Reading your way to language (part 2)

Welcome back. Now, for the second part of this review, I am going to talk about the second novel in form five literature syllabus which is "Catch Us if You Can" by Catherine MacPhail.

This novel is dedicated to form five students who are studying in Perlis,Kelantan,Kedah, Penang and Perak. In this novel, the author tells the story of two relatives, a grandfather (granda) and his grandson (Rory). After the event where Rory's father left both them, all they have in this world is just each other. Rory always looks after his grandfather even if he has to sacrifice things that he like such as evening football with his friends.This harmonious way of living changed one day when the absent-minded granda accidentally set their flat on fire. A concern social-worker tells Rory that he is too young to look after his grandfather. He arranged so that Rory go to a children's home and granda go to an old folk shelter. Rory and granda diagree with the decision but when their pleas are ignored, they decided to run away from that place. On their trail, they encountered a lot of unexpected friendship, and a share of betrayal. With their faces displayed on the national television, their journey becomes more difficult by the minute. Will they be able to escape to being separated? Will they finally found their place of redemption? Will they find a happy ending? All this and more in the novel.

In this short novel, a lot human qualities are being portrayed. Hope, loyalty, belongingness, betrayal, and trust is among the qualities that are put forth in this beautifully written novel. Despite the fact that the background of this story is different from the target readers (Malaysian form five students), the themes that are present in this novel is fairly universal and I believe that the students can easily relate themselves with the themes. For those who have finished reading the novel or those who wants to know the gist of the story, you can view the notes for the novel here.