My Life as a Book

Derek must overcome several obstacles, and he supports his parents in overcoming their own obstacles. Derek’s major obstacle is his aversion to reading books without pictures, as he finds them boring, and he initially dislikes the idea of growing up. These two aversions intertwine throughout the novel and sometimes cause him to act out toward his family. Derek explains that he dislikes the idea of “forcing a kid to do something as private as reading” (4). In making this statement, Derek shows that he understands reading as a personal and emotional experience. He finds it strange and unfair that a teacher or his parents would try to make him engage in it when he doesn’t want to or in ways he finds uninteresting.

Over the summer, however, Derek learns tools and strategies to overcome his aversion to reading and begins to accept the idea of maturing. Derek doesn’t overcome this obstacle alone; he has help from Margot, his Learning Camp counsellor, the patience of his parents, and the emotional support of his dog, Bodi. Margot teaches Derek to visualize literary scenes as if they were movie scenes. This advice allows Derek to remember what he reads—and leads him to create his own pictures. He uses this strategy, along with the prompts that his teacher wrote in his book, to complete a full novel by the summer’s end.

As Derek learns to like reading, he also learns to understand the necessity of growing up. He begins his summer as a wild and rambunctious child who gets into trouble by doing things like climbing onto the garage roof or sneaking Pedro the monkey out of his cage at the vet clinic. These acts of rebellion against the obligation to grow up prove a challenge for Derek’s parents, who slowly push him to realize that he can still have fun without holding himself back. As the summer ends, Derek becomes an emotionally supportive friend to Carly, a girl he previously considered boring and pretentious, when the class hedgehog dies in her care. After his experience with learning about Susan, talking to her friend Lauren, and seeing how his mother handles herself with Susan’s mother, Derek feels that he has grown and that it’s a good thing.

Derek supports his parents as they overcome their own personal obstacles, which gives him confidence to succeed in his own life. When Derek’s father remarks that animators are “getting younger and younger” (35), Derek uses humor to lighten the situation by drawing sideburns and a goatee on his dad while he’s asleep. Derek’s dad admires his son’s tenacity, and when Derek shows his dad the animation software, Derek reflects that his dad “says he’s been avoiding that kind of animation software for his work, but [Derek] inspired him to investigate some programs” (142). Derek’s dad was stuck in his old ways, refusing to try something new—much like Derek and his reading. When Derek sees that his dad is willing to persist, Derek feels like he can too. Derek likewise helps his mother heal from her emotional wounds regarding Susan’s death when he pushes her to confront everything by going to Martha’s Vineyard.

Meeting Pedro the helper monkey leads Derek to meeting Pedro’s owner, Michael. When Michael sees Derek’s illustrations, he shows Derek how to animate them using a computer program. He manipulates their arms and legs, making them move, and Derek is amazed. Derek wants to learn how to do it himself, and Michael helps him. While Derek is visiting Michael’s house one day, Michael shows him a video of Pedro learning how to become a helper. He repeats the same tasks over and over until he gets them right. Derek sees Pedro’s persistence and has an epiphany that “maybe evolving is what we’re supposed to do—all of us, all the time” (201). He no longer feels ashamed for being slower at learning to read; he understands that with patience and persistence, he can achieve anything.