38 pages • 1 hour read
Annie BarrowsIvy and Bean
Fiction | Novel | Early Reader Picture Book | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Judging a Person Versus Knowing Them
Bean and Ivy are reluctant to become friends due to their unfavorable judgments of one another. The story explicitly highlights Bean’s negative perception of Ivy, and it alludes to Ivy’s disapproving evaluation of Bean. Each girl has a mother who wants them to be friends based on the belief that they’re both “nice girls.” The label leads each girl to conclude that the other is boring. As Bean quips, “All aboard! Next train for Boring is leaving now!" (11). Ivy’s style and behavior reinforce Bean’s unfavorable, judgmental opinion of her. Ivy wears dresses and reads books. Bean assumes that Ivy abides by dominant social norms for girls and would rather sit still reading big books than play outside and go on a physical adventure.
Once the girls get to know each other, they realize they’re not different. The girls announce their similarities when they point out that neither is nice. Bean states, “[Y]ou're not nice at all! You're a witch!” and Ivy replies, “You're not very nice either. You were doing that ghost thing in the bush” (49). The girls didn’t have high opinions of each other because they thought each other was nice. What normally is a positive judgment becomes a negative trait in the lexicon of Bean and Ivy. Their shared rejection of “nice” advances the book’s claims that judgments about others, especially before you get to know them, are often inaccurate. Bean and Ivy believe one another is nice, yet once they get to know one another, they realize they’re each an exciting, courageous young person and begin to get along.
Through Ivy and Bean’s characterization, Barrows demonstrates that people can acquire an accurate representation of someone through interacting with each other. Bean and Ivy bond quickly. After less than a day together, Ivy and Bean are already close friends—certain that they’ll see each other tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Yet the girls wouldn’t have their close bond if they didn’t take the first step and begin communicating with one another. The moment that upends their judgmental assumptions of each other occurs when Bean agrees to let Ivy hide her, and Bean realizes, “Ivy looked like a wimp, but she didn't talk like one” (37). Bean discovers that outward appearances and one’s personality are not the same. Individually, and together, the girls learn that measuring a person based on how they seem doesn’t create an accurate portrait of their identity. Their ability to move past their initial negative judgments of each other enables them to form a friendship quickly which is both exciting and rewarding.
The Drama of Preparation
The Drama of Preparation unites Ivy and Bean, as both girls enjoy complex plots and arrangements to display their reactions to people or situations. Bean showcases her penchant for planning when she resists the urge to kick Nancy in the shin. The narrator explains, “[T]hen she got the idea. It was a great idea. It was also a helpful idea, one that would teach Nancy not to be such a tightwad” (18). The idea involves many elements: taking $20 from Nancy’s purse, tying it to a thread, and pretending to be a ghost. Barrows creates drama through Bean’s characterization and the plot line. Bean gets the excitement of provoking her sister, and Barrows establishes suspense, leaving anticipation as to whether Bean executes her plan as she desires.
Ivy’s character also represents The Drama of Preparation through her room. By marking off specific sections in her room, Ivy turns her room into a theatrical space. Her room becomes a stage, and the sections delineate where specific actions occur. The section featuring the table with “pens and paper and glitter glue and paint” (57) is where Ivy and Bean embellish Ivy’s witch look, making it more dramatic. The dolls occupy the fifth section, and the space turns into a mysterious spectacle, with all the dolls staring at “a Barbie doll, wrapped up in toilet paper” (60). The Barbie is a mummy, and Ivy plans to bury it in a pyramid, which will require further planning.
The process of becoming a witch necessitates ample preparation. Ivy must study and educate herself as if she were becoming any other kind of professional, like a doctor or lawyer. Ivy boasts, "I probably know more than most born witches my age" (44). To put the spells into practice, Ivy has to gather the applicable ingredients, whether it’s a dead frog or worm. The involved process of becoming a witch makes the identity exciting.
The emphasis on planning indicates that getting ready for something and carefully thinking about it is rewarding. Excitement and adventure are a product of forethought and complexity. Ivy and Bean lead thrilling lives because they embrace intricate projects and elaborate schemes. What makes their confrontation with Nancy worthwhile is the multitude of steps. They must sneak through backyards to get to Bean’s backyard, gather the worms, and then use them against Nancy. As the girls achieve their goal—Nancy falls into the worm pit—Barrows demonstrates that preparation is a means to success.
The Benefits of Cooperation
By herself, Bean can’t successfully retaliate against Nancy. She tries to punish her with the $20 bill on the thread, but the scheme she prepared doesn’t work. When Bean joins forces with Ivy, Bean gets to know Ivy and realizes that she can use her witch identity to punish Nancy. Ivy benefits by working with Bean. Bean gives Ivy a target to practice her witch spells on, and she gives Ivy a conspicuous style. Though Ivy doesn’t care if she looks like a witch, the makeover impresses her, causing the declaration, “Wow. I look really strange” (67). Bean also teaches Ivy how to climb fences, and Ivy shows Bean how to concoct and implement specific spells.
The book indicates that cooperation has many benefits. When people collaborate, they can help one another achieve goals that they might have a difficult time accomplishing on their own. Bean and Ivy’s partnership has an advantageous impact on both of them. Ivy grows as a witch, and Bean finally gets “to make Nancy freak out” (18). After the girls set aside their judgments, they don’t have much difficulty reaping the benefits of cooperation. As newfound friends, Barrows shows how teamwork is easier when people get along and care about each other.
Sometimes, Ivy and Bean cooperate out of necessity. In Chapter 4, Ivy feels like she must hide Bean to spare Bean from Nancy and a harsh punishment from her parents. In Chapter 7, Ivy helps Bean escape another threatening predicament when she pretends to have the urge to throw up in Mrs. Trantz's backyard. The prospect of a child vomiting in her backyard causes the unfriendly neighbor to scream, "Go! Go home! Run!" (40). Such moments show how cooperation also functions in small emergencies. Without a quick-witted partner like Ivy to help her out, Bean's ability to successfully execute her plans would likely be more challenging and less rewarding.
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By Annie Barrows
