"Trashed!"

Martha Freeman worked as a reporter and teacher before becoming a full-time writer of books for young readers, including the Edgar Award–nominated Zap!, Born Curious, The Secret Cookie Club series, Who Stole Halloween?, and Effie Starr Zook Has One More Question, which School Library Journal called “accessible and exciting” in a starred review. She also collaborated with NASA astronaut Mark Kelly on the Astrotwins books.

Freeman applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Trashed!, and reported the following:

On page 69 of Trashed, main character Arthur, age 11, is on his way to wipe down shelves and organize stock in the toy section of the junk (or vintage) store his family owns. Enroute, he compares himself to his best friend, Veda, who helps out in the store sometimes:

If you had asked him what he admired about Veda, he would have told you he admired her for being a loyal friend and interesting to talk to. He would not have told you that he admired her for being brave and trying new things but he did.

In short, Veda was adventurous, and Arthur worried that he was not. If that was true, would there be only the familiar and the comfortable forever? Maybe he’d be working in the store forever.

I hope this is a succinct statement of Arthur’s predicament. It may sound like coming-of-age, but that’s not quite right. Instead, what Trashed depicts is more of a kid-style midlife crisis. Arthur has a stable homelife, friends, enjoyable work and even a supernatural sidekick. Yet he feels trapped, and he’s not sure he’s got what it takes to bust free.

At the end of the page, Arthur and a co-worker, Randolph, are discussing a third co-worker who is training for an ultramarathon.

“It’s cool what Jennifer Y’s doing, huh?” [Arthur] said. “I can’t imagine running that far.”

“I wouldn’t run that far,” Randolph said, “not unless I was being chased.”

Again, Arthur thinks he comes up short in comparison with someone hardier. Also, that last image – taking flight– aligns with his desire to bust out, escape, while the conversation as a whole reveals his anxiety that he isn’t up to it. Later pages reveal that in fact Arthur is being chased, not literally but by circumstances. How he responds is the rest of the story.

True confession: I sometimes pull one of my own books off the shelf and read a random page. Usually I do this when I am working on something new and seeking reassurance that, darn it, I’ve done this before and can do it again. Happily, I can report that I did not cringe on re-reading page 69 of Trashed. If this is a test, I passed! Since I am in the midst of another project and duly freaking out, I am grateful for this reassurance.

Visit Martha Freeman's website.

The Page 69 Test: Strudel's Forever Home.

The Page 69 Test: Zap.

--Marshal Zeringue