King, A.S. Please Ignore Vera Dietz. 2010. New York, NY: Alfred K. Knopf ISBN 978-0-375-86586-2
Critical Analysis
Vera Dietz's life got a whole lot more complicated after the death of her best friend- turned secret love interest- turned ex-best friend, Charlie Kahn. Living next door to each other their entire lives, Charlie and Vera had an easy friendship, but as the story unfolds we find that "easy" often time meant ignoring the problems. Problems like Mr. Kahn beating Mrs. Kahn mercilessly almost daily, or Charlie swapping his worn underwear for money with a town pervert. As Vera deals with Charlie's death she begins to think about just how much she has been ignoring the last eighteen years.
Though the story is mostly told from Vera's first-person point of view, the reader also gets glimpses of other perspectives by the sporadic chapters told from the vantage point of other characters, and even objects. It is in these chapters we find out just how much Ken Dietz loves his daughter, Vera, and how hard he is trying to steer her in the right direction. It is also how the reader knows what Charlie's true feelings are for Vera, and often, the motive behind some of his bizarre actions. Perhaps the most unique chapters are those told from the perspective of the pagoda, a wise building that has seen it all over the past hundred years.
Relationship problems run deep in this book. Vera and Charlie are so close and their love for each other just begins to show until the boozing, pot smoking "Dentionheads" enter his life. Soon Vera finds herself replaced by these losers, namely Jenny Flick, Charlie's new, maniacal girlfriend. If that wasn't bad enough, Charlie dies and a horrible crime is pinned one him, meanwhile Vera knows the truth, but doesn't know how to share it. Vera also has a strained relationship with her father who desperately tries to keep Vera from falling into what he calls her "destiny-" that is getting pregnant at seventeen like her mother and a raging alcoholic like her father once was- by pressuring her to work a full-time job while staying in school and avoiding boys at all cost. King goes beyond the typical high school relationship issues that play front-runner in most young adult books by incorporating more adult-themed relationship interactions, like Vera's reciprocated crush on a twenty-three year old co-worker, her work relationship with her boss, and the many interactions she has with the general public as she delivers pizzas for the Pizza Pagoda.
Adult relationships are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to adult matters in Please Ignore Vera Dietz. King sugarcoats nothing in Vera's complicated life and struggle to come forward and speak the truth, and while the topics, sexual content and language are accurate to today's society, it does lend the book to being unsuitable for readers younger than tenth grade.
After Reading Activity
Vera's favorite class is Vocabulary. She uses her learned vocabulary words in sentences throughout the book. Have readers list her vocabulary words as they read, look them up and use them in a sentence of their own.
Make a "Ken Dietz Flow Chart" to discuss different choices characters could have made throughout the book and how they would have changed the story. One example topic would be "What if Charlie had called the police on Jenny?" Two possible results would be "They would have gotten there in time to save the animals and catch Jenny" or "They would have gotten there in time, but Jenny would say that she was there trying to stop Charlie." Then discuss where each of those actions would lead.
External Assessment
"The writing is phenomenal, the characters unforgettable." -VOYA (Voices for Youth Advocates)
"Vera's struggle to put Charlie behind her [is] at the crux of this witty novel, but nothing compares to the gorgeous unfurling of Vera's relationship with her father. [An] arresting tale." -Booklist
Michael L. Printz Honor
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