Pick-Up Sticks

Pick-Up Sticks is a children's novel by Canadian author Sarah Ellis. The novel received the 1991 Governor General's Award for Children's Literature. The story is told from the perspective of a thirteen-year-old girl, Polly, as she experiences the struggles of losing her home and her comfortable life. Ellis stated that it was inspired by an interview with a homeless woman who was no longer able to care for her family. Plot summary The narrative opens with Polly’s simple life as she moves between school, afterschool volunteering and playing the French horn. The simplicity and perfection of her life is represented by the small, cozy room with a beautiful stained glass window her mother made for her. Apart from her loving relationship with her mother Polly’s friends consist of the downstairs neighbors, Ms. Protheroe, her son Ernie and Polly’s best friend, Vanessa. It is implied that Ernie is cognitively challenged as he spends most of his time watching reruns of Gilligan’s Island and collecting postal codes. Vanessa is portrayed as self-absorbed and a fickle teen, being infatuated with the girls’ English teacher and concocting “hair-brained” schemes as a result. Polly’s world is shattered when it is revealed that their house is being sold and torn down in two months and her mother fails to find replacement accommodation for the two of them. Catalyzed by the disintegration of her material world Polly comes to question her identity and where she really belongs. First and foremost she asks why her mother choose to bring her up fatherless and begins to strongly desire a father figure in her life. Polly has a fantasy of a father figure sweeping in to make her and her mother’s lives easier. In the process of her identity crisis, Polly’s relationship with her mother dissolves, leading to fights and accusing her mother of being terrible at parenting. As a result Polly moves in with her Uncle Roger, Auntie Barbie and their daughter Stephanie. Polly finds Uncle Roger to be cold and unsympathetic, especially with regards to the impoverished and her mother. In addition, she finds Auntie Polly to be self-indulgent and vain, filling her life with expensive fitness classes. Finally, her cousin desperately rebels against her parents, participating in shoplifting and vandalizing.