Election

Election by Tom Perrotta
Original ISBN 978-0-425-16728-1
Berkley Books, 1998
200 pages

Plot Summary: When Jim McAllister, a sad sack of a high school teacher and head of

student elections, hears that over-confident Tracy Flick is running unopposed for Student Body President, he quickly talks the popular jock (Paul Warren) into running against her. Paul’s sister, Tammy, also decides to throw her name on the ballot after her ex-girlfriend – who has recently decided that she is no longer a lesbian – hooks up with Paul. Each student is running the race for different reasons, but Mr. M will do ANYTHING so that Tracy doesn’t win.

Critical Evaluation: This story is told through multiple viewpoints. It is a dark and satirical look at high school and the election process. While the story is underhanded and backstabby, you can’t help but feel a bit sorry for the characters for they really are flawed. Election is a wonderfully enjoyable read.

Reader’s Annotation: To what ends will someone go to in order to win an election? Quite a lot, it appears.

Author Information: Perrotta, born in 1961, is an American novelist and playwright. He once taught creative writing at Yale then Harvard. By his own admission, Perrotta was hopefully obsessed with the 1992 Presidential Election that produced three candidates: George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot. In 1993, Perrotta turned this obsession into the satirical book Election. The manuscript was optioned as a movie; the book was published in 1999 – a few short months before the movie premiered. He has been nominated twice for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay – both times for adapting his own books (one of them for Election).

His website can be found at http://www.tomperrotta.net/

Genre: Adult fiction; Multiple perspectives

Curriculum Ties: American History and/or Government when discussing the election process.

Booktalking Ideas: To begin a booktalk for Election I would quote from the recent mudslinging during a recent State Assembly race in our area.

Reading Level / Interest Age: Adult crossover

Lexile: 870

Challenge Issues: The book is recommended for older teens as there is some sexual content.

Reason for Item’s Inclusion: I literally ran across the book in the library and was reminded of how much I enjoyed the movie. The movie version of Election was recently named by Entertainment Weekly Magazine as the ninth of the “50 Best High School Movies.”

Resources:

50 best high school movies. (2012, September 22). Retrieved from http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20483133_20632183,00.html