James (Masterpiece) – Hero’s Journey

The Mundane World

James Pompaday lives with his mom, stepfather, and his baby brother. He is an eleven year old boy who is about to have a life changing situation. Marvin is a beetle who lives with his family under the kitchen sink in the Pompaday’s house. They help with a lot of problems – like a leaking pipe or a ring being accidentally dropped in the sink.

The Call to Adventure

When James’ real father comes for his birthday, he gives James a pen-and-ink set.  Marvin uses it to draw an amazing picture and James gets all of the credit. But the next night, James sees Marvin drawing and they became friends.

Crossing the Threshold

James’ real dad sees the picture and takes James to an art museum.  James takes Marvin with him.  His dad introduces him to the director (Christiana).  She asked him to copy a drawing from the famous artist Durer. She asked him to do that because one of his drawings that they have is about to be stolen. There are four drawings in the group and three had been stolen.  This art museum has the last one. James and Marvin have to work with Christiana, Denny (James’s dad’s friend), and his dad to make a copy and catch the thieves.

The Path of Trials

When they gave James some time to do the drawing, Marvin came out and they made it just in time. The fake that Marvin made was out in the hall the night of the burglary and the painting was stolen. But it was the real one that was stolen, not Marvin’s!  So Marvin stayed overnight, and went inside Denny’s case and Durer’s paintings were there. Denny stole them! Marvin saw a sticky note with Denny’s address on it. He took it and went back to Denny’s suitcase. When Marvin got back to James, he showed it to James. They both went to the address and found the paintings! They called Karl and figured out the case, but Denny was long gone.

Master Of Two Worlds

All of the paintings were returned, and James became the hero. Even though it was Marvin who did most of the work. James was the one who found the four paintings that were stolen.

Submitted by: M. Reddy from Baker Middle School

Tags: American, Books, Male

About matt

View all posts by matt →