figures common in a child’s life is a positive influence upon the child’s own moral development. This includes
actively-parenting mother and father figures. Minimization of parental involvement in the character’s activities or the portrayal of authority figures as
inferior present poor role models. Also to be avoided are main characters that
deceive parents and teachers to accomplish goals, and overuse
sarcasm towards authority figures. Ask yourself “Are parents seen as positive or negative influence in the character's life?”
Authority figures
are treated realistically while respectfully. A clear
picture of each is painted for the reader but never
denigrated. Lack of parental authority in Kaileigh’s
life is presented in a manner that helps the reader
understand this character rather than in a manner
denigrating her parents. Similarly, Steel’s perception
of his parents is typical of a 14 year old boy without
being degrading or disrespectful, allowing the father’s
true character to be filled in at story’s end. Thus we
see two kids with a desire for their parent’s love and
attention, and Steel receiving it. Mirroring this is the
homeless boy, Taddler’s, longing for a parent figure in
Mrs. D.
Body guards, police,
faculty and staff, security and other authority figures
(this story has lots of them!) are positively portrayed
as competent challengers for the kids to outsmart rather
than bumbling fools for them to manipulate.
Citizenship and
Patriotism: Loyalty to family, team or group, school, community and world; caring for and being considerate of these
groups. Pride to be part of that group or nationality.
The secretive
nature of the academy coupled with Steel still
recovering from learning his dad was an FBI agent, sets
a background for a complex web of loyalties. Steel must
uncover what those loyalties are and determine which are
good and which are bad. There is heritage as his father
is an alum of the school, school heritage as it is very
old with a longstanding history, and secret societies of
alliances. We see through his eyes as he uncovers bits
and pieces of these alliances to fill in the puzzle,
after which he must then determine the good guys from
the bad. Meanwhile, school pride particularly with
teams and clubs is strong, and it is the culture of the
school to join in that pride rather than be
counter to it. As such, all aspects of group
affiliation are typical and the protagonists choose
healthy affiliations for the purpose of doing “the right
thing”.
The story has an
underlying theme of family as Steel’s family bonds are
contrasted with Kaileigh’s lack of bonds, further
contrasted with Taddler’s lack of family altogether.
While undercover at the homeless shelter, he shows
compassion as he wonders that “the worst part of being
homeless is not being poor but being separated from your
family” and also feels empathy for Kaileigh’s situation
too. Kaileigh is the stereotypical “rich kid” whose
parents are never home (although it is hinted they might
be spies rather than jetsetters) and she is raised by a
nanny, longing for her parent’s attention. Her character
aspires to do the right thing but backs away from it in
self-preservation, demonstrating the character
weaknesses that evolved from the lack of strong family
foundation. This is contrasted well with Steel, who
always makes the better choice and (in spite of a father
who was away on “business” much of the time) has healthy
family support mentoring his character. We see the
loyalty to his family, and particularly his father, then
grow and mature at the end of the story.
Simultaneously we see a mock family created amongst the
homeless boys sheltered by Mrs. D. The emptiness of this
“family” vs. the real family relations of Steel’s is
contrasted well.
Justice and Balance: A just distribution between good and evil (with
good outweighing evil in the presence of the storyline);
demonstration of right and wrong; making decisions to enact the above values rather than simply choosing from two bad possibilities; Ask yourself “Is the emphasis on the positive elements or negative?”
There is a very strong demonstration of Good always
prevailing over Evil. We are presented with contrasts
within the academy (Steel & Kaileigh vs. the secret
societies they discover) and outside (compared to the
homeless boys) in a manner that we understand the
mindset of each while still unable to be sure of “good
guys vs. bad guys” until the end. Thus the author is
able to maintain the suspense and adventure without
resorting to underlying dark themes or glorifying the
bad guys. While Kaileigh leans towards self-serving
decisions, Steel always takes the “high road” and leads
with wisdom in spite of her being the more dominant
personality.
Aesthetic aspects Of
life ExperienceLook for a storyline portrayal of
beauty, health, and selfless love vs. hedonistic behaviours (sexuality, selfishness, obsessiveness, materialism),
profanity, gore and violence. Are nature and environment respected or exploited? Look for
dark elements; watch out for humor that is negative, denigrates others excessively, uses metaphors to
denigrate the sacred.
Physical description of
settings is sufficiently vivid to provide a richness to
each scene in the story, particularly important since
the Academy has a long past and heritage. There is
quite a lot of action without unnecessary violence or
gore weakening it, thus maintaining strength in
suspense.
The school’s history
includes religion, and this history as well as the
chapel itself is treated respectfully in author
description and character self-talk, such as “there was
a reverence to the place...” (p. 150).
Sometimes the beauty in a story is in what it lacks. Due
to the academy setting of upper class “men” and “women”
(juniors and seniors) having seniority over
underclassmen, a strong subculture exists of power and
bullying. However, it is not dwelt upon but rather
mentioned just often enough to put the protagonists’
frame of mind into place. As such, there is no name
calling or denigrating of others.
Other things to
Consider:Other aspects of this book of interest or importance. For example, does it portray Wiccan practices and accurate use of tools of which some parents might object, does it contain
hidden meanings in metaphors that may prove offensive to some families; does it address
personal issues such as puberty or pregnancy.
Sexuality:
Parents are reminded that the rule of thumb with
children’s literature is the age of the characters
should align with the age of the reader. The characters
in this story are all 14-18 year old high school teens
engaging in bullying and sexually-based “teasing” of
that age. With that view, the author portrays well
Steel’s confusion as he has his first crush, the awkward
moments, misunderstanding of Kaileigh’s changed
behaviour towards him, etc. His character reacts by
trying to understand his own feelings as well as her
behaviour, rather than reacting with any meanness on his
own part. His self-talk is sufficient description to
allow the reader to empathize and understand what he is
going through without unnecessary description or
inappropriate behaviours.
On the other hand,
Kaileigh is portrayed as a somewhat dominating female
who from the beginning of the story decides that their
exit strategy is kissing (“making out”), a strategy they
engage in twice. Her verbal and physical teasing
behaviour may be unfortunately typical of teen girls
today (such as intentionally stretching over Steel on
the bus to see out the window with Steel “apparently not
noticing she was lying on him”), however there is no
opportunity created in the story for her to learn how to
express and develop her feelings towards him other than
physically, which ultimately would be more effective and
wise. So from its beginning, threaded throughout the
story is this sexual tension initiated by Kaileigh as
the dominant personality over Steel.
Thrown into the mix is
Steel trying to interpret (and misinterpreting) the
attention given to him by an upper class female, Nell.
This confusion and tension could have been demonstrated
with the closed-door scene having less emphasis on the
physical (and sexually stimulating) contact between Nell
and Steel, focusing instead on Steel’s misinterpretation
and feelings; doing so would have achieved the same
purpose and eliminating unnecessary inappropriate
behaviour that ultimately is not later made into a
lesson learned.
An odd moment takes place
in developing Penny’s character. We can already imagine
he is the stereotypical computer nerd, skinny, hunched
from bending over computers too long, and socially
awkward so as to not possess the social awareness of
respecting someone’s “space” around them. Thus, the
scene of Penny sitting too close to Steel, considered
just on its own would have been presumed as simply being
deficient in social graces. However, preceding that with
a wink from Penny which Steel interprets as feminine,
making him uncomfortable in the attention then overtly
implies same sex attraction. That then follows through
and is presumed connected to Penny sitting too close to
Steel. All of which is unnecessary to the character and
story line development.
The end result is a well
done adventure weakened a bit due to some Harlequin
romance thrown in along with a moment of possible
same-sex attraction, thus ensuring that all which is of
pop culture and politically correct is included :>( The
strength of the characters, and ultimately the story,
would have been enhanced had they demonstrated manners
of expressing typical feelings of puberty with the
physical self-control that kids are actually capable
of but rarely shown today in entertainment. Doing
so, in fact, would have differentiated this story from
the thousands of others aimed at the same audience.
Other miscellaneous
moments:
Example: After taunted by Taddler, Kaleigh is about to
make a rude gesture (we know which one that is) but
Steel stops her, and she announces he is a “butt wipe”.
(This is the extent of name calling in the story,
demonstrating it takes a more positive development of
its characters and is very well written). Also, use of
God’s name only once (“Good...God” expression).
So what do YOU think? Read our thoughts on the book and join in the discussion:
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