Chat Room is one of the Orca Currents series, described as "high interest" intermediate novels designed to entice reluctant readers.
Kristen Butcher's Chat Room Plot Summary
Linda is a shy loner at Wellington High. Nobody notices her, and that's okay because if she does something dumb nobody will put her down.
When one of the school geeks sets up a set of chat rooms on the school website, Linda is interested, to the disgust of Janet, Linda's one-and-only friend. "Chat rooms are for sickos," Janet rants. "Perverts, voyeurs, psychos – that's who hangs out in them."
Linda protests that the site is monitored and supervised, approved by both the teachers and the parent council, and that it's open only to Wellington students.
Janet just snorts, "So flippin' what? You think there are no perverts at this school?"
Later, in the privacy of her own room, Linda takes the risk and logs on to the school web site chat room under the nickname "Roxanne". Hidden behind the nickname, Linda feels safe, sure that nobody can know who she really is.
Unlike Linda, Roxanne isn't afraid to state her mind or express her opinion. Roxanne isn't an outcast or a nobody. In fact, she seems to be accepted and almost popular in the chat rooms.
The popularity is especially evident with another chatter who styles himself "Cyrano". Linda recognizes the reference to Cyrano de Bergerac, the famous long-nosed character from a movie shown recently. Linda loved the movie, and she thinks this choice of nickname shows that Cyrano is romantic, intelligent, and obviously a boy of good taste.
As the two continue to chat, Linda begins to believe they are developing a relationship, but as her passion for the online chat takes over her life, she finds herself uncomfortably having to hide her activity from both her friend and her parents.
Then mysterious gifts start to arrive. A yellow rose. A huge box of chocolates. An original poem. Cyrano is clearly serious, and wants to meet in person.
The meeting obviously will not go as planned, and while the ending is telegraphed and clear to an adult reader, it is still worthwhile.
Style of Chat Room
Written in first person POV, as seems to be typical of the Orca Currents, "Chat Room" is necessarily sparse given the short word requirements of the series. The book meets the series criteria of short chapters, easy vocabulary, fast action, and believable characters and situations.
Butcher doesn't seem to be totally familiar with chat rooms and the way they work, which will not be lost on younger and more computer-savvy readers.
Chat Room is Butcher's third novel with Orca
Butcher, Kristin. Chat Room. Victoria, BC: Orca Book Publishers, 2006. 102 pages. ISBN 1-555143-529-2
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