The Gammage Cup Book Review
 Reading The Gammage Cup is like riding a wave, you can’t get off no matter what.  It’s not that all the chapters end in big cliffhangers, and the book is nonstop action, but rather it is so fun and interesting that you can’t put it down.  This book is what I call a “stupid book”, but don’t get me wrong, the Gammage Cup is my all-time favorite.  I define a “stupid book” as a book that will not take long to read, it is not difficult to read (unlike Tolkien or Steven King), but it has depth to it, it’s not fluffy, corny, or short and sweet.  But, the Gammage Cup does make you think, “out side the box,” in an, *interesting* way.
 The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall is based on society.  A group of what the society calls “Oh, them,” are cast out of the village Slipper On The Water.  Muggles-the main character-and her group of friends now need to survive out in the wilderness.  It is from this point that these group of friends see a dangerous army planning an attack.
 Slipper On The Water decided to throw out the group of five because a contest between all the villages in the area was starting.  The best village, meaning clean, good looking, etc. will win the contest and earn a prize wanted by all, The Gammage Cup.  The five friends cast out were accused of hindering the village in winning the Gammage Cup by doing things like wearing the wrong type of clothes, or painting unproper paintings that weren’t crude or disrespectful in any way.
 The humor in this book is subtle.  It plays tricks with your mind and makes you think of things that you wouldn’t otherwise think of. This kind of humor will not make you laugh historically, although it might make you chuckle, and then again it may make you not laugh at all.
 The writing style of Carol Kendall is very engaging, which will be the reason you will not be able to put the the Gammage Cup down.
 I think this book is unique but of course other stories of the same genre could be compared with it.  But I do think that the important subjects that are brought up in the Gammage Cup can be compared to Tolkien’s books that also bring up important issues.
 I think in the Gammage Cup, Carol was writing about something that could be compared to Communism, or a tight hand on society.  In a way I think that she might have been showing how good of a government the United States has, but that's just an opinion.
 I have to admit that the number one reason that I picked up the Gammage Cup to read it was because of the Cover.  Yeah that's right, I’m in middle school and I still judge a book by it’s cover. :-) HOME