The Pact

The Pact by Jodi Picoult
497 pages
Publisher:  Harper Collins (2006)
ISBN:  006085880X
Reading Level/Lexile:  9th grade and up/NA
Genre:  Adult Crossover

Annotation/Teaser:  Chris and Em have been best friends and neighbors since birth.  When they fall in love everyone is happy.  But Em has a secret and wants to commit suicide.  But even worse, she wants Chris to prove his love for her by pulling the trigger.  Em and Chris made a pact and Em is dead at 17.  Was there really a pact or was it just a murder?

Plot Summary:  The Hartes and the Golds have been neighbors for 18 years.  They have been friends and are so close they are like family.  So when Chris and Emily's friendship blooms into something more, no one is surprised and everyone is thrilled.  Then tragedy strikes.  Emily is dead at seventeen from a gunshot wound to the head.  Chris claims that the bullet left in the gun was meant for him but he couldn't go through with it.  The detective investigating this case has his doubts.  Was this a suicide pact between the lovers or did Chris kill Emily because she wanted him to?

About the Author: Jodi Picoult 
Jodi Lynn Picoult was born on May 19, 1966, in Nesconset on Long Island in New York.  Picoult studied writing at Princeton University, where she earned her bachelor's degree. She also earned a master's degree in education from Harvard University.  Picoult wrote her first story, "The Lobster which Misunderstood," when she was five. While at Princeton, she published two stories in Seventeen magazine. She wrote her first novel, Songs of the Humpback Whale, while she was pregnant with her first child, and published it in 1992.   Picoult's novels usually deal with ethical issues and are told from a variety of viewpoints, with each chapter written in a different character's voice. Picoult uses this technique to show multiple sides of a situation and underscore areas of moral ambiguity. Picoult writes stories that are heart wrenching and full of family drama. It should be no surprise, then, that several of her books have been adapted into films for Lifetime, a TV network for women. Her first feature film, My Sister's Keeper, will be released in theaters in 2009.  She and Tim and their three children live in Hanover, New Hampshire with a dog, a rabbit, two Jersey calves, and the occasional Holstein.

Jodi Picoult Biography Retrieved from http://bestsellers.about.com

Critical Evaluation:  Jodi Picout uses symbolism in The Pact.  One symbol is the blank note.  Chris and Emily set up a note passing system when they were children.  They could pass notes from each of their houses.  At the end of the book, Chris finds a note with nothing on it from Emily.  The words have faded with age.  This symbolizes Chris and Emily's relationship.  Their relationship faded as they grew older. 
There is also the use of flashbacks in this book.  There are chapters set up titled, "Then".  These chapters take the reader back to Chris and Emily's childhood and gives insight into their relationship as well as their families' relationship.  Outside of these chapters, there is also the flashbacks of Chris while he is in jail.  He flashes back to the night Emily dies and everything that has happened.  I think the most important flashback is when we see the incident of Emily's sexual abuse in the bathroom of McDonald's.  This clues the reader in on the damage that had been done to Emily at an early age that made her a broken person.  The way Jodi Picoult uses flashbacks is very powerful in this book.  

Curriculum Ties:  English, Language Arts, Psychology 

Book Talk Ideas:  Imagine your boyfriend/girlfriend ask you to make a suicide pact.  This is what happens in The Pact.  

Controversial Issues:  Death, suicide, depression, sexual content

Defense: 

*I will keep the library's selection policy on hand and memorized with a good understanding  of the standards and policies to show that the selection meets the standards. 

*I will keep good and bad reviews (both electronic and print) and make sure they are from reliable and respected sources such as School of Library Journal, Booklist, and YALSA. I will have copies of these reviews to give away. 

*I will confirm the library's position to provide intellectual freedom as stated in the Library Bill of Rights and keep a copy of this.

*I will keep a written rationale to justify the reasons this material is included in the collection, such as educational significance and curriculum ties.

*I will be respectful and calm and practice "active listening".

*I will make sure I read the material and are very familiar with it.

   

* I will keep a reconsideration form on file in the event that my other strategies don't work. 

Why I Chose This Book?  I chose this book because this book deals with real teen issues and I felt teens would relate to this book.  Jodi Picout's podcast, Big Brother is Watching, was very enlightening when trying to decide if I should include this book.