Date: 10/13/11Genre: MysteryAuthor: Caroline B. CooneyPage: 3-8 This book is about a girl named Jersey. She got accepted to her dads college and that college has a dorm. Her dad gave her hundred dollars because Jersey got accepted into her dad's college. With that money, Jersey wants to go to the mall to buy shoes. She really wants to go to the mall with her two best friends Mai and Susan but they had a lab on Mondays so they couldn't go with Jersey. Jersey to go to the mall so she got out of the college at night and went to mall. Suddenly, she heard gun shots and she was flung against the pavement. She saw her black clothes turn red.This book made me realize that it is dangerous outside at night.I recommend this book to people that like mystery books.An Important lesson I learned is don't go outside when it is night. Nothing good happens at night.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date: 10/17/11Page: 9-27 This two chapters is about a guy named Seth and a girl named Diana. They were both college freshmen students that were volunteering in a Emergency Room to learn stuff before medical School. He would be helping the doctor, nurses, etc. Seth and Diana really wanted to see a person come with a gun shot wound which makes them really happy for some reason. Later on, nurses decided Diana should work with the insurance people in the hospital. Diana was so furious because she did not volunteer so she could work with the insurance people and also Seth will be working with the Doctors and Nurses. Diana was really freaked out about the people that were in the waiting room. Seth was laughing at Diana because she had to work in the insurance place.I think the author wrote this book to show you doctors and nurses work really hard.I recommend this book to people who like mystery.Why is Diana working in the Insurance Place and Seth isn't?----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date: 10/25/11Page 28-44 In the first couple of pages,it is about a girl named Anna Maria. She had one young brother named Jose and a younger sister named Yasmin. Anna Marie wanted to take them to the waiting room in the Hospital because it was air-conditioned, had a tv, full of people and thing to watch, Water fountain and they gave you crayons and paper while you waited. Jose was two, Yasmin was four and Anna Maria was eight. After this chapter, Diana needs to find out who is Miss Sczevyl. She goes into this room and asked a attendant who is Sczevyl. He pointed to a girl who is a fighting, kicking, screaming, swearing psychotic. Diana keeps asking her questions but she is not answering. Also Diana believes she is not really Sczevyl. She believes it was made up so the Insurance people marked her as Unknown.I think the author wrote this because some kids actually have to take care of their brothers or sisters even though they are all young.Where is Anna Maria's parents?Why is nobody taking care of her?----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date: 10/31/11Page 45-61 The first chapter was about a kid that ripped his palm open on the broken glass of a car window. Later on in this chapter, there is a women named Barbie and she basically ask questions about what happened to the people. One guy smokes crack, drinks vodka, does heroin, and takes pills. In the next chapter, it is about a guy named Alec. His cousin has a new motorcycle and Alec tries it out with no helmet. Alec drove really fast and each mile would take him a minute. He tried to make a hard right turn at top speed but he did not make it and was out of time. In the next chapter, it goes back to Jersey. Medics are right next to her and they are wandering why she got shot. She sees them but she is to weak to talk or even move. Finally she manages to tell them if she is going to be all right and they said they will do everything they can to make her feel better. The next chapter is about Diana hearing the GSW's (Gunshot Wounds). They describe the name, age, and the problem of the person on the loud speaker. Diana did not want to miss out on 3 GSW! Why do doctors and nurses love gunshot wounds so badly?Did the guy that smokes crack, drinks vodka, does heroin, and takes pills died?Will Jersey ever go to the city because of this?----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date: 11/4/11Page 62-100 The first chapter is about the 3 GSW victims arriving at the hospital. They are trying to found out who was the one who shot them and the officers think it is one of the victims. In the next chapter, Alec hit his face head first. He was suprisingly unconsciousness. The ambulance were not coming anytime soon because the city hospital takes a long time getting to a place. Next Chapter is about Anna Maria. In this whole chapter, she just sits in the waiting room and finally, she leaves. In the next chapter, the ambulance finally arrived for Alec. In his mouth there is Gravel, Teeth, and Blood. They use a suction tube, they put it in his mouth and it sucked everything out of his mouth. He could not breathe because the suction tube was taking his air. The next chapter is about Diana. She told Seth that she thinks the guy in Bed Eight is her father. The next chapter is about a girl named Roo. She has to take care of her twins and her mother was five miles away from her but her mother could not help. She decides to bring them to the city hospital which is really similar to Anna Maria's case. The next one is about Seth telling Diana We should kill your father. Diana told Seth He left Diana and her mother when Diana was 4 and left them so he could marry somebody else. Diana is not sure what she should do. Why do the officers think it's one of the victims that shot himself and another two people? Who died because of the gunshot? How is Diana sure that the guy in Bed Eight is really her father?----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date: 11/7/11Page 101-121 In the first chapter, it is about Jersey. She is losing so much blood and her blood color is yellow. Jersey was going into shock which caused her body to shut down. In the next chapter, it was about Alec. Alec needed oxygen so they took a 2 inch needle and poked it between the bones on his wrist. Seth was really close from puking near the doctors so a nurse took him out of there. In the next chapter, it is about Roo, a 15 year old mother with twins. She went to the hospital because her twins had a "fever." She went there because the hospital was air conditioned and had tv. Roo sat next to two girls and colored with them. She let two strangers hold her twins(not a smart mother). The two girls were Anna Maria and Yasmin. Later on, drug dealers came into the hospital and half the waiting room people left because they knew who they were. They were in the KSI and they are basically drugs dealers and they would murder people too. One of the guys named Dunk wanted to see Tilltson and Dunk said Im his brother. The nurse said your white and Tilltson is Black. Dunk then left. Why did Roo let the strangers hold her twins?Who is the father of the twins?Why does Dunk want to see Tillitson?----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date: 11/9/11Page 122-156In the first chapter, it is about a homeless women named Norma. She get brought to the hospital once a week because when she is drunk, she might hurt herself or another person. In the next chapter, it is about Dunk. He is trying to find a way to get past the hospital security so he could kill Tilltson. Dunk got in the hospital and he thinks now he could kill Tilltson. In the next chapter it is about Roo. Roo is thinking of abandoning her two twins because she thinks taking care of them is to much! She is deciding whether she should be with them or abandon them and never see them again. Next chapter, it is about Ana Marie. She knows she has to get her brother and sister out of the Hospital. She knows who Dunk is and what he does for living. If Ana Marie does not get out of there on time, there will be trouble. In the next chapter, Diana sees a women with a doll. She looks closely and says "That's not a doll, that's a Baby!" The women kept swinging the baby around and Diana was frightened. Barbie, one of the nurses told Diana to grab the baby and so she did. A nurse came quickly and took the baby quickly. That was the first time Diana ever held a baby and she was frightened to. Diana knew what was going to happen to the baby. It was going to die!Why does Dunk want Tilltson dead so badly?How does Ana Marie know Dunk?The Important lesson I learned is if you think there might be trouble, get out of that place. Nothing good will happen there.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date: 11/14/11Page 157-178 What happened is that a kid has brain tumor. He is in the hospital with both of his parents. They have not been seen by a doctor for a while and the mother is crying because she thinks her son might die. They have been waiting in the treatment room for a while. Later on, Seth sees a women and her daughter. The women told Seth my daughter got a asthma attack yesterday and this morning. While Seth was bringing them to the 7th floor, he used the wrong elevator and that elevator led somewhere else. While he was pushing her daughter on a wheel chair, she was getting a asthma attack. He quickly rushed to the Pediatric and he by accident ran over her mother's foot. Seth gave the girl on the wheelchair to a nurse and he covered his name tag so the mother can't file a suit against him. Dunk had his gun out in the Waiting Room. He was pointing the gun at everybody and the cops told him to relax. The nurse took Yasmin and hid her somewhere. Dunk took Val out of the stroller because she was screaming and he ran with her somewhere downstairs.Why did Dunk pull his gun out in the Waiting Room?Where was Seth when Dunk pulled out his gun?Where is the rest of the officers or securities? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date: 11/17/11Page 179-213 What happened is that Anna Marie thought to herself that the cops hate having children around when the bad guy has a gun. In the next chapter, Anna Marie quickly got the stroller and beat it. In the next chapter, Roo was thinking about Cal and espically Val. She said even though they drive me crazy, they still love me no matter what and I love them. In the next chapter, Seth entered a Green tunnel which was located in a Basement. He was walking around and then he bumped into a guy with a gun and a baby (Dunk). Seth said She needed a diaper change so he took her away from Dunk. Dunk asked where the exit is and Seth said keep going straight and make a right at the end of the tunnel. Seth walked with the baby and entered a door full of cops pointing there guns at him. Seth said Im just a volunteer. A guy gave me this baby and he ran to that green tunnel. All of the cops dashed toward that green tunnel with there guns. Next chapter, Roo was so happy to change Val's Diaper. She was never this happy before and she loves them both even more. The next chapter, Diana was so happy that Seth was really brave. Seth was her hero. Finally Seth asked her to a movie and a dinner and Diana said Yes.
Story time, y’all! So my co-worker was pulling a bunch of elderly paperback teen books off the shelves yesterday to weed, because they were all battered and torn and missing covers and whatnot. And I’m idly flipping through the stacks of Charmed novelizations when I suddenly stumble upon this book.And had to blink.And read the back cover.And blink again.Because although I had up until that moment 100% forgotten that Emergency Room even existed, I suddenly had this crystal clear memory of purchasing it from a Scholastic monthly book page in fourth grade, and although I couldn’t remember for the life of me what the plot was, I remembered that I had read my own copy into pieces.Which clearly meant REREAD TIME!So I’m flipping through the short, disjointed chapters, and coming to the slow realization that all of these wild internalized fears I have (Don’t hang out in a hospital waiting room or you’ll be shot by a drug dealer! Don’t go to a teaching hospital or you’ll have a bunch of inept med students staring at your avulsed eyeball like it’s the best thing since sliced bread!) are apparently from this book. This book that I had no memory of 48 hours ago.Most disconcerting was the section on motorcycles. One of my co-workers decided recently to buy a motorcycle, and was waxing eloquent about how much she loooves careening down the expressway, wind in her hair, t-shirt on, helmets be damned. My response: “Are you FUCKING SERIOUS!? I mean, let’s ignore the fact that there’s going to be shit flying off of cars and hitting you in the face, but what if you crash? I don’t care how good a driver you are—you can’t necessarily protect yourself from the asshole next to you who is checking his phone and eating a burger and driving like a maniac. And the next thing you know you’ll be skidding across the pavement and they’ll be sucking your teeth out along with the gravel into a fucking Mr. Coffee pot and scrubbing the tar out of your skin with a goddamn brush, assuming you’ve got any skin left, and your last thought before you end up in a creepy casserole dish of a hospital gurney will be ‘Why oh why didn’t I listen to Monica about motorcycle safety? Was the wind in my hair really worth all this?’ No. It won’t have been.”I’m a little bit of a drama queen, friends.But here’s the point, guys, because two weeks later in this book I come across:“‘What’s in his mouth?’ asked the second EMT.‘Gravel. Teeth. Blood.’A clear plastic tube, exactly like the suction tube the dentist uses for saliva, but much larger, sucked up the debris that filled Alec’s mouth and deposited it in a container that looked exactly like a Mr. Coffee pot.” And also “The nurses were scrubbing the boy’s torn flesh with an actual brush, getting the tar and pebbles and sand out. The way you would scrub a broiler pan with baked-on drippings. Hard.” And also “The boy would be transferred to yet another stretcher. An all-metal gurney, because he no longer needed a mattress. It would have a lid, rather like a casserole, so that people they passed in the halls need not realize that a dead boy lay on that stretcher.”Bwaaaah???It’s giving me a vague level of sympathy for caught-plagiarizing authors who protest that they totally didn’t realize they were stealing huge swatches of other people’s writing because they thought all those ideas were spontaneously forming in their own mind. When really they were just remembering things they’d forgotten they’d read.…Anyway.Five stars. For staying power. Because holy shit, Caroline B Cooney, way to fuck up the minds of your impressionable ten-year-old readers.
What do You think about Emergency Room (1997)?
This was another disappointment by Caroline Cooney. Emergency room was really boring. It did have some suspense, but nothing compared to her other books. I would recommend this to people who don't like a lot going on in the books they read. I would not recommend this to anyone who is looking for a thrilling, on the edge of your seat kind of book. This book was about two volunteers who worked at a the City Hospital. They discovered the true hectic-ness of an Emergency room. They dealt with drug battle victims, motorcycle accidents, saving baby's lives, discovering the man in bed 8 just might be your father who left you years ago, and a gun holdup right in the hospital waiting room. It was truly unimpressive, and disappointing. Hopefully I can expect more from Caroline's next books.
—Quinlyn
Seth and Diana are college freshmen who dream of being doctors. They are not in medical school yet, but they volunteer at City Hospital, a famous teaching hospital in a large city. Their reasons for volunteering are mixed--they want to help people, of course, but they also want to make themselves look good to medical school admissions officers. And, they want a front-row seat to the drama of serious injuries. On this particular day, Seth and Diana will get more education about medicine and themselves than they ever dreamed.Definitely a page-turner and fans of medical drama or suspense will enjoy Cooney's face-paced, realistic style.
—Debbie
I've read a few of these multi-character emergency books by Cooney - this one, Flight 116 is Down, Flash Fire - and I'm never sure quite how I feel about them. I want to give props to the author for trying a different type of story - nobody can say Caroline B. Cooney doesn't experiment; in addition to these she's done sweet wholesome romances, family dramas, truly strange paranormal romances, mild horrors, historicals, trashy chick-lit, and more - but the book doesn't quite work for me. It's exciting, and I certainly enjoyed the drama when I was younger, but the style doesn't lend itself to creating memorable characters. The nature of a book like this, where the action is constant and an entire ER full of people are written about over a 90-minute period, ensures that you never get to know any of them that well.This doesn't necessarily have to be a fault. One of the things that strikes me most often when reading Cooney is how universal human emotions are; how anyone anywhere can have the same feelings of pain, love, fear, humiliation, relief, pride, rage, that you or I have felt a thousand times. Books like this bring that fact home, perhaps because the characters are shallow enough to be the proverbial Everyman (or Everywoman). I dare say that those who read books for reasons other than falling in love with characters may find tales like this to be both enthralling and easy to place yourself in the middle of.I, however, need characters with depth and body if I'm to enjoy a book fully, so this one didn't really work for me. It's not a bad book, just not really to my taste. 3 stars.
—Sati Marie Frost
