conversations.from: human
conversations.value: a description for a book titled Not As We Know It about Jamie, Ned, Ned's with the genre: Children's Books, Growing Up & Facts of Life
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Gr 46Brothers Ned and Jamie are treasure hunters. Granted, all they find in their tiny fishing village off the coast of England are old fish hooks and forks. Nonetheless, they consider themselves adventurers like the characters on their favorite show, Star Trek. But the boys couldn't be any more different. Ned is the Captain Kirk of the duo, boldly going where no kid has gone before, while Jamie, the narrator, is hesitant and happy to let Ned lead the way. One day they find a mysterious creature suffering and caught in a net. Ned convinces Jamie to bring it home. Jamie is confounded by Ned's affection for this bizarre creature. But when their grandfather tells them mythic tales of mermaids with magical healing powers, Jamie clings to hope. Ned, it is revealed, has cystic fibrosis, which seems to be getting worse, and Jamie is convinced that this creature has come to save his brother. the author captures Jamie's powerful denial of Ned's illness with heartbreaking precision and deliberate pacing. References made to the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial are rather apt allusions to this story of a mute creature teaching powerful lessons of acceptance. The vivid island setting and the grandfather's evocative stories make this book a true original. VERDICT A heartrending but ultimately uplifting adventure novel for readers ready for a good cry.Anna Murphy, Berkeley Carroll School Library, Brooklyn
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the first sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Granted, all they find in their tiny fishing village off the coast of England are old fish hooks and forks. Nonetheless, they consider themselves adventurers like the characters on their favorite show, Star Trek. But the boys couldn't be any more different. Ned is the Captain Kirk of the duo, boldly going where no kid has gone before, while Jamie, the narrator, is hesitant and happy to let Ned lead the way. One day they find a mysterious creature suffering and caught in a net. Ned convinces Jamie to bring it home. Jamie is confounded by Ned's affection for this bizarre creature. But when their grandfather tells them mythic tales of mermaids with magical healing powers, Jamie clings to hope. Ned, it is revealed, has cystic fibrosis, which seems to be getting worse, and Jamie is convinced that this creature has come to save his brother. the author captures Jamie's powerful denial of Ned's illness with heartbreaking precision and deliberate pacing. References made to the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial are rather apt allusions to this story of a mute creature teaching powerful lessons of acceptance. The vivid island setting and the grandfather's evocative stories make this book a true original. VERDICT A heartrending but ultimately uplifting adventure novel for readers ready for a good cry.Anna Murphy, Berkeley Carroll School Library, Brooklyn
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the first five paragraphs for this book
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Not As We Know It
  A storm came to Portland. In the night it threw itself against our windows. The thunder called to us. Black clouds gathered across the island. The days were dark.
  When storms are finished, Chesil Beach—the stony bank that connects our tiny island in the English Channel to the mainland—is always littered. Driftwood, tangled balls of fishermen's nets, glass bottles and plastic packets, all lie like God's rubbish, spilt from a heavenly bin bag.
  There's treasure too. Ned and I go searching amongst the junk. We claim the choicest gems, make them our prize and take them home to our trove.
  Dad's low garage has never been big enough for his van. It's a low brick building that doesn't hold a car either. Instead, it's bursting with the salvage of a dozen storms.
  We have collected shoes in all sizes—from a baby's leather bootie to a yellow rubber wader. There's a box of bones that sits on a high shelf, topped with a cow's skull. In an old paint tin stands a rusted and broken knife as long as my forearm. Three forks rattle in the tin when we fetch it down; we are always on the lookout for spoons.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: another paragraph. End with the sentence ' He goes to work early and when he gets home, filthy, he has a bath, we eat dinner, he sets us some maths to do, then he usually falls asleep in front of the TV, like Ned.'.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Dad likes big events. Like trips to London. He's not really there in the everyday. He goes to work early and when he gets home, filthy, he has a bath, we eat dinner, he sets us some maths to do, then he usually falls asleep in front of the TV, like Ned.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the last five paragraphs
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: So I took Ned's bike and went once more down to the rock shelf. It was not a race this time. There was no storm, but the wind blew and on it came a whistle. A hint of a whisper. I followed that whisper and with every pedal was caught up in it, was swallowed by it.
  I hopped from rock to rock out to the final one, to the end of the world. I knew what I'd find before I got there. Somehow I knew. It sat on the very edge, as if placed by a hand reaching up from the sea.
  I picked up the small bone whale and brought it to my chest. The wind blew then, stronger, the waves gathered and in their beating rhythm came a song. Not a whisper now. A song from far away, from the depths, a song that filled me, a song, joyful and free. And that song was sung by a voice I knew. It was an answer.
  Away south, one star still shone, Fomalhaut, the mouth of the fish. Lonely it was. And, in its loneliness, brave, bright, bold.
  I breathed deep. I smiled once more. Somehow life would continue. I knew now, as certain as the sea's song.