The only candidate for local mayor has pledged to cut funding for the one thing that young Maddie Polansky likes at school: art class. So Maddie persuades her babysitter, Janet, to run against that art-hating baddie.
The only candidate for local mayor has pledged to cut funding for the one thing that young Maddie Polansky likes at school: art class. So Maddie persuades her babysitter, Janet, to run against that art-hating baddie.
Maddie Polansky isn’t a huge fan of school. In fact, she thinks it’s horrible. She never seems to do things the “right” way, so kids think she’s weird and teachers think she’s rebellious. She only has, like, one friend in the whole school. And he’s the sort who would probably toss her aside if he got a better offer.
Truth is, the only thing Maddie really enjoys in seventh grade is Mr. Xian’s art class. Mr. Xian is the one teacher who encourages Maddie and actually likes the work she does.
So you can imagine her frustration when she learns that he probably won’t be back next year.
No, it’s not that this great art guy is going off to climb a Tibetan mountain and create the next great artistic masterpiece. It simply appears that the school won’t have any art classes next year. And his job will be cut.
Crazy, right?
Lucinda Burghart, the unopposed candidate for the mayor of Lawrenceville, has pledged that she will be cutting “unnecessary” funding for a variety of things once she gets into office. OK, saving people money and cutting taxes will make Maddie’s parents happy. But art?
What will Maddie do without art?
So she determines she must do whatever it takes to stop Lucinda Burghart. But while digging into the subject of politics and government and all that junk, Maddie is broadsided by some shocking news. Not only is a 12-year-old too young to vote, but she can’t run for mayor either. You’ve got to be at least 18.
Can you believe that?
It’s discriminatory! Ageist! Unfair! Laws are just dumb!
Maddie goes to her parents and they’re no help at all. But her babysitter, Janet, suggests they go together to a town hall. You know, just to meet Ms. Burghart and maybe ask why she hates art and kids so much. (At least that’s what Maddie wants to ask.) But that doesn’t go very well either. Lucinda Burghart calls Maddie “sweetheart” and says she’s “too young to understand.” And in the end, the woman smilingly ignores everything Maddie’s trying to say.
The only thing Maddie really gets out of the trip is the complete certainty that Lucinda Burghart must be the Wicked Witch of the West. (That’s what her voice sounds like anyway.)
Well, maybe Maddie gets two things out of the trip: When Maddie asks her 21-year-old babysitter if she would run for governor against Ms. Burghart, Janet says, “Sure.”
“I’m not joking,” Maddie tells her.
“I know you’re not,” Janet smilingly replies.
And even though Janet might be, maybe, half joking herself, that’s all that Maddie needs to hear.
Maddie might know nothing about the political process. But she can learn. Nobody knows Janet, and they have no money. But that can change. If nothing else, Janet has a tween girl named Maddie on her team who people think is kinda weird and sort of rebellious.
And that’s a start.
None.
There are no discussions of faith, but drawings of some of the students include a girl wearing a hijab and a boy wearing a yamaka.
Maddie’s parents both love their daughter, but they seem less involved in her life than they should be. They’re both caught up in their own classes, work and personal pursuits, and they don’t take the time to hear her out. (Maddie’s mom is ironically too busy taking an “intuitive parenting” class to take time for her daughter’s concerns.)
When Maddie approaches them concerning the idea of politics, both mom and dad express absolutely no interest in the subject and suggest that politicians are uniformly corrupt.
In fact, when Maddie approaches her father about running for mayor, he chortles that he doesn’t even vote. Maddie also states that her dad is “wrong basically all of the time.”
Janet, on the other hand, is open to run for the office—partly because Maddie so desperately wants her to and partly because she hasn’t yet found a full-time job after college. She doesn’t think that the campaign will amount to much more than a good object lesson for Maddie.
When Janet does run, though, someone digs up the fact that she cheated in school when she was 16. Janet admits her wrongdoing—something she fessed up to after it happened—but laments that being in politics means that decisions made long in the past can be used to discredit you. (Transversely, this can be seen as an encouragement to make upright choices even when you think nobody will see them.)
All of the above surprises Maddie, and she notes that too many people spend far “too much time on meaningless things and no time on really important stuff.”
Janet tells the girl: “I’m so impressed that you’ve figured out—years earlier than I did—that what happens in politics makes a difference to all of us.”
Mr. Xian is a very good man who tells Maddie about the potential of his leaving—hoping the revelation encourages Maddie to think about her future, not alarm her.
Lucinda Burghart isn’t actually a bad person. For the most part, her choices are based on what she sees as good reasons. However, we also see how she tries to bribe Maddie into stepping away from Janet’s campaign.
Throughout the story, Maddie and the readers learn about the basics of establishing and running a campaign. And Maddie walks away with a newfound excitement about being involved in the world around her. “If you want something, you’ve got to go for it,” a man tells her. “It doesn’t matter if you think you’re never going to get there, because you for sure won’t get there if you don’t even try.”
Ultimately, Maddie’s efforts to make a difference encourage other kids to get involved in the process. They also get to know Maddie better, recognizing that they all have a lot in common.
Someone uses the word “heck.”
None.
Have you thought much about politics or the government? It may seem like a huge world we can’t have an impact on, but did this book encourage you that even kids can make a difference in the world around them if they try?
Take a look at Romans 13:1-7. This passage talks about our need as believers to submit to authorities that God has put in place over us. How do you think that relates to our current world and the government we have?
What if we think a government official is making a bad or wrong choice? What should we do then? Can God’s purpose be served through potentially bad or ineffective leaders?
1 Corinthians 13:12 says: “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”
How does that Scripture apply to the above questions?
The Campaign helps young readers learn about the election process. It encourages them to be aware of politics and the government around us. The story also deals with friendship and fitting in.
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Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not necessarily their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children. The inclusion of a book’s review does not constitute an endorsement by Focus on the Family.
Review by Bob Hoose
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