AN ANALYSIS ON MAJOR CHARACTERS’ CONFLICTS IN WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN’S FLIPPED
A THESIS BY
ALVIN AGUSTINUS RATULIU REG. NO. 090705059
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
AN ANALYSIS ON MAJOR CHARACTERS’ CONFLICTS IN WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN’S FLIPPED
A THESIS BY
ALVIN AGUSTINUS RATULIU REG. NO. 090705059
SUPERVISOR CO-SUPERVISOR
Drs. ParlindunganPurba, M.Hum Drs. SiamirMarulafau, M.Hum NIP. 19630216 198903 1 003 NIP. 19580517 198503 1 003
Submitted to Faculty of Cultural Studies University of Sumatera Utara Medan in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of SarjanaSastra from Department of English
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
AUTHORS’S DECLARATION
I, ALVIN AGUSTINUS RATULIU, DECLARE THAT I AM THE SOLE AUTHOR OF THIS THESIS EXCEPT WHERE REFERENCE IS MADE IN THE TEXT OF THIS THESIS. THIS THESIS CONTAINS NO MATERIAL PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE OR EXTRACTED IN WHOLE OR IN PART FROM A THESIS BY WHICH I HAVE QUALIFIED FOR OR AWARDED ANOTHER DEGREE. NO OTHER PERSON’S WORK HAS BEEN USED WITHOUT DUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IN THE MAIN TEXT OF THIS THESIS. THIS THESIS HAS NOT SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF ANOTHER DEGREE IN ANY TERTIARY EDUCATION.
Signed :
COPYRIGHT DECLARATION
Name : ALVIN AGUSTINUS RATULIU
Title of Thesis : AN ANALYSIS ON MAJOR CHARACTERS’ CONFLICTS IN WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN’S FLIPPED
Qualification : S1/SARJANA SASTRA
Department : ENGLISH
I AM WILLING THAT MY THESIS SHOULD BE AVAILABLE FOR REPRODUCTION AT THE DISCRETION OF THE LIBRARIAN OF DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FACULTY OF CULTURAL STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA ON THE UNDERSTANDING THAT USERS ARE MADE AWARE OF THEIR OBLIGATION UNDER THE LAW OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA.
Signed :
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First of all, I would like to say thank you ever so much to the Almighty God, Jesus Christ for all the mercy and blessing that I have. I also would like to say thank you for my parents, Herman LodewijkRatuliu and Sudarty, who always give care, support and their patience to help me in the life.
Relating to the process of this thesis, I would like to say thank you to my supervisor, Drs. ParlindunganPurba, M.Hum and my co-supervisor, Drs. SiamirMarulafau, M.Hum for their composure and sincerity to spend their time in supervising and correcting my thesis. As well as to Dr. H. SyahronLubis MA, the Dean of Faculty of Cultural Studies University of Sumatera Utara, and Dr. H MuhizarMuchtar, M.S, the head of Department of English and MrRahmadsyahRangkuti, MA. PhD as the secretary of the department.
Besides of them, I would like to say thank you for my brothers, AndryFransiskusRatuliu, Christian TheodorusRatuliu, and Frans Bernard Ratuliu.
Finally, I realize this thesis is still far from being perfect and I welcome constructive criticism and suggestion.
The Writer
ABSTRACT
The focus of analysis of this thesis is conflict through the major characters, July and Bryce. The conflict is restricted to inner and outer conflict the former lovers love concept personally and also the conflict with the parents and society as well. The conflict happens because the unfulfilled desire which leads to the result of stress and depression. The method applied in the analysis is descriptive qualitative.
ABSTRAK
Fokusanalisisdariskripsiiniadalahkonflikmelaluikarakterutamayakni July dan
Bryce.Konflik yang dianalisdalamskripsidibatasipadakonflikinternal daneksternal
yang berasaldarikekasih yang merekamiliki di
masalalusecarapribadidanjugakonflikdengan orang
tuadanjugamasyarakat.Konflikiniterjadidikarenakankeinginanterpendam yang
tidakterpenuhi yang kemudianmemicuterjadinya stress dandepresi. Metode yang
diaplikasikandalamanalisisiniadalahdeskriptifkualitatif.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
AUTHOR’S DECLARATION v
COPYRIGHT DECLARATION vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii
ABSTRACT ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS x
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background of the Study 1
1.2 Problem of the Study 4
1.3 Objective of the Study 4
1.4 Scope of the Study 4
1.5 Significance of the Study 5
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE 6
2.1 Review of the Study 6
2.2. Review of Related Studies 8
2.3 The Connection Plot, Character, and Conflict 9
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHOD 14
CHAPTER IV: DESCRIPTION AND FINDING 16
4.1 Juli is In Conflict with Bryce 16
4.2 Juli is In Conflict With Her Own Love Concept 21
4.3 Bryce Is In Conflict With Juli 24
4.4 Bryce Is In Conflict With His Life Principle 27
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 34
5.1 Conclusion 34
5.2 Suggestion 36
REFERENCES 37
ABSTRACT
The focus of analysis of this thesis is conflict through the major characters, July and Bryce. The conflict is restricted to inner and outer conflict the former lovers love concept personally and also the conflict with the parents and society as well. The conflict happens because the unfulfilled desire which leads to the result of stress and depression. The method applied in the analysis is descriptive qualitative.
ABSTRAK
Fokusanalisisdariskripsiiniadalahkonflikmelaluikarakterutamayakni July dan
Bryce.Konflik yang dianalisdalamskripsidibatasipadakonflikinternal daneksternal
yang berasaldarikekasih yang merekamiliki di
masalalusecarapribadidanjugakonflikdengan orang
tuadanjugamasyarakat.Konflikiniterjadidikarenakankeinginanterpendam yang
tidakterpenuhi yang kemudianmemicuterjadinya stress dandepresi. Metode yang
diaplikasikandalamanalisisiniadalahdeskriptifkualitatif.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1Background of the study
Literature is the art of written work. Literature is one of the creative
means of communicating the emotional, spiritual, or intelectual concern of
mankind. Literature is an imaginative act, that is an act of the writer’s
imagination in selecting and ordering life experience. Experience about
social life, nature, or anything else could be the ideas of the story.Generally,
literature can be divided into novel, play, and poetry.
In this thesis, the focus of the analysis is novel. Novel is extended
fictional prose narrative dealing with human characters and actions of a
period time. According to Reeve (1785:26) novel is a picture of real and
manners and of the time in which it was written. Novel has complicated
intrigue that presents the changing of human character in a period of time,
complex social situation, other action happened.
Commonly, novels set prevailing values of society against protagonist
or anatgonist character who feel uncomfortable with these values. The
novelist is concerned to present his view about the society. Novels are often
about the relationship between individuals and the society in which they live.
A story of the novel often tells about how the character explained in his or
In the real world human is people, but in the novel human called as a
character. According to Robert (1993:20) character is the persons presented
in dramatics of narrative work, who are interpreted by reader as being
endowed with the moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what
they say and what they do in action. From the statement above, It can be
concluded that character is the way life of human being which issurrounded
by many problems such as conflict.
Novel consists of theme, plot, setting, point of view, character, etc. If
a novel has all of those elements, there must be conflicts. All of those plot
and character interconnected to create conflicts that build the story itself.
Conflict, as commonly known, is just a simple word.
Since this research discusses about conflict, as commonly known, it
seems to be natural for human cannot escape from the conflict it self. It
happens so since man cannot fulfill all he wishes completely. Where the
choices fail to satisfy the complete desire, the result will be conflict. So,
conflict is a matter of choices which results sense of disappointment.
Marcus (2000:366) defines that conflict is incompatibility of ideas,
beliefs, roles, needs, desires, values, and so on. While Sanderson (1991:505)
defines conflict as an opposition of interest between and among various
individuals and social groups, which may or may not be overtly observable,
and which may or may not break out into open dispute or physical violence.
In this thesis, the analysis only focuses in the major characters’
conflict of Wendelin Van Draanen’s novel Flipped. This novel is about love
and feeling that flip between two major characters. Those characters are Juli
Naturally, being 7, Bryce has no interest to Juli. However, as the novel
progresses, both children grow up and their emotions change drastically.
This novel is dominantly expressing conflicts experienced by the
major characters. They are trapped to solve their conflicts. This is the
background as well as one reason why this topic is analyzed in this thesis
considering both of the major characters as the reflected of human being
1.2Problems of the study
In this novel, the problems of the study are:
1. How are Juli Baker’s conflicts that found in Wendelin Van Draanen’s
novel Flipped?
2. How are Bryce Loski’s conflicts that found in Wendelin Van
Draanen’s novel Flipped?
1.3Objective of the Study
Based on the problems of the study above, thus the objectives of the
study are:
1. To find and analyze the conflicts of Juli Bakerthat found in Wendelin
Van Draanen’s novel Flipped
2. To find and analyze the conflicts of Bryce Loskithat found in
Wendelin Van Draanen’s novel Flipped
1.4Scope of the Study
This study is primarily taken with in the scope of studying of
the conflict of the major characters of Flipped. In order to make the
disscussion more specific. It is necessary to to limit the problem to the
major charachter’s conflict. Juli Baker had conflict with Bryce Loski
and her own concept of self. Same as July’s, Bryce Loski had conflict
1.5Significance of the Study
This study has significance for the English Department students and
the reader particularly. First all, this study is meant to encourage the students
to study and analyze literature more. And this study gives information
concerning the novel through the the major character’s conflict. Then, It is
also intended to the reader a better understanding about the novel thoroughly
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1 Review of the Study
The theory which is applied to analyze the conflict of the major characters of
the novel Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanenwas taken fromJohn Peck and Martin
Coyle through their book Literary and Criticisms.
“….novel reflects a move away from as essentially religious view of life towards a new interest in the complexities of everyday experience. Most novel are concerned with ordinary people and their problems in the societies in which the find themselves. Novels, however, are long works with a great amount of detail on every page. They thus present all the complicating facts that need to be taken into account before we can reach any sort any judgment. The effect of this detail is that we come to
recognize the complex reality of a character or event in the story.”
(John Peck and Martin Coyle, 1947:103)
From John Peck and Martin Coyle’s opinion, it can be seen that novel is a
long work that relates to human lives which consist of common conflict or problems
that usually can be found in real life society. Novel presents what human usually
have in the realityas the part of a particular society. It is one of the proofs that a
novel is a reflection of human’s life.
Flipped can be classified as a romance novel. As generally known, romance
is also one of the major part in human live specially for the young. There is one
unique definition about romance novel taken from Janet Evanovich, a novelist who
“Romance novels are birthday cake and life is often peanut butter and jelly. I think everyone should have lots of delicious romance novels lying around for those times when the peanut butter of life gets stuck to the roof of your mouth.”(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Novel)
According to Janet, romance is just like a birthday cake which usually known
as delicious and beautiful decorated. She also compares life as a peanut butter and
jelly that the writer agrees. If someone eats peanut butter too much, it will be like a
glue in their mouth which drives to the sick feeling. As well like when a human has
problems in life which Jane refers as a peanut butter and Jelly in the mouth, thus they
need a birthday cake to make a their life better against their suck life reality.
Flipped is a novel by
romance novel. The idea of the story is the common one with the portrayed problem
common human’s life. The story revolves aroundunrequited love of a girl and a boy.
A story portrays the dynamic changes of love into hatred. Flipped has two major
characters, they are Julianna Baker and Bryce Loski, a childhood friend. Julia fell in
love to Bryce first. On the other side, Bryce hated Juli but in the end fell in love
withJuli in the end.
This novel concerns to the dynamic flip that happens between Juli and Bryce.
This ‘Flipped’ means thereversedof feeling of the both of the major characters
between their feelings. Juli’s feeling has flipped and so has Bryce. Love and hatred
are deconstructing their positions in the novel. The idea of the conflicts which is
going to be analyzed in the novel are the internal and external conflicts which
revolves around the both of the characters with their own self and society that cause
After all, Flipped is a unique novel with a different style of
deconstructionalwriting. As this novel presents two points of view between Bryce
and Juli, the reverse version is the power of this novel which rarely found in the
common works. Some of the chapter of this novel presents Bryce’s monologue about
his impression about Juli and it continues with the the monologue of Juli and her
impression about Bryce.
2.2 Review of Related Studies
Actually, this study is not the first study which discussed about
novelFllippedby Wendelin Van Draanen. Some studies and reviews about this book
also has important contribution to help analyzing and understanding this
novelthoroughly. Here are some reviews about the novel:
1. In his blog, Aaron Vincent begins by stating that ‘If John Green have
written an 8th grade he-said she-said coming-of-age novel, it would have
been something like this….’ and relegates and relegates ‘the Draanen’s to
a half page ‘note’ at the end of the first, introductory, chapter. In his
acknowledges that Wendelin van Draanen was a genius and that Flipped,
an ‘astonishing work’, should be seen, in the story of the novel in
America, as a ‘kind of sport’:
2. In The Horn Book Magazine, Martin C. stated that :
‘I must say, Flipped is a great book and also has a great teaching, as well as being huge amount of fun to read because of the author's fabulous techniques. One of the techniques the author uses in the book is showing different perspectives throughout the book, to be specific: the way he describes the point of view from Juli's and Bryce's perspective, also a very fun technique since you're always wondering what the other character in the story thinks too. Another entertaining technique is the quite fancy way the author makes suspense in the story, like slowing down time, he shows the characters feelings and exposes his or her thoughts toward the event. One last thing that makes this book a must is that the author creates a tremendous amount of conflict building up all the time that makes an intense background for what's happening right then. The teaching of this book is a very good one, that "A painting is more than the sum of its parts" which means that all the pieces that make up something are not what make something special, but what they make up is what's special.’
2.3The Connection Plot, Character and Conflict
Plot and character obviously cannot be separated. They need each other to
complete a story. Roberts and Jacobs (1995:1695) states that plot, generally has
common forms that can be divided as straight-line construction, episodic
construction and pyramidal construction. The structure of plot also can be divided as
exposition, complication, crisis or climax, falling action, and resolution.
Exposition is a complete and detailed analysis of a work literature, often
word byword and line by line. Complication is a stage of narrative and dramatic
structure in which the major conflict is brought out of the rising action of a drama.
Climax is the high point of conflict and tension preceding the resolution of a drama,
the point of decision, of inevitability and no return. Falling down is the turning
downward of the dramatic plot, the four stage in structure after the climax. In
addition, the last one is resolution. Resolution is the final stage of plot development,
in which mysteries are explained, characters find their destinies, and the work is
As Characters is the reflection of a human in a novel, it is definitely one of
the main elements which bring the story of the novel feels alive since the character
portrays as a real human suppose to be with soul, behavior, and many things like
human themself. Characters are usually presented through their actions, dialect, and
thought, as well as by description. According to Edgar V Robert (1993:20):
“Character are the person present in dramatics of narrative work, who are interpreted by reader as being endowed with the normal and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what they say in the dialogue and what they do in action.”
A character is a person depicted in a drama. Characters may be flat, minor
characters or round, and major.
Robert (1993:131) says, in a novel the character may be defined as a verbal
representative of human being. Through action, speech, description, and
commentary, authors portray characters are worth caring about, rooting for, and even
loving, although there are also characters you may laugh at, dislike, or even hate.
As plot and character are part of conflict, it happens by the action of
characters and the flow of the story. Conflict can happen from the personality of the
character. It also can happen from society. Everything can cause conflict. In literary
studies, conflict includes internal and external conflict. Internal conflict comes from
the characters themselves. It comes from the problem of their personality and
external conflict comes from society and environment.
As commonly known that there are definitions about conflict that is a part of
the plot, one of the elements of fiction. Along with characterization, setting and
exposition, in which the author present the main characters and describes the setting.
The action rises to a climax or turning point, with conflict between two opposing
forces. Action falls as the conflict is resolved, and the narrative ends with the
denouement or resolution.
Sharon Penn, an eHow Contributor, says that there are four types of conflict
in literature. Characters might be pitted against each other, or they may be fighting
something in nature. A character might be trying to solve a problem in society. They
are:
1. Man vs. Man
From the simplest stories to the most complex, we will find external
conflict in the form of ‘man vs. man’, a character in conflict with another character.
Whether it is Jack from “Jack and the Beanstalk” against the giant, the good guys
against the bad guys in old time Westerns story, or Romeo against Tybalt in “Romeo
and Juliet”, main characters show their personalities as they fight against literary
antagonists.
2. Man vs. Society
Just as in real life, characters sometimes struggle against society in
literature. In George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”, the author creates a thinly veiled
metaphor of the Russian revolution. Here the farm owner represents the last tsar of
Russia, Nicholas ll, and the pigs represents the Communists. Boxer the horse
represents the exploited workers, and the sheep represents the masses at large.
Readers can relate to this type of conflict when it symbolizes important situations in
3. Man vs. Self
The type of conflict that pits a person against himself is called internal
conflict. In ‘Sophie’s Choice”, a Jewish woman is forced to decide which child to
save and which child ti give up to the Nazis during the Holocaust. This moral
dilemma presents a heart wrenching struggle for protagonist. The reader relates to
internal conflict because we are sometimes faced with emotional challenges for
which there is no clear solutions.
4. Man vs. Nature
In today’s world, people are particularly interested in conflict that pits
the sympathetic protagonist against an occurrence in the natural world. Today, we
are concerned about hard to control viruses, earthquakes, and severe weather. “The
Andromeda Strain” by Michael Crichton is a techno-thriller that spotlights a team of
scientists countering a fatal extraterrestrial organism. Novel such as this capture the
reader’s attention because the situation depicted is all too realistic
(http://www.ehow.com/about_6503127_definition-conflict-literature.html).
Moreover Christie Craig and Faye Hughes also emphasize that in real life,
conflicts is everywhere. It can stem from the weather, from traffic, from other
people, from bad potato salad, or even from someone’s cookies. However, in books,
it is crucial that the conflict be a natural extension of either our plot or characters.
Before we can define what characters’ conflict will be, we need to have a clear
definition of both your story goal and the personal goals our characters. Conflict is
not something a writer just magically pulls out of thin
As character is a part of society thus in the novel a particular society also
portrayed in the novel as the important details to make the story even more real as to
human’s life. As it is commonly known that a particular society can influence a
personthroughtheirmind. The way of they are thinking is also influenced as well by
ideas and perspectives in the societyit self. The author, as the part of society in the
real life as well put the description of the society as the important background of the
story in order to lead the reader to understand the particular character behavior as the
impact of the society around them.Every body will be impacted
psychologicallybecause of the society. Whatever it leads tothe good or bad result, it
is unavoidably true fact.
Novel can be stated as the part of a particular society as well.Asnovel usually
describes society as one of the important element of background in order to make the
story feels more alive. In the other words, literature can be picture in society or our
society can be pictured in literature as well. Obviously literary works and society
have a strong connection. As the author of a novel is undeniably a part of society,
they describe the society on their own perspective which can affect the reader. They
do not only observe and judge the social condition around them but they also
criticize and analyze through their work. As to the reader, they will read, compare
and analyze the situation with their own reality as probably the new perspective for
them. Thus the authors communicate their idea to the reader through their work
CHAPTER III
METHOD OF RESEARCH
3.1 Research Method
An analysis is a scientific study in order to get the understanding through to
explanatory research. In writing this thesis, it is applieddescriptive qualitative
method. It is a method of research that seek to describe and interpret the objects
according to what it is (Best, 1982:119).
However, the process of the research can be seen through the following chart:
Reasercher
Source of Data: Novel Flipped
Descriptive Method Interpreted and
Analyzed Data Selection:
Quotations
The steps of analyzing of this research are:
1. Read the novel and understand the story
The writer reads the Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen to get ideas of
the whole story and relate the story to the conflict of the major characters,
Julianna Baker and Bryce Loski.
2. Select the case, determine and collect data
After reading this novel, the writer surely finds some data that support the
case of the conflict. The writer signs every part psychological problem of
major characters and the inner and outer conflict of major characters.
3. Analyze data
The writer continues to read all of the data carefully. The writer collects
all of that are found from internet, books or some supporting data, which
are relevant to the story.
4. Evaluate and prepare to report
Then the writer starts to evaluate and prepare all of the data. This analysis
CHAPTER IV
DESCRIPTION AND FINDING
AN ANALYSIS ON MAJOR CHARACTERS’ CONFLICTS IN WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN’S FLIPPED
4.1 Juli is in Conflict with Bryce
The heroine character of the novel Flipedby Wendelin Van Draanennamed
Julianna Baker, usually called Juli by her family and friends. Juli is a character who
portrayed as smart, passionate, sincere, and quite aggressive girl. She has two
brothers named Matt and Mike, a mom named Trina, and his dad named Richard.Juli
is a kind of girl who does whatever she wants without realizing others feelings. She
does it because she has such a pure heart.
Through Juli’s character, the author portayedJuli is in conflict with the hero
character of the novel Bryce Loski. Juli, as a little girl had a crush to Bryce.
Unfortunately the feeling was not mutual since Bryce had no feeling at all to Juli. As
July had interest in nature, there was one tree, a sycamore tree, which she liked to
climb. The sycamore tree was the tallest tree that lived around their area.She always
climbed it while waiting the school bus and also informing her friends about that
bus. She also often asked Bryce to climb the tree with her to watch the beautiful
view from above. As he did not have any feeling toward July, Bryce always had
One day, there are workers who wanted to chop down the tree because they
wanted to build a new house around the area. As usual, Juli was on the top of the tree
and waiting for her school bus. The workers asked Juli to come down, but Juli
rejected it. She insisted to stay there and then, Bryce and others students came. Juli
asked them to climb the tree together but Bryce rejected her like usual. No one
climbed the tree. All of them go to school. Juli started crying and begging them to
abort the execution. The workers got confused and finally called police. Polices
came and so didher father. Juli’s father started to climb and ask Juli to come down.
After having a little bit disagreement, Juli has no other choice rather than obeyed his
father.
“….I cried, “You can't cut it down! You just can't!” One of the men shook his head and said, “I am this close to calling the police. You are trespassing and obstructing progress on a contracted job. Now are you going to come down or are we going to cut you down?””
“….Hey, guys!” I called to my classmates. “Get up here with me! They can't cut it down if we're all up here! Marcia! Tony! Bryce! C'mon, you guys, don't let them do this!” They just stood there, staring up at me. I could see the bus, one block away. “Come on, you guys! You don't have to come up this high. Just a little ways. Please!” Then my father came racing up. He said that no view was worth his little girl's safety.He got me down and he took me home, only I couldn't stay there. I couldn't stand the sound of chain saws in the distance.” (p.25)
Based on the quotation above, it can be seen how Juli asked Bryce to climb
the tree that she cared about. Obviously, she wanted to share the important place for
her with Bryce as she had a crush with the boy. Unfortunately since Bryce felt
otherwise towards Juli, Bryce plainly rejected it. Juli who tried to save the tree which
important to her has been rejected by Bryce with just being stood there and staring
only. The conflict of Juli with Bryce is started since he does not care about Juli’s
The things were getting worse when Julicatched Bryce throwing her eggs to
the trash can. This happened when Juli started to give Bryce and his family a batch
of chicken eggs. Bryce’s father was suspicious about the eggs. He asked Bryce to
question Juli if they had a rooster among their chickens.Butinstead of asking Juli
directly, Bryce decided to sneak to Juli’s backyard with his friend, Garret, to find out
about the rooster. At last, Garret told Bryce that there’s nothing wrong with the
chickens.
Bryce tolddifferent story to his family about the chickens. This is an obvious
proof that Bryce hated everything that related to Juli so Bryce lied about Juli’s
backyard. He said that Juli’s backyard was dirty and messy. In fact, July often
cleaned it regularly. His family trustedhim and started to concern about poison in the
eggs, salmonella. Bryce’s father asked him to reject Juli’s eggs. In fact, Bryce chose
to throw the eggs away. This happenedfor two years, and ended up when Juli caught
Bryce throwing the eggs into a trash can.
“…..“Why'd you throw them away?” He shook the garbage out, then turned to face me. “Does the word salmonella mean anything to you?”
“Salmonella? But …” (p.34)
“…..Have you… always thrown them away?” He shrugged and looked down. “Juli, look. We didn't want to hurt your feelings.” “My feelings? Do you realize Mrs. Stueby and Mrs. Helms pay me for my eggs?” “You're kidding.” “No! They pay me two dollars a dozen!” “No way.” “It's true! All those eggs I gave to you I could've sold to Mrs. Stueby or Mrs. Helms!” “Oh,” he said, and looked away. Then he eyed me and said, “Well, why did you just give them to us?” I was fighting back tears, but it was hard.I choked out, “I was trying to be neighborly…!” (p.35)
The quotation above is one of another description of the conflict of Juli with
Bryce since they were kids. From the quotation, Juli obviously showed her feeling to
Her feeling were even more hurt and disappointed with Bryce mentioned about
Salmonella. The fact of the boy thrown all of the eggs that she has been given for
two years was definitely one of the major conflict which drives the flip of Juli’s
feeling to Bryce. The little girl had been forced to face the reality that her crush was
not into her only but also hated her in fact. All of Bryce rejections towards her action
are the fact which the poor girl has to deal with.
The climax is when Juli heard the conversation between Bryce and Garret
about her uncle. Bryce and Garret were talking about Juli’s uncle, David. David had
a mental retardation. During these years, David had been placed, in a private place,
not the one that’s presented by government. Garrett laughed about it and then made a
joke about Juli. He said that Juli was also having mentally injured as well as her
uncle. Bryce got mad but he was too shy and too coward to say what he really
wanted to say. So he just agreed with Garret words.
The big flip happens to Juli because of the situation. As Juli heard what
Bryce and Garret said in library and it made Juli got mad and deeply sad. Juli started
to hate Bryce from that point. Juli could not take it many rejections from Bryce. July
finally made up her mind. She decided to stay away from Bryce since that. She told
Bryce about it when Juli and her family were invited to have a sitting dinner in
Bryce’s house.
“I positively crumbled onto the floor. And in a flash the voices were gone. Darla checked around the corner, then sat beside me, saying,“Oh, Jules, I'm so, so sorry. I thought he was about to confess that he's been crushing on you.””(p.58)
Those all of three accidents are the strong proof that Bryce obviously reject
Juli’s crush to him. Every rejection that Bryce did is just another heart breaker for
Juli. It started with the sycamore tree accident, then about Juli’s eggs, and the final
when Garrett making a joke about Juli’s uncle with Bryce. Julican not proceed it any
longer so she braced herself to say to Bryce that she did not any longer want to talk
with Bryce.As it has explained before if someone cannot achieve what he or she
wants, there will be a conflict and that conflict will result disappointment. It is
obviously can be seen from the Juli’s character that how her affection toward Bryce
because of multiple rejections which cause her hurt feeling. But Juli is definitely an
adorable heroin character which is brave and strong enough to tell her feeling and
4.2 Juli is In Conflict with Her Own Love Concept
“The first day I met Bryce Loski, I flipped. Honestly, one look at him and I became a lunatic. It's his eyes. Something in his eyes. They're blue, andframed in the blackness of his lashes, they're dazzling. Absolutely breathtaking. Those first years! I thought I would die for wanting to be with him. Two days before the second grade is when it started, although the anticipation began weeks before—ever since my mother had told me thatthere was a family with a boy my age moving into the new house right across the street.” (p.8)
From the quotation above, it can be concluded that Juli is a romantic girl. She
was in love at the first sight with Bryce and thought that Bryce Loski is her prince
charming. Sadly, Bryce in fact leads her to the conflict of her own concept of love.
The multiple conflict of Bryce and she woke her up of her own first love concept to
the deep disappointment.
The clear rejection that Bryce gave to Juli has caused the flip of her heart and
mind. The conflict of her own concept of love has started when Bryce had a
relationship with Shelly Stalls. Shelly Stalls was a popular girl in the school. Before
Shelly hadrelationship with Bryce, Juli already hated Shelly since in elementary
school.ForJuli, Shelly was a big mouthed. All she did was just to ignore Shelly. But
when it came in junior high school, Juli watched Shelly holding Bryce hand. Juli was
very jealous about it. Juli thinks that Bryce neededher help but in fact Bryce wanted
to see Juli giving up about him.
“Then in the fifth grade Shelly Stalls came into the picture. Shelly Stalls is a ninny. A whiny, gossipy, backstabbing ninny who says one thing to one person and the opposite to another. My solution to Shelly Stalls was to ignore her, which worked just dandy until about halfway through the fifth grade when I saw her holding hands with Bryce. My Bryce.” (p.23)
wasn't a job a boy could do gracefully. This was a job for a girl. I didn't even bother checking around for other candidates—I had her off of him in two seconds flat. Bryce ran away the minute he was free, but not Shelly. Oh, no-no-no! She came at me, scratching and pulling and twisting anything she could get her hands on, telling me that Bryce was hers and there was no way she was letting him go. In the end, Shelly went home early with a bad case of mussed-up hair, while I told my side of things to the principal.” (p.25)
From this situation, it can be concluded that Juli had a belief that Bryce was
an innocent boy who did not realize what he was doing and needed to be saved. The
innocent Juli did not get the real message to her instead twisting it to something
which she believed in her own feeling and perspective.
It can be classified as the self-denial in Juli’s mind as well. As Juli had a
clear affection to Bryce, she had an imagination that Bryce was hers and
reciprocated her feeling. This is the description the young naïve Juli with her own
belief that the person she had a feeling with not only had the same feeling with her
but also considered him to be innocent when he was obviously holding hand with the
other girl. We can see that Bryce does not give a love signal to her. Even Bryce
shows his dislike to Juli. Juli is just too naïve to believe that Bryce has feeling to her.
She even thought it was her duty to save him from someone she considered to be
bad. How Juli hold strong her feeling and struggle hard to protect someone that she
cared about are definitely showed how strong Juli’s commitment to her own love
concept which are caring, protecting and giving.
The conflict continues to basket boys’ launch case. Basket boys’ launch was
a charity show that takes place at their school. There were some boys that would be
bought by the girls in auction ways and then the money would be donated to the
poor. For the first time, Juli was not interested about that show. Then, she knew that
annoyed after hearing that. She went back to her house and picked her money up.
Next, Juliwas sitting among the other students and holding a lot of money. She got
distracted by looking Miranda and Shelly. In her deepest heart, she wanted to buy
Bryce. This moment really disturbs Juli’s mind. She kept thinking and thinking what
she should have done. After all, instead of buying Bryce, Juli bought John Trulock
instead.
“Until lunchtime the next day, that is. Darla cut me off on my way to the library and dragged me over to her table instead. “Have you seen the list?” she asked. “What list?” “The list of basket boys!” She shoved a scrawled copy of twenty names in front of me and looked around. “Your main dish is on it!” Five from the top, there it was—Bryce Loski. I should have expected it, but still, this awful surge of possessiveness shot through me. I threw the list back at Darla and said, “He's not my main dish! As a matter of fact, I didn't even vote for him.” “Oooo, girl! You are stickin' to your diet!” “It's not a diet, Darla. I'm … I'm over him, okay?” “I'm glad to hear it, 'cause rumor is, that bimbette Shelly is already stakin' her claim on him.”
“….I shouldn't even be thinking about him! When I wasn't thinking about Bryce, I was worrying about poor Jon Trulock. He was quiet, and I felt sorry for him, having to clutch a basket and beauctioned off in front of the whole student body. What had I done to him?” (p.57)
From the situation above it can be seen how Juli tried to push away her
affection to Bryce by getting someone else. She wanted to proof not only for her, but
Bryce and their friends. Even tough she realized that deep down inside of her, she
did not get over him yet. But since the previous conflicts with Bryce, she realized
that she had to conflict and fight with her own love concept. From the situation as
well, it can be seen how brave and strong Juli was to fight her own feeling to proof
4.3 Bryce Is In Conflict With Juli
The hero character of this novel named Bryce Loski. Bryce lived with his
parents, Steven and Patsy Loski. He has a sister named Lynetta. Bryce was a quite attractive boy who loved basketball and baseball. He was Juli’s new neighbor who
just moved in front of Juli’s house. After being attracted by Bryce’s eyes, Juli fell in
love at the first sight. Next, Juli directly gave a hand to help Bryce’s moving and that
was how this story begins.
From the first chapter of this novel, the reader was brought to the impression
that Bryce hated Juli. Bryce felt disturb upon a little girl who kept looking into his
eyes and stalking him. All he got feelingwas just disturbance.The first conflict that
Bryce has with Juli is her aggressiveness and bluntness. When Juli has been saw
there was a new neighbor who was unpacking their stuffs, she saw Bryce who was in
the same age like her and directly jumpedinto their truck after dazzling by Bryce’s
eyes. Juli offered a hand to help but Bryce thought that Juli just disturbed them.
Bryce’s father also rejected Juli’s help and asked her to go home. But Juli was a
stubborn and persistent with a heart of gold that she kept asking to do something to
help. Then Bryce was asked to go inside of the house by his father. Juli run to chase
him and unconsciously, they were holding hand. This was how the story began. This
was the first moment that caused a big headacheto Bryce.
what she did, taking over and showing off like only Juli Baker can.” (p.18)
Based on the quotation above it can be concluded that Bryce felt Juli
existence was a burden for him since she could not leave him alone and she just
barged into his life the way she was, uninvited. Obviously, it can be seen that Bryce
has reject Juli even star from the beginning.
The conflict continued when Juli found out the fact that Bryce was in her
class. Juli was unbelievably surprised. She raninto Bryce and hugged him in front of
the other students. Bryce was very embarrassed at the time. He did not know what to
do. Their friends shouted and mocked at him all along day. Juli became a nightmare
that haunted Bryce every time. Juli was like a virus that should be avoided by
him.Juli was like a noisy mosquito which kept buzzing around his ears and drove
him crazy.
“….. “Bryce!” Juli squeals. “You're here.” Then she charges across the room and tackles me. Mrs. Yelson tried to explain this attack away as a “welcome hug,” but man, that was no hug. That was a front-line, take-'em-down tackle. Everyone jeered, “Where's your girl friend, Bryce?” “Are you married yet, Bryce?” And then when she chased me around at recess and tried to lay kisses on me, the whole school started singing, “Bryce and Juli sitting in a tree, K-I-S-SIN-G…” My first year in town was a disaster.” (p.22)
studentsalso made the situation even worse since all of the good impression that he had to show flew to the window because of Juli. Even a little boy indeed has a self esteem.
Astime passed by and as it has predicted the Bryce’s first year at school did
not go well. Bryce thought that he would be saved from Juli that they would be in
different class. Unfortunately, their fate was cemented and Bryce was stuck with Juli
in the same class again. Bryce tried his best to avoid Juli. Bryce and Juli were
mocked as a couple at school again. This condition leads to the frustration and stress
to the poor little boy. While in the other side, Juli was very happy to hear ahe said.
This fact made Bryce hated Juli even more since everyone mocked Bryce about
Julievery day for almost three years. In the other words, Juli’s existence has brought
Bryce into deep conflict of his youth. Until one day, Bryce took an action about it by
havingrelationship with Shelly Stalls. He hoped by doing that, Juli would stay away
from him so Shelly was used to make Juli giving up on Bryce.
Shelly was Bryce’s media to avoid Juli. At the beginning, Bryce plan was
successful but after breaking up with Shelly, Juli started to chase on Bryce.
Based on the description, it can be seen that Juli’s existence has brought
many problems to Bryce’s life and it was still failed. So it is really obvious that the
4.4 Bryce Is In Conflict With His Life Principle
As the concept of the novel is Flipped then some opposite reality describe in
this novel. From the perspective of a little boy, humiliating of being a couple are
really nightmare and disaster to them. As Juli had her own perspective of Bryce,
Bryce’s perspective about Juli is also described by the author. One of the major
conflicts which lead Bryce to hate Juli is because of that he has his own perspective
and he just cannot understand the concept of Juli’s thinking.
As the tree incident for instance, Juli asked Bryce to help her by climbing the
tree, but he denied her and went to school with his friends instead. It was because he
doesn’t get the way of Juli’s thinking upon the tree.
“For a second I considered it. But then the bus arrived and I talked myself out of it. It wasn't my tree, and even though she acted like it was, it wasn't Juli's, either. We boarded the bus and left her behind, but school was pretty much a waste. I couldn't seem to stop thinking about Juli. Was she still up in the tree? Were they going to arrest her? When the bus dropped us off that afternoon, Juli was gone and so was half the tree. It was like watching someone dismember a body, and for the first time in ages, I felt like crying. Crying.Over a stupid tree that I hated. I went home and tried to shake it off, but I kept wondering, Should I have gone up the tree with her? Would it have done any good? I thought about calling Juli to tell her I was sorry they'd cut it down, but I didn't. It would've been too, I don't know, weird.” (p.30)
Based from the quotation above it can be seen that something different from
Bryce usual reaction towards Juli. He felt depression and stress because of Juli’s
never end chasing toward him. But when Juli asked him to climb the tree to save it to
be chopped, for a second he considered it. It is definitely an opposite reaction toward
his feeling to Juli. He was worried toward Juli as well whether she would be arrested
and ended up regretting his own decision. He even felt like crying. His opposite
has an obvious conflict of him self that he showed that he hated Julibut he actually
started to care about Juli.
The eggs accident was also a turning point to Bryce. As in the story, he threw
all of Juli’s eggs that she has given to him every day for almost two years. Bryce did
not dare to tell Juli that his family questions about a virus that might be contained in
Juli’s egg. It was happened because Bryce lied to his own family about Juli’s
backyard of being dirty and mess thus his family felt suspicious toward the eggs. In
fact, Juli’s backyard is doing alright.
“Well, guess who's just standing there like a statue on my porch?The Egg Chick.I about spilled the trash all over the porch. “What are you still doing here?” I asked her.“I…I don't know. I was just … thinking.”“About what?” I was desperate. Seriously. She stepped right in my way and put her arms out like she'sguarding the goal.She chased me and blocked me again. “What happened?” she wants to know. “Did they break?”Perfect. Why hadn't I thought of that? “Yeah, Juli,” I told her. “And I'm real sorry about that.”
“…Why did you throw them out?” she asked, but her voice didn'tsound like Juli Baker's voice. It was quiet. “Do you realize I've lost over a hundred dollars giving these eggs to you?” Why hadn't I just stood up and said, No thanks, don't want 'em, don'tneed 'em, don't like 'em…. Give them to the snake, why don't you? Something!Was I really afraid of hurting her feelings?Or was I afraid of her?” (p.55)
Based on the quotation, it can be implied that Bryce has obvious conflict with
himself toward his own principle and his own deep feeling inside. He threw all of the
eggs that Juli has been given since Juli has brought many conflict with his friends.
Obviously according to him, Juli has ruined his youth life. But when Juli found out
that he has been thrown all of the eggs that she has been given, deep down inside he
afraid of her plainly. This condition leads to the fact that Bryce has his own conflict
against himself and his feelings toward his reaction to Juli. It seems that he does not
only feel hat to Juli but he also has other opposite feeling to her which he, him self,
does not realize it yet.
The conflict that Bryce had is also derives from his character. He was
described as a quite and shy boy. He hardly expressed him self. From the quotation
above, it may be seen that way since he made the dialogue with him self, he
communicated with him self as one of the characteristic of someone who likely to
hide his own feeling. The fact that he never said anything toward his friends who
kept yelling him and Juli as a couple, for a boy it must have been an inconvenient
situation that he should react but he was just being quite instead. He never told Juli
directly about his inconvenient feeling to her either which might be a reason Juli
continued her crush to Bryce. If Bryce directly was honest and told Juli the way he
felt, the different would be different for sure.
This part of the novel is the turning point of both Juli and Bryce. On the side,
Juli was really disappointed toward Bryce’s action because she cared to Bryce.
Meanwhile, Bryce has realized something contradicted in him self when he saw Juli
was hurt and disappointed. This Flipped concept, as the tittle of the novel it self, is
describing in the unique way through the story line which become the power of this
novel.
The climax of the story isin the charity show, the basket boy’s event. As it
has been explained earlier that Bryce was a quite andshy boy which was rarely to
express his own feeling as well. Actually, hehatedthe charity show. The story was
theschool, Shelly and Miranda were having bid on him. There is an interesting fact
in this chapter that it mentions that Bryce hopedthe different condition. Whereas he
was in the event with the two most popular girls in the school, in his heart he hoped
that he was with Juli instead. The conflict of Bryce with him self has brought the
reader to assume that new fact that he actually had deep feeling to Juli. He has
flipped as the matter of fact.
Considering of the previous accident and the disappointed feeling that she
had with Bryce, Juli had ignored Bryce the whole time. She tried to proof to their
friends that she could move on from him. Juli tried to erase her crush and considered
him as a friend only. Thus Juli asked Jon Trulock, an unpopular nerd to go with her
to the even. Knowing the fact, Bryce gotconfused and angry. By lunch time, Bryce
could not get his mind from Juli. He kept lookingatJuli while in front of him there
were Shelly and Miranda who was talking about unimportant things. Suddenly,
Bryce took an action, he pulled Juli from her chair and then tries to kiss her. Juli
refused and then run to her house leaving Brycealone. This time, Bryce definitely
acted differently from his own principle. He finally showed the way the actually felt
to Juli and even doing unexpected action by trying to kiss her.His feeling toward
Julis has flipped him into different person because of jealousy.
“So there I was, with the two hottest girls on campus, having lunch. I was “the man,” the envy of every other guy in school. Buddy, I was miserable. I mean, these two girls may be gorgeous, but what was coming out of their mouths about Jumbo Jenny was embarrassingly ugly.”
“…..“Bryce,” she whispers. “What's wrong?” I can barely breathe as I ask her, “Do you like him?” “Do I… you mean Jon?” “Yes!” “Well, sure. He's nice and —” “No, do you like him?” My heart was pounding through my chest as I took her other hand and waited. “Well, no. I mean, not like that….” No! She said no! I didn't care where I was, I didn't care who saw. I wanted, just had to kiss her. I leaned in, closed my eyes, and then … She broke away from me.”
“I sat there by myself and didn't even care about covering up. I just wanted to be with her. To talk to her.To hold her hand again.Tokiss her.” (p.66)
From quotations above, it is obvious that Bryce has fallen in love with Juli.
He felt miserable of being with two of the most popular girls in on campus which
some other boys were really envy of him. He just realized the fact that Juli who was
talking and smiling in front of another boy so he could not stand it anymore. He
pulled Juli and tried to kiss her. This reaction is definitely opposite of Bryce
character, it seemed that Bryce could not hide or control his real feeling toward Juli.
At the end of story, Bryce triedto apologize to Juli. He knocked her house, he
calledJuli, and even he sneaked to her window to see Juli. Unfortunately, Juli’s heart
has been broken. Juli refused to see Bryce and locked herself. Until one day Juli saw
Bryce who was digging Juli’s front yard. Juli was very angry about it. But her dad
says that he has given permission to Bryce to do that. Juligotconfused. And then
finally she saw Bryce who is planting atree in their front yard. Surprisingly, it’s a
sycamore tree, same typical tree that Juli loved but it had been cut even when she
tried to save it. Juli was feeling moved and went out of the house and helped Bryce
to plant the tree. Bryce and Juli were getting close.
As the typical of popular romance novel, the story ends with a happy ending
forgave Bryce. If it compares with the reality, it must have different result. A human
being would be really hard to forgive other person who has humiliated him/her many
times. As the matter of fact, a human has its own dignity.
In this novel, the writer sees that the way we treat someone will effect to how
someone will treat us back. People are usually hard to believe and feel. People will
easily judge and dislike someone without knowing the person first. In this novel,
religion does not take a part. For the examples, when Bryce and his family are
unpacking their stuffs, Juli wants to help their things but Bryce father refuses it and
says that instead of helping, Juli just makes a mess.
The writer sees that Juli has a pure heart to help. Juli never thinks to make a
mess. Society in common way is pictured in this story. Bryce’s father directly judges
and dislikes her. A culture of judging is become a habit in our daily life. And the
writer sees that Bryce is similar with his father. If a family cannot give a good
example about how to treat people well, children will imitate it. Children are tend to
imitate what their parents do. Judging is just a habit that we can get by looking
others judgment. If people still judge and look down to other people, how many
people will be suffering? We must not be like this anymore. Let Bryce and his father
just be in this novel. Let him exist in a fiction. The writer thinks that we should not
let Bryce become a real character in our life. The character means here is a character
that will judge and spend his or her life just for madness and anger.
At the end of this story, the writer sees Bryce’s regret feeling. We have
known that Bryce wastes all Juli’s goodness. But the good thing is Juli is truly has a
pure heart. She forgives for all that Bryce has done on her. It is very hard to find a
After all of these explanations, the writer can conclude that Bryce is the
source of all the conflicts. If Bryce and his family welcome Juli from the first time,
there will be not so many conflicts. And if Bryce tells what he really thinks, there
will be no more complicated conflicts. People can be a Bryce even worse if they do
not know who they are exactly and where their places are. In addition, there is no
happiness in judging.
The last but not the least, we human should be honest to our feelings. Bryce
has lied to himself. Bryce has done something that causes a heart break to other
people. Bryce has been judging before knowing who exactly Juli is. We cannot let
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
5.1 Conclusions
Having analyzed the novel, it can be concluded that:
1. Juli, as the heroine of the novel, has conflict with Bryce and her own concept
of love. Juli has fallen to Bryce from the first time they met as the new
neighbor. But the conflict she has with Bryce has occurred because of Bryce
blunt and harsh rejected to her that Bryce refused to fight the tree that Juli
cared about, the egg accident and Bryce has humiliated her uncle. This
conflicts are flipped the feeling Juli has for Bryce.
2. Juli, as a romantic girl, who was a caring person, honest and strong as well
has fought her best to reach Bryce feeling. But Bryce blunt rejection has
forced her to face a cruel reality and Bryce disliked her. So because of some
conflicts, Juli decided to erase her feelings toward Bryce and moved on. For
a dreamy romantic girl like her, it was a cruel reality since she had to face the
conflict with her own concept of love.
3. Bryce, as the hero of the novel, a handsome boy who was a quite and rarely
to express his own feeling had disliked Juli from the beginning. In the
concept of society, a young boy usually hates a little girl since they only like
to play with other boy. Juli’s blunt crush to him clearly has brought him
disaster and ruined. So the conflict of Bryce with Juli occurred because of the
opposite feeling that Bryce had to Juli and otherwise.
4. The conflict of Bryce with his own life principle can be seen as the concept
of Flipped as well that despite Bryce had a disaster school life because of
constant mocking and joking, without realizing it he felt different to Juli that
he was afraid to hurt her. The conflict was in the top climax when Bryce
acted differently from his own character of being quite and shy that he tried
to kissedJuli because of his jealousy of seeing her with the other boy. The
feeling of hate has been flipped into love to Bryce that he had to fight his
own life principle.
5. All of the conflicts, either internal or external conflict of this novel ware
brought opposite reaction of the both major characters thus it matches the
5.2 Suggestions
From the analysis, it is also suggested that the novel can be analyzed
furthermore. Novel, as a part of literary works are always interesting to be analyze
further and from this novel there are many other interesting topic that it will be
challenging to be discuss. The psychological element of the major characters or the
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Draanen, Wendelin Van. 2001. Flipped. USA: Random House
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APPENDICES
Biography of Wendelin Van Drannen
Wendelin Van Draanen was bornon January 6, 1965. She is an American
writer of
Shredderman, and Gecko & Sticky series of children's books, she was the 1999
recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's prestigious
As a child, she was inspired by the work of
Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew young adult series. She published her first literary
work, How I Survived Being a Girl, in the late 1990s.Before becoming a writer, she
taught mathematics and computer science at the high school level.She is a daughter
of Dutch-born scientists, she grew up in Chicago, Illinois. She later settled in
California with her husband Mark Parsons and her two children.
Books have always been a part of Wendelin Van Draanen's life. Her mother
taught her to read at an early age, and she has fond memories of story time with her
father, when she and her brothers would cuddle up around him and listen to him read
stories.
Growing up, Van Draanen was a tomboy who loved to be outside chasing
down adventure. She did not decide that she wanted to be an author until she was an
adult. When she tried her hand at writing a screenplay about a family tragedy, she
found the process quite cathartic and from that experience, turned to writing novels
Feedback from her readers is Van Draanen's greatest reward for writing.
"One girl came up to me and told me I changed her life. It doesn't get any better than
that," she said. Van Draanen hopes to leave her readers with a sense that they have
the ability to steer their own destiny-that individuality is a strength, and that where
there's a will, there's most certainly a way.
Her first book was published in 1997, and since then her titles have been
nominated for State Award Master Lists all over the country. Now in its tenth
installment, the Sammy Keyes Mysteries have been nominated for the Edgar Allan
Poe Award for Best Children’s Mystery four times in six years, with SAMMY
KEYES AND THE HOTEL THIEF bringing home the statue. Additionally, she has
won the Christopher medal for SHREDDERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY, and the
California Young Reader Medal for FLIPPED. Her books have been translated into
many foreign languages, and have been optioned for film and television projects.
She lives in California with her husband and two sons. Her hobbies include the
Summary of Wendelin Van Drannen’s Flipped
"Flipped" by Wendelin Van Draanen tells the story of two youngsters whose
diverse views of their relationship evolve over many years until those perspectives
are "flipped." The story begins when seven-year-old Bryce Loski moves into a new
house across the street from the Bakers. Seven-year-old Juli Baker has been eagerly
anticipating the arrival of her new neighbors for weeks ever since she learned that a
boy her age would be living there.
On the day the Loskis are unloading their truck, Juli races over to introduce
herself. She is mesmerized by the cute boy with the brilliant blue eyes. Juli is a
high-spirited young girl who is open and friendly. When she jumps into the moving van to
help, young Bryce is immediately annoyed. He finds her aggressive and does not like
her muddy shoes. He spends the next two weeks doing everything he can to avoid
being around his new neighbor who relentlessly pursues him. Juli recognizes that he
is withdrawn and not around much but she attributes that to his shyness.
The relationship remains in this mode from second grand through sixth
grade. The entire time the very smart Juli allows her heart to rule her head. She does
not pick up on the signals that Bryce sends off, namely, that he doesn't want
anything to do with her. She takes every opportunity to endear herself to him. She
whispers the correct spelling of word in his ear during spelling tests, she climbs a
huge tree to retrieve his kite that is caught in the branches, and she gives his family
eggs every week from her pet chickens.
Bryce spends those same years trying to avoid Juli. His flaw is that he allows
approach to ridding his life of the annoying little girl. In fifth grade, he holds hands
in front of her with another girl, who happens to be Juli's mortal enemy. He takes the
eggs from Juli each week for two years but immediately throws them in the trash. He
tells his friend Garrett how he really feels about his irritating neighbor but fails to tell
Juli herself.
But things begin to flip when the maturing Bryce begins to recognize how
smart and accomplished Juli is and that she is a person of substance. He first envies
then grows to admire the great and lively spirit lives within her. He also notices how
beautiful she is. When the tables turn and Juli discovers that Bryce hasn't been
honest with her, she wants nothing to do with him. Of course, that sets the stage for
Bryce's obsession to win her back. The two kids begin the story far apart in many
ways, separated by dishonesty and misunderstanding. In the end, the gap between
