Editorial Content for Soar

It’s a familiar plot: a child’s parent dies and that grieving child goes on a quest to accomplish something the deceased parent would be proud of. What makes SOAR by Tracy Edward Wymer stand out, however, is the makeup of each character --- one has Tourette’s, another is learning English, others are struggling with poverty --- and the elements of science that are worked into the plot.

Years ago, Eddie’s father spotted a golden eagle in their small Indiana town, but other members of his birding group didn’t believe him and he became a pariah as a result. After his father’s death, Eddie decides to prove that his father was right and find the golden eagle himself.

But almost immediately, there are complications. In the span of 20 pages, Eddie’s beloved bike --- the last gift his father gave him --- is stolen, and his frequent tormenter Mouton (pronounced MOO-TAWN) is a suspect. Then he meets his new neighbor, Gabriella, who recently arrived from Brazil and is in the seventh grade just like Eddie.

The main plot point of the book is the annual Seventh Grade Science Symposium, which Eddie’s father won the blue ribbon in when he was in seventh grade. Eddie’s plan is to win the science symposium by finding the golden eagle, therefore impressing Gabriella and silencing his dad’s critics.

"What makes SOAR by Tracy Edward Wymer stand out is the makeup of each character --- one has Tourette’s, another is learning English, others are struggling with poverty --- and the elements of science that are worked into the plot."

The quick succession of major plot points at the beginning is a bit overwhelming. There is no slowly easing into this novel, much like Eddie’s personality: he is always in forward motion, his mind always trained toward his goals. While the reader is aware of Eddie’s challenges right away, there is little time to process each event before something else happens.

Wymer does a great job of walking Eddie through the grief of losing his father. As the novel progresses, Eddie learns that his dad was often not easy to get along with and could be too firm in his opinions. While these revelations do not impact Eddie’s ultimate goal of finding the golden eagle, it forces Eddie to look at the truths that he has always believed about his father. The scenes that are the most touching in SOAR are when Eddie is trying to talk to his mother about his grief.

There’s more to Eddie than his dead father and his obsession with finding the golden eagle, though. He’s also a seventh grader dealing with typical seventh-grade problems: trying to make friends, dealing with jealousy and trying to confront a bully. At times, SOAR focuses a little too closely on Eddie’s quest for the golden eagle. In school, the only classroom Eddie is pictured in is Mr. Dover’s science class, which happens to be focusing on birds prior to the Science Symposium.

Another strength of the novel is how well the science of ornithology is explained. Whenever Eddie sees a new bird, he draws and writes about it in his journal, which also includes a short note to his deceased father. In the build-up to the Science Symposium, Wymer also introduces the processes that make up the scientific method. Since the science builds on the plot, it does not seem out of place: the reader must understand the scientific method in order to understand how Eddie’s quest to find the golden eagle will play out.

Each character is dealing with some other underlying issue in addition to whatever conflict they have with Eddie. Mouton isn’t just a bully who might’ve stolen Eddie’s bike: he’s an adolescent boy dealing with Tourette’s which forces him to shout out “yip!” in random situations. Gabriella isn’t just the new girl, she’s trying to learn English while helping out her deaf and mute father. Eddie’s mother, who is the school’s head janitor, is trying to grieve, take care of her son and keep food on the table --- all with a limited salary.

The theme that was unexpected in this novel is poverty: none of the characters are particularly well-off and the tiny Midwest town that they live in appears to be economically depressed. Eddie’s mother often buys “Buck Burgers” for them for dinner and she drives a car that is falling apart because she cannot afford a newer one.

At the end of SOAR, Eddie doesn’t get everything he wants, though the issues he encounters in the first 20 pages are mostly resolved. He does, however, end up with new friends and a greater understanding of the man his father was, which is perhaps more important than finding a rare bird or winning a science competition.